theyarerealtome:

I want to talk about how dedicated Aziraphale is to saving the world.Because despite his initial reluctance, the moment Aziraphale agrees to prevent Armageddon – that is his top priority.

One of Aziraphale’s defining characteristics is his commitment. While Crowley is notable for changing (his clothes, hair, gender, name, species) and for questioning (Heaven, Hell, the Almighty, Satan); Aziraphaleis notable for sticking with things (with angels, books, clothes, hair, ultimately Earth & a certain demon). That loyalty is why it takes him so long to turn against Heaven. 

Yes, Aziraphale’s arc islearning to question* and break that blind loyalty…but his commitment and faith aren’tportrayed as inherently bad things, they’re also vital to stopping Armageddon.

(*Well it’s more admitting his questions tbh, because that rebellious angel been quietly doubting since Eden).

Once Aziraphale’s aboard the Antichrist plan, he’s not just following Crowley’s lead – he’s pushing forward of his own volition. When they discover they have the wrong boy, Aziraphale doesn’t shrug and go “we tried, back to Heaven with me” the way you’d expect an initially reluctant conscript to – he keeps trying.

He’s the one who suggests going to Warlock’s birthday party, he comes up with hospital idea, he proposes using other humans to find Adam and offers his agents. At the end of it all, he produces the winning ‘Great plan’ argument and rallies against Satan when Crowley wavers.  

Caveat: “It’s the Great Plan Crowley” – his lies to Crowley and himself.

Of course, where Aziraphale seems to falter (breaking all our hearts in the process) is that goddamn bandstand scene – “There is no our side.”

But like, even when Aziraphale appears to be giving up and supporting the war….he really isn’t. While he’s loudly preaching about the great plan out front; in the back he’s tracking down Adam and appealing to Heaven to stop things. Aziraphale’s commitment doesn’t change, but he employs different tactics when he realises the original Antichrist plan has failed, and he’s scared and he pushes Crowley away.

Of course, lying to Crowley and trusting Heaven was wilfully misguided. And he realises that.

But that brings me to the biggest point –  

When finally faced with Heaven or humanity Aziraphale doesn’t hesitate

Aziraphale spends so much of the series convincing himself he can save humanitywith Heaven, can stay loyal to his superiors and to earth, and histwo belief systems will line up neatly.

And it takes him so, so long – literally from the voice of God itself – to realise that’s wrong.

This post talks about moment with Metatron when Aziraphale realises Heaven (and he thinks God) doeswant the war . And fuck, it’s heartbreaking.  

What’s noticeable from then on though? There’s never anydeliberation on Aziraphale’s part about supporting Heaven. There’s no “oh maybe the Almighty is right,” “maybe I should join the other angels,” “well, if everyone else agrees, maybe I’m in the wrong.” He throws aside his previous dithering and doubts.  

If Heaven doesn’t agree with him on saving Earth, then that is it.

When he realises he can’t have both; it’s the world or Heaven – he goes with humanity. Without flinching. Without hesitation. Because that’s been his priority since he and Crowley shook on it eleven years ago.

Mere minutes after facing the truth, Aziraphale rejects Heaven in the most badass way possible, complete with yelling at other angels and possessing people.

There’s a great meta from@ilarual about just how ballsy Aziraphale’s rebellion against Heaven was, and about how he finally let loose all the doubts he’d been supressing for 6000 years. To quote:

Basically, Aziraphale backflips out of Heaven with both middle fingers in the air, and frankly I think it’s amazing.

In comparison to Crowley

Now obviously Crowley is also committed to saving humanity. Obviously. He came up with the original Antichrist plan, pleads with God over everything, argues with Aziraphale and drove through literal fire.

(And Crowley doesn’t hesitate either – his instant reaction to the Antichrist is pure horror and it takes him less than a car ride to be on the phone to Aziraphale and concocting his thwarting scheme).

However,from when they discover they have the wrong child, Crowley is making back-up plans. He’s ready to run away to Alpha Centuari and leave humanity to it.

Partly that’s because, unlike Aziraphale, he doesn’t have the information about Adam – but Crowley was flagging before that.

On route to Tadfield, its Aziraphale offering suggestions to find the Antichrist and Crowley blocking him. (“And then what? And then what?”). After the convent visit failed, Crowley’s basically sulking over Aziraphale’s ideas – which Aziraphale does not stand for a minute tbh. (“Do you have a better idea? A single better idea?”) And even later on its Aziraphale, not Crowley, who commits to killing Adam.

To be clear, I am in no way judging Crowley for doubting they’d succeed and planning to run. He’s not obliged to help Earth, the fact he even tried was incredibly selfless. There’s a brilliant piecefrom@theniceandaccurategoodomensblog on how much Crowley was risking to stop Armageddon and how his escape plan was justified.

Him preventing the war was always against Hell’s plans and put him in the line of fire, whereas Heaven at least pretended to support Aziraphale efforts.

Plus, Crowley was right in knowing that the two of them wereon their own and not to trust Heaven, which Aziraphale didn’t get. Crowley benefits from Aziraphale’s will & determination, while Aziraphale benefits from Crowley clear-eyed view of the world.

In the end

Ofc Aziraphale and his steadfastness and the importance of all that, culminates when Satan storms onto the scene. 

Because when Crowley does falter (“we are fucked”), it’s Aziraphale’s determination that keeps them going (“We can’t give up now.”) Because, just to say it again – when Aziraphale commits to something he commits.

It’s this incredible full circle moment from Crowley persuading Aziraphale to stop the Antichrist, to Aziraphale pushing Crowley to stand against Satan. And fuck, that’s beautiful.

And now, post-series, now Aziraphale has abandoned Heaven, he’s 100% going to put his trademark commitment and dedication and devotion into his new side. His side with Crowley.

Tldr: While Crowley was the one who initially persuaded Aziraphale, from then on saving humanity was Aziraphale’s top priority: Even while he denied it, even over Heaven, even to the point of encouraging Crowley. Because Aziraphale loves and commits with everything in him – and that saved the world.

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@whispsofwindreply: A thing I really like about Crowley and Aziraphale is how complementary they are to each other.

Crowley is constantly moving. He has clever schemes and has already thought about plan B, C and D while he’s still executing plan A. He is ever changing, always trying to stay one step ahead of everything.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, is steadfast. Once he finds something he likes, he sticks with it and doesn’t see the need to change. Once he starts something, he commits and finishes it. Plan A is getting done one way or another.

Without Aziraphale as a constant, Crowley would be untethered, with nothing to give him stability. Without Crowley to give him a good push, Aziraphale would stagnate, never daring to get in motion.

Together though, Crowley can push them both into action and Aziraphale can keep them on track. They work better as a unit than they do apart, and it’s amazing.

It’s unstoppable force meets immovable object, and instead of crashing and burning they both come out better for it.

In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, an international group of researchers are urging countries to reconsider their strategy to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. While countries signed up to the Paris Agreement have individual quotas to meet in terms of emissions reduction, they argue this cannot be achieved without global cooperation to ensure enough CO₂ is removed in a fair and equitable way.

Harmful emissions

The team of international researchers from Imperial College London, the University of Girona, ETH Zürich and the University of Cambridge, have stated that countries with greater capacity to remove CO₂ should be more proactive in helping those that cannot meet their quotas.

Co-author Dr Niall Mac Dowell, from the Centre for Environmental Policy and the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial, said, ‘It is imperative that nations have these conversations now, to determine how quotas could be allocated fairly and how countries could meet those quotas via cross-border cooperation.’

The team’s modelling and research has shown that while the removal quotas vary significantly, only a handful of countries will have the capacity to meet them using their own resources.

Reforestation

A few ways to achieve carbon dioxide removal:

(1)    Reforestation

(2)    Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)  

(3)    CCS coupled to bioenergy – growing crops to burn for fuel. The crops remove CO₂ from the atmosphere, and the CCS captures any CO₂ from the power station before its release.

However, deploying these removal strategies will vary depending on the capabilities of different countries. The team have therefore suggested a system of trading quotas. For example, due to the favourable geological formations in the UK’s North Sea, the UK has space for CCS, and therefore, they could sell some of its capacity to other countries.

Global cooperation 

Co-lead author Dr Carlos Pozo from the University of Girona, concluded; ‘By 2050, the world needs to be carbon neutral - taking out of the atmosphere as much CO₂ as it puts in. To this end, a CO₂ removal industry needs to be rapidly scaled up, and that begins now, with countries looking at their responsibilities and their capacity to meet any quotas.’

DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-0802-4

Manga Review: Apollo’s Song

Manga Review: Apollo’s Song

Manga Review: Apollo’s Song by Osamu Tezuka

Shogo Chikaishi is an unhappy young man. He has no idea who his birth father was, and his mother supported them by inviting a string of horny men to her bed. She had little love to spare for her child, who often got in the way of getting her customers to part with their cash. Sometimes he even glimpsed moments of his mother and her clients making the…

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