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Context for Change

July 8, 2018 / / 0 Comments

A bit heavy but hopefully inspirational, I wanted to share my thoughts, some statistics and research on the context that created my desire to work for long-lasting change professionally.

Most of my life…

  • The US launched and continues to be involved in the war in Afghanistan (17 yrs,  at least 31,000 civilian deaths).
  • Climate change has been a known and discussed issue (Inconvenient Truth, 2006 – but the gov knew in the 70’s) yet the statistics on the NASA website today were:

  • Income inequality and wealth disparity consistently widens (CBPP).

  • Childhood obesity in the US continues to grow (13.7 million children/adolescents in 2016) and diabetes too:

  • Human trafficking is estimated to have risen 35.7% IN THE US from 2015-2016 (Polaris, the human trafficking hotline).

And many more equally important maladies that have not been properly addressed by previous generations.

Out of Office

Here’s a general breakdown of the main activities that take up a day (assuming you don’t overwork, commute less than average, and sleep well):

I think it’s fair to say that most of us identify “ourselves” as who we are in our personal lives aka free time. Work is full of bureacracy, corporate ladders, non-personal clothing, and is a dehumanizing process of selling our labor for wages.  But when we spend just under a fourth of our time at work (and nearly a third of our waking hours), I don’t think we can necessarily write it off as “not who we really are”.  For me, this was the biggest reason for reconciling my personal beliefs with my career. ^

It’s also exhausting to spend our limited “free” time volunteering, organizing, being politically active, etc. Appealing to the lazier psyche and selfish altruism, working toward a just cause professionally allows you to relax more after work (and still be more of an activist than you would be if you attended every rally).

Why tho? Pleasure vs. Happiness

There are many social psych experiments that have studied the effects of exposing participants to money-related words/topics/objects (money priming) versus control groups (given random non-money-related stimuli) which then measured the differences in people’s behavior. One recent study published in a highly respected journal found that when people are primed with money, they feel less connectedness and act less prosocially. Another recent study concluded that money priming also causes people to be less: interpersonally attuned, caring, warm, and interdependent.

In addition to connection, I want to feel satiated – something that the ever-wanting, ever-purchasing capitalist dream inherently cannot provide (and some say detracts from). I still enjoy commodities, #notamonkyet, but I can attest that distancing my happiness from capital allows my happiness to raise higher than my next raise ever will.

This all culminates in the ultimate goal of seeking happiness, not just pleasure. In his best-selling book, The Hacking of the American Mind, Dr. Robert Lustig explains the 7 main differences between happiness and pleasure from the perspective of a neuroendocrinologist:

  1. Pleasure is short-lived; happiness is long-lived.
  2. Pleasure is visceral; happiness is ethereal (felt above the neck).
  3. Pleasure is taking; happiness is giving.
  4. Pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances.
  5. Pleasure is experienced alone; happiness is experienced in social groups.
  6. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whether they be substances or behaviors (social media use, pornography, gambling). Yet there’s no such thing as being addicted to too much happiness.
  7. Finally and most importantly, pleasure is tied to dopamine (the pleasure biochemical/neurotransmitter), and happiness is tied to serotonin (the happiness biochemical/neurotransmitter).

Takeaway: “excess dopamine can lead to addiction, which erodes both present and future happiness. In simple neuroscience terms, dopamine downregulates serotonin. The result, states Lustig, is that ‘the more pleasure we seek, the more unhappy we get.'”

How even?

This is not to say that if you are a professional athlete you need to quit your job and pursue a social justice desk job; Colin Kaepernick has shown us there are ways to do both – live your fullest life while also fighting for others to do the same. So whatever your niche, work toward refining those skills. Gain knowledge, credibility and influence to help redefine your field toward mission-driven solutions. If the main barrier to pursuing idealist work is a pay cut, consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and assess whether you are able to self-actualize yet.

Change the system and/or Change your job –> Change lives / Maximize your effect on Earth –> Live your fullest life / Live forever through your accomplishments and those that remember you

-Nanarchy

Helpful websites: Idealist.org and 80,000 hours

Where does it come from? Where is it going?

June 22, 2018 / / 0 Comments

People always seem perplexed by the questions: Where do I come from? Where am I going? But we rarely ask these questions about the products we use every day. You’re in luck though, because I aim to answer these questions for you right now!

Where does it come from? – Labor and materials.

I always think of the story about GAP using child labor to produce children’s clothing… So the best way to be sure that the products you use don’t harm others is to buy reused, upcycled, local and vegan. I know this is a tall demand, but it’s all about doing what is most feasibly possible for you (economically, socially, physically, mentally – see my Why Vegan post for more on this). Fortunately for clothing in particular, resale is often cheaper and you can sell your old clothes at the same time.

Many of our belongings harm us too. I recently went to a “Rethink Plastic” talk where researchers explained how plastic producers are able to switch out harmful chemicals faster than we are able to find out how harmful they are. We all know BPA is terrible… but there are tons of other chemicals that are apparently just as bad, yikes! Again, the best choice is to steer clear. Here’s a slide from Child Health and Devolpment Sudies‘ talk about ways to reduce our harmful exposure to plastics:

Pro tip – If you want to do a full cleanse, psyllium husk binds to many toxins in your body and helps get them out. You can get it in the bulk section of some grocery stores. Take a serving with water and go in a sauna.

Where is it going? – “There is no away.“

I recently met Heather, the founder of thereisnoaway.net, and love her message that our belongings don’t disappear when we throw them away, thus we should substitute our single-use throwaway items with recyclable ones.

I could go into our historical process of shipping our trash back to the countries that made the items and give more info about the sludge in our recycling bins, but it’s more important to know where to put what. Here are some sites for my Bay Area friends:

One Tier Better – Zero Waste

Even recycling uses energy and oil… so the best policy is to go zero waste. This sounded daunting to me too at first, and I am still chipping away at my wasteful habit repertoire. I recommend checking out Ecocity Builders’ tips for their      Zero Waste Challenge this July, which make the process much more conceivably achievable.  Also this awesome website.

One Person

Finally, if you are wondering whether one person matters, here are some figures: One person on average creates 4.40 lbs of waste / day [EPA]. One ton = 2000 lbs, so one person creates one ton of waste / 455 days. So every year and a third one person can save

  • One ton of paper recycle saves 17 trees [EPA].
  • One ton of plastic saves 16.3 barrels of oil [Stanford].
  • One ton of aluminum saves 4 tons of Bauxite Ore [MadeHow.com].
  • One ton of glass saves one ton of mixed limestone, soda ash and sand [EPA, Stanford].
  • Fun food calculator

Good luck forming habits to last a lifetime – and for generations to come.

– SustainableFarley @ gmail.com

Sustainable Ag Tech Startups – Business Is Booming and the Soil Is Rich

May 31, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Ag tech, short for agricultural technology, is becoming more abundant and garnering the interest of venture capitalists worldwide. In fact, one ag tech startup called Indigo has raised over $359 million in funding according to Crunchbase, the well-known startup assessment website. Indigo addresses the increasingly imminent need for sustainable agricultural practices through a process of applying microbe bioinformation to enhance crop health, and in return, crop yield. In a Bloomberg interview this January, Indigo’s president and CEO, David Perry, explained,

“The hope is that we are able to grow agricultural crops, improve yields in order to be able to feed a growing population, and do so in a way that is environmentally sustainable. So, we use less of our fresh water supply, we have less nitrogen runoff in that water supply and we create fewer greenhouse gases through the manufacturing and application of chemicals.”

 

Although it is the top-funded ag tech startup to-date, Indigo has many industry competitors. Take EdenShield, a company that has created non-toxic pesticides from indigenous desert plant extracts that lower plant aroma and thus attract fewer insects. EdenShield’s all-natural approach has raised $3.1 million in seed funding and is geared toward greenhouse crops.

Moreover, sustainable ag tech is being developed for nearly every part of the farming process. Natureworks, a cleantech startup that boasts $150 million in equity, has found a way to turn carbon in the atmosphere into a product called Ingeo. Ingeo is “a new material for plastics & fibers with unique properties that all begin with greenhouse gases”. Among its many applications, Ingeo is used to make an assortment of sustainable agricultural products such as pots, landscaping, mulch film, yard waste bags and more.

“The CropX system automatically analyzes the exact water needs of different parts of each field based on topography, soil structure, and current moisture.”

–Crop X 2015 Press Release

 

CropX is an Israeli startup that uses technology to monitor and control irrigation. First, farmers self-install an in-field soil moisture and temperature tracker. Then, the software implements a cost-effective and perfectly timed water distribution process detailed in the quote above. Since 2013, CropX has raised $10 million in funding and expects to revolutionize crop yields and both water and energy conservation.

Some succeeding sustainable startups have been developing their technology for many years. mOasis was founded at Stanford in 2010 and has raised $6.2 million from investors. mOasis created a non-toxic, FDA-approved soil additive that assists plants’ water retention similarly aimed at addressing conservation, improving crop yield, and minimizing chemicals in the environment. Regarding mOasis’ soil additive efficiency,

“A field test from UC Davis found the product provided 30% yield increase for broccoli – using 25% less water.”

–Forbes 25 Most Innovative Ag-Tech Startups 2017 article.

 

Farmers aside, the demand for sustainable agriculture is remains. Consumer-driven companies are succeeding as well by delivering “hyper-local” produce. One company that has built impressive partnerships with supermarkets including Giant and ACME among others, is called BrightFarms. BrightFarms locates farms in close proximity to stores to deliver extremely fresh produce. It is no mystery how the company has raised $57.9 million.

Although many ag tech companies exist, it is exciting to see those with sustainable practices flourishing. Whether they are biology, chemical, software-based, they are raking in considerable cash that benefits farmers, consumers, the bottom-line and the environment alike. One can only hope that sustainability becomes a core consideration for agricultural investors and inventors. Keep an eye on the many Agtech accelerators to learn more about the most recent developments.

Do the Damn Thing

May 17, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Is laziness the most universal human quality? It sure may feel this way at times… but I believe most of the time people indeed want to Do the Damn Thing! However, I’ve noticed a few common barriers afflicting our active psyches.

Time is relative (to your propensity to procrastinate).

One factor may be our perception of time. Sometimes our mental “calculations” about the time required may be intentionally or unintentionally generous, thus allowing us to feel as though the task cannot be completed in the time allotted. As I recently realized after running a half marathon in 2hr 4minutes, one hour is plenty of time to go on a 5 mile run, although I often tell myself it is not. This brings me to my next point, that

achieving goals begets achieving goals.

I don’t consider myself a competitive person, but it seems somewhat inescapable to compare oneself to your past self; and beating yourself releases a nice dose of seratonin! If you still can’t achieve something, break it into smaller goals. Once each piecemeal is accomplished, you will have done the darn thing. Sometimes, annoyingly, even small aspirations are thwarted by the internal “voice” that tells us we can’t, we are unable, we are undeserving, or whatever other lies, instead tell yourself

“I can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

This statement does not ignore those thoughts of inadequacy, moreover, it allows us to move beyond them and instead tell ourselves what we want to become. Positive post-it notes are often used, but my most effective tool for silencing excessive self-criticism is meditation. Meditation gives me the space to understand where the negative thoughts are coming from. Similar to knowing someone insulted you because they were having a terrible day, understanding the root of your thoughts allows you to distance yourself from their impact.

Do something thrilling.

Finally, whenever I feel I have fallen out of motion, I get a boost of inertia from doing something that makes my fingers tingle. Some ideas could be exploring a new park, making your heart beat quickly through movement, meeting new people (free events or meetup.com) or laughing really hard. Although they sound like more procrastination activities, they may just get you back on track to…

Do that Damn Thing.

-Nanmund Freud

RAW Essentials

February 18, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Here are some RAW facts about some essential RAW foods and more:

Healthiest oil: Flaxseed oil (flavorless, keep in fridge, eat w/out cooking on salads, on grains, etc.) – has omega 3 fatty acids, is associated with telomeres one standard deviation above normal length, reduces inflammation/eczema, boosts metabolism

xxx Palm Oil xxx: Do not eat this shit, beware it’s in everything. -one of the world’s leading causes of rainforest destruction

Prebiotics: Dandelion greens, avocado, peas and more – prebiotics, as in the food for your microbiome or gut bacteria, approximately 3lb organ in your body that assists in regulating seratonin, preventing diseases, digesting food, other amazing functions

Recommended workout for optimal health: 45 minutes of sustained cardio 3x/week. Add stretches and muscle-building on other days.

xxx Sugar xxx: Sadly, ain’t we all addicted -#1 metabolism slower, big sugar interests are also creepy

 

Personal Favorites

Coffee: Fair trade, drunk black through a *reusable straw to preserve those pearly white – reduces cognitive decline, liver disease, melanoma, and oxidative stress in blood (disclaimer: perhaps biased evidence affirming my addiction)

Dancing: Burns more calories than running and increases social ties

Fasting: Eat only between hours of noon-9pm – higher functioning cognitive abilities, longer life-span, clean digestion

Grapefruit: blocks reuptake receptors that in turn, concentrates medicines in the body

Green tea: Add some coconut oil and enriched almond milk for a delicious matcha latte! – oil lines the stomach to prevent caffeine overload, almond milk has vitamin D for the Vegans

“Healthy” alcoholic drink: Tequila soda w/ lime (not tonic – which has similar stats to soda surprisingly)

Kombucha: a dank prebiotic

Pillz: B12, This Vegan Supplement, Piracetam – increase bloodflow in brain, Psyllium Husk – binds to toxins in bloodstream

Why Vegan?

December 10, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Seeing as I’m coming up on the anniversary of my first attempt at Veganism, I wanted to share my reasoning for this deprived, desolate lifestyle. Just kidding, it’s actually been pretty great! Small concession: Many of my friends know me as a “freegan”. This came about at Brea’s work party when I was trying to stick to my newfound Veganism by only eating crackers. To my demise, I crunched into buttery goodness, and rationalized eating vegetarian at social gatherings while only purchasing Vegan products (freeganism). However, I constantly strive to minimize my non-Vegan consumption to foods that will otherwise be spoiled, or in special social circumstances.

Some reasons why I choose to be a V:

Ability (economic, psychological, and physical)

Many people do not have the economic ability to be Vegan, and some critics cite this as a reason why Veganism cannot sustain humankind… right now. I completely recognize that there are people on every continent who must sustain on animal products (such as a rural farmer or people who already do not have food access) and I am in no way suggesting they should become Vegan. Fortunately, I live in a society where it is extremely easy to be Vegan in an affordable manner, that is still yummy and nutritional. This ability to lead a more developed lifestyle, is of course a huge privilege, and I would feel as though I were squandering it by not accessing the Vegan resources.

What are those cute cubes?

The psychological barrier is somewhat of an unspoken barrier as to why many people choose not to be Vegan. My occasional freeganism is evidence of the social-psychological difficulties, but there is also the portion of labels and commitments. After all, it is a relationship with food. Lastly, Veganism requires changing your concept of food and nutrition. I was definitely afraid of tofu at one point. I even had to ease into buying tofu by only buying braised tofu for a year (not economical).

Finally, the easiest scapegoat – the physical barrier. Aside from the physio-psychological barrier that people “need” animal products, there is the very real threat of not getting the proper nutrients. It definitely took me 2 months before I felt 100% on a Vegan diet. This, however, was the fault of lack of information (often not accessible and rarely not taught to us). We now know the food pyramid that the meat and dairy lobbyists sold us is a fucking SHAM, and I guarantee if you take the correct precautions and eat enough protein your body will run like an electric motor. Those may just be cravings…

Sustainability – Veganism reduces carbon emissions. Plants turn carbon into oxygen. Antiobiotic resistance.

Animals (Unnecessary Suffering) – I wouldn’t be opposed to eating an animal that had a perfectly healthy and happy life which died from natural causes. I am, however, opposed to the current, capitalist food production system that values the bottom-line of producing food over the animals’ short experience of life – which is simply miserable. One obvious manifestation of our cognitive dissonance in our ability to justify eating animals is how we call them a different name when they are a “food” product (pig=pork, cow=beef, bloody=rare). Call it what it is people. At least chicken=chicken I guess… but maybe that’s just because people don’t give a fuck about chickens.

P.S. The dairy industry is synonymous with veal industry.

Net sum (Positive) – I first read about this idea by the anti-natalist philosopher. Essentially, if something bad doesn’t happen, the net effect is good. If something good doesn’t happen, the net effect is neutral. Thus, if we don’t hurt animals, it is good. And if we miss out on the yummy food along the way, it is neutral. Therefore, net sum is positive.

Does it still have calories if it’s vegan?

Health – You live longer and have less heart disease. Evidence: forced Veganism in Western European countries due to Nazi confiscation of all animal products. By replacing meat calories with starchy grains and vegetables, the death rate in Denmark at this time dropped by 34%. In Norway, the lack of animal product consumption resulted in significantly fewer heart attacks and strokes. These rose again with the reintroduction of animal products after the war.

Independence – You aren’t a sheep following other sheep eating sheep because corrupt industries want you to.

Veganism is a sometimes challenging, daily political act based on an idealistic worldview. I believe many people don’t realize this, and perhaps when they think “vegans are talking about veganism again” , they completely  miss the discussion of politics such as social justice, food sovereignty, sustainability and most importantly DANK food.

out

 

 

-Nanarchy

The Platinum Rule

February 18, 2017 / / 0 Comments

So you know the Golden Rule, but do you know the Platinum Rule?

In short, treat others the way they want to be treated. Instead of assuming what people want, actually talk to them to find out how they want to be treated and make a conscious, understanding and respectful effort to behave accordingly.

Anyway, I thought the Platinum Rule could be a nice introduction to the topic of prosocial behavior, commonly known as altruism. Altruism is the act of putting someone else’s needs above your own. This process takes many forms and there are many theories in social psychology as to why people act altruistically…

Biologically – Altruism has been theorized and supported in research to be correlated with biological closeness between the altruist and the recipient. Thus, you are more likely to risk your life for others in your bloodline.

Intrinsically –  Batson’s Empathy-Altruism Theory states that we act for others because we are intrinsically good and feel empathy for others.

Selfishly – This is my is one of my favorite explanations for altruism: it is an ultimately selfish act. The logic goes that we, with our notions of self, often have cognitive dissonance in which we think we are awesome, kind people in our hearts… but can’t list any real reasons why. Hence altruism. This cynical view is that we do especially kind acts for others for our own selfish appraisals.

In my OP, it doesn’t really matter why you do something good (the motivation only really applies to negative outcomes). Whatever your reasoning, keep it up! Maybe if you do it enough you won’t even need a motive and helping others will just become a habit…

-Nanmund Freud

Special thanks to Dena Justice for giving me a proper education #platinumrule

 

Social Engineering – Why Scammers Are Scary

February 17, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Social engineering, essentially premeditated manipulation of people for a desired outcome, is commonly used to obtain confidential information by con artists aka frauds aka scammers. Sure we all know that these people know how to trigger you emotionally but three days ago I found out exactly HOW convincing scammers can be…

It began with a call from the IRS- the legitimate IRS Sacramento phone number.

Scammer: “Is this Nan Farley?”

Me: “Yes.”

Scammer:”Nan Farley, you are under criminal investigation, please hold while I transfer you to the officer in charge of your case…”

45 second hold to get my blood racing.

45 second hold to enact fight or flight. Too scared to fight, I’m now preparing to find the easiest way out.

Scammer #2: “Hi, Nan Farley, this is IRS Officer Justin Thomas. You are facing criminal charges for evading taxes on your education as per California tax code. If you do not take action to remedy this situation, you will be taken into custody, charged, will not receive any refunds, and your degree and credit score may be at risk. We have emailed you at your email *say my email* monthly for the past year. Did you commit this crime on purpose?”

Me: “Obviously not.”

Scammer #2:  “Do you understand the severity of the situation?”

Me: “Yes.”

Scammer #2: “Okay, if you did not purposefully withhold your money from the state of California and understand the ramifications if you continue to do so, are you prepared to take the actions necessary to remedy this situation?”

Me: “Obviously yes.”

Scammer #2: “Okay. This requires IMMEDIATE ACTION. I will now put you on the phone with the FBI officer who will explain the next steps.”

Pause story.

This is such classic speech and debate logic where you get the opponent to agree with you by setting foundational principles that they concede. Then, when the principles compound (like IMMEDIATE ACTION), the opponent has no choice but to agree.

Resume story.

Call dropped, new phone call from the legitimate FBI Sacramento phone number.

Scammer  #3: “Hi Nan Farley. This is FBI Agent So-and-So. Here is what you must do: Right now you need to get in your car and go to purchase coupons to pay the IRS. You will take them to the nearest IRS Office and pay the outstanding amount. That amount is *amount $100 within my credit limit*. However, since you did not commit these acts intentionally and this is your first offense you will be refunded *the majority*. You will then speak with an agent about how to avoid incidents like this in the future. Do you understand what you must do?”

Me: “Yes.”

Scammer #3: More detailed information about checking with my bank that I have enough, asking me personal information- but somehow them guessing within $100 of my available credit limit, and instructing me to go to Target to get the “IRS Coupons”.

I drive to Target (8 mins away).

Now I bet you’re thinking WHAT A SUCKER!

To a certain extent yes. By now I should’ve lawyered up. By now I should’ve hung up multiple times… but on the ACTUAL phone number of the IRS and FBI? On 3 different, very professional people? Better yet, when I get to Target, the manager of the store immediately instructs me to hang up the phone saying she has seen 4 other Berkeley students THAT WEEK.

So I’m running to the police station as they continue to call me non-stop and then…

I get a call from “Mom” in my phone.

Scammer #4 (female this time): “Hi Nan, this is Police Officer So-and-So. I have your mom here in custody.”

Me: “Can I talk to her?”

Scammer #4: “No. You understood that this was a matter of California law and if you are not going to pay the state we have to take you and anyone you depend on into custody.”

Me: “Okay well I’m headed to the police station now.”

I text my mom “MOM CALL ME”; she calls and goes, “Hey what’s up?”

So now I know the IRS will only contact you by mail.

More importantly, I learned a tough psychological lesson to question authority and see the green colored film of greed that many people have as a permanent filter on their vision. I still don’t think people are inherently bad, but social engineering is no doubt a real science where people can be PHYSICALLY hijacked if you EMOTIONALLY hijack them effectively.

#hobbeslockeanddropit

Is #blackmirror real life yet?

-N. Knight ShyamaNan

Crowd Behavior Thoughts and Tips

January 24, 2017 / / 0 Comments

All of these demonstrations have gotten me thinking a lot about crowds, mainly the crazy amount of energy people generate when they are together! My theory is that the energy of a group is somehow greater than the sum of each individual’s energy in the group. Here’s that in equation form:

J (group) > J (individual + individual + individual)

Sidenote: Joules (unit of energy) can be calculated in a few ways. This equation for Joules struck me as sociologically applicable for today’s movements…

…all you need is some resistance, time, and ohmmmmm.  

Anyway, here are some theories on crowd behavior that are actually backed by research:

In an emergency where there are more bystanders, people feel less responsibility, and thus action is less likely to be taken during critical moments (the bystander effect). How do we overcome this problem? Be BOSSY! If you see an emergency, point at someone/make eye contact and say “YOU, with the red shirt, call 911.” Then do the same for anything else that is needed in the situation. YOU, reader, don’t be an inactive bystander.

Somewhat similar to the bystander effect, is the experience of deindividuation: the experience of losing self-awareness because you feel more immersed in the crowd. At concerts, feeling deindividualized can be super fun! You might let loose dancing and not care who is watching.

In protests, however, this loss of self leads some people to behave in ways they normally wouldn’t (ex: breaking a window or walking on a car). Don’t get too caught up in the crowd to take responsibility for your actions, even if no one would notice.

At the same time that you might experience deindividuation while physically in a crowd, associating with groups actually helps us define ourselves psychologically… and can have some cool effects on our emotions.

Social identity theory states that our sense of self is tied to our group memberships. But that’s not all. If you have more ways of identifying yourself, you are less prone to having emotional fluctuation when one of your “selves” is both complimented and criticized. For example, if you only consider yourself a student and friend, you will experience extreme sadness if you are not excelling in one of these areas as it is half of your identity. By the same token, if you only consider yourself a student and a friend you will also feel extreme happiness when you get a good grade.

However, if you associate with many different notions of self (employee, daughter, best friend, dancer, activist, etc.) your emotions will fluctuate less when you fail or excel in one of these areas. Thus, it is better to have more categorizations to maintain a happy, constant, and diversified self. How many categories can you come up with for yourself?

This is all to say go out there; be parts of lots of groups and crowds. Hopefully you can do this now a bit more safely and with more psychological awareness.

-Nanmund Freud  aka  N. F. Skinner  aka  Nanaham Maslow

 

How to Edit CSS and Make Images/ PDFs Sit in a Row on a WordPress Page

January 22, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Want your images to be in a row without all of the plug-in hassle? I did too, but this took me quite a bit of time to perfect. Now you, WordPress beginner, can follow these 5 steps:

1. Go to your website (www.yourdomain.com) and click “Customize” in the top left.

2. Click “Additional CSS” on the left sidebar that appears.

3. Into the “Additional CSS” textbox COPY AND PASTE BELOW

/* Images in a Row */

.page-id-83 .post-content{
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
justify-content: space-between;
flex-flow: row wrap;

}

.page-id-83 .post-content img {
flex-basis: 17%;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
}

END COPY AND PASTE

Your code should look like this:

4. You have to make TWO changes to the code. First, you will have to change the page-id number in the “Additional CSS” text area (where you copy/pasted). Simply replace the 83 with your page’s ID. Here is how to find the page-id:

Be on the page you want to edit (www.yourdomain.com/pageyouareediting) and Right Click > “Inspect”. This will open your browser’s developer tool on the right sidebar. This contains all of the code for your website.

In the body section, you can find the page-id number. You will see it says page-id and a number unique to your page. Use this number (mine is 83 but yours will most likely be different).

 

 

5. Lastly, play around with the percentage for the flex-basis % in the “Additional CSS” text area (where you copy/pasted). Mine is set at 17% because I wanted 5 medium-sized images next to each other before they started a next row. If you want more images in one row, you will put a lower flex-basis % (ex: 10%). If you want fewer images in one row, you will use a higher flex-basis % (ex: 50%).

Voilà; you’re done!

 

Unless… you want to use PDFs (not images) like my Academic Writing page!

This process is a bit more lengthy. First, you need two awesome plugins. Install and activate PDF Image Generator and PDF Viewer.

Now, use this code INSTEAD in the “Additional CSS” box:

COPY AND PASTE BELOW

/*PDFs in a Row */

.page-id-83 .post-content{
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
justify-content: space-between;
flex-flow: row wrap;
}

.page-id-83 .post-content .wp-caption {
flex-basis: 17%;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
}

END COPY AND PASTE

Don’t forget to change the page-id number to your page’s unique identifying number and to adjust the flex-basis %. See above for those directions.

Ciao for now,

<3 Nan

 

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