Maritime countries agree first ever shipping emissions regulation

But campaigners warn rules only apply to new ships replacing older ones – and developing countries have six-year waiver

Guardian, John Vidal, environment editor, Monday 18 July 2011

Maritime countries have agreed to regulate shipping emissions – but
 campaigners warn the rules don't go far enough. Photograph: David
Levene for the Guardian

Countries have taken a first step towards reducing climate emissions from shipping with a global agreement to reduce energy use in new vessels from 2013 onwards.

The belated action on Friday by 55 of the world's biggest sea-faring nations meeting at UN's international maritime organisation in London will force all ships over 400 tonnes built after 2013 to improve their efficiency by 10%, rising to 20% between 2020 and 2024 and 30% for ships delivered after 2024. The first ever regulation of emissions in shipping is expected to lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions of 45-50m tonnes a year by 2020.

But China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Africa have secured a six and a half year delay for new ships registered in developing countries, which could mean the first guaranteed effective date of the reform will be in 2019. Shipping accounts for 3-4% percent of man-made CO2 emissions worldwide and this figure is expected to rise to 6% by 2020, with emissions doubling by 2050 if no action is taken. Shipowners, who traditionally do not pay for the fuel that their ships use, have long resisted any regulation despite increasing pressure from environmental groups and reformers within the industry.

Environmental NGOs welcomed the tightening of the energy efficiency design index (EEDI) standard but cautioned that because it only applies to new ships replacing older ones at the end of their long lives, the full effects of today's decision will take a long time to have any major impact. There is a significant danger, said some, that many shipowners will elect to have their new ships flagged in developing countries that provide a waiver.

"Today's decision should result in fuel savings of $5bn a year by 2020 and CO2 reductions of 22m tons. This is an unprecedented economic and environmental opportunity and the IMO has taken an important step forward", said Peter Boyd, COO of Carbon War Room.

If the same standards were applied to the existing fleet of more than 30,000 ocean-going ships it could save $50bn a year in fuel and 220m tons of CO2, he said.

"There will be no change to existing ships which are currently pumping out a billion tones of CO2 each year, and for new ships it will take another dozen years until the EEDI is really delivering benefits. Operational changes could be delivering major benefits today," said Jacqueline Savitz, the senior campaign director for the marine conservation NGO Oceana.

The efficiency improvements are expected to be met through better engine design, more efficient hull shapes, improved waste heat recovery systems and the use of hull coatings to make ships more "slippery".

The deal is not likely to satisfy the European Commission that the maritime organisation is successfully regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The EC is therefore expected to proceed with its threat to bring shipping into the Emissions Trading Scheme, as it is doing in aviation, where there have been recent legal challenges from non-European countries.

In a separate development on Friday, the European Commission said it plans to tighten ship fuel sulphur regulations, which should lead to public health savings of billions of dollars, especially in countries like Britain and Holland that border busy sea lanes. The proposal would cut the maximum permissible sulphur content of fuels to 0.1% from 1.5% from 2015 in sensitive areas such as the Baltic Sea and the Channel, and to 0.5% from 4.5% in all other areas from 2020.

Shipping burns some of the most polluting fuels, and the proposal is expected to fine particle emissions from ships by up to 80 percent, the commission said.

The expected cost to the shipping industry of the new standards is between €2.6bn and €11bn ($3.7-$15.6bn), which the EU executive argues would be far outweighed by public health savings, of up to €34bn

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Solar lanterns saving lives, lighting up Kenya

CNN News, by Emily Wither for CNN, July 15, 2011

It’s estimated that around a third Kenyans rely on kerosene lamps for
their lighting needs, but Kenyan company Solanterns is on a mission to
replace one million kerosene lanterns with solar-powered ones.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Around 75% of Kenyans rely on kerosene lamps for their lighting needs
• The smoke from kerosene lamps can lead to the development of respiratory illnesses
• Solanterns is aiming to replace one million kerosene lanterns with solar-powered ones
• The company says that each lantern will reduce CO2 emissions by 135 kilograms

(CNN) -- Every evening thousands of children in Kenya sit down and do their homework by kerosene-powered light.

However, the soot emitted from the burning lamps is not only an environmental hazard but the toxic fumes could be causing children serious harm and putting them at risk of respiratory illnesses.

Alice Njeri lives with her two sisters and their children in a suburb of Nairobi called Kayole. She says the indoor pollution can be difficult to live with.

"The Kerosene lamp emits smoke and gives my children eye problems and the smoke can bring them to tears," she said.

The United Nations Environmental Program says that in rural Kenya more women die of smoke-related illnesses than they do of malaria and tuberculosis. This smoke is from cooking and lighting fuels.

The inflammatory agents in kerosene lamps have been linked with everything from cancer to behavioral deficits. The lamps are also a safety risk as they can be easily knocked over and start fires in the home.

According to the CIA World Fact Book only a quarter of households in Kenya have electricity. It's estimated that around a third of Kenyans rely on kerosene lanterns for their lighting needs.

RELATED TOPICS

• Kenya
• Nairobi
• Global Climate Change

One company is on a mission to change this and is aiming to replace one million kerosene lanterns with solar-powered ones.

It's an ambitious project but one that the team feel can really make a difference to people living in rural Kenya who do not have access to electricity.

"The solar lights have a huge impact on health, education, productivity and overall improve the quality of people's lives," said Joseph Nganga from Solanterns, an initiative of Renewable Energy Ventures.

Its lanterns cost around $25 and are powered via a solar panel, which charges a lithium ion battery. Solanterns says it has reached over 1,500 households.

This was partly helped by USAID which bought and distributed 500 lanterns around Nairobi.

But the team still has a long way to go if it is to achieve its goal.

"We hope to expand access to solar lanterns through a wider product offering to meet different consumer needs and budgets," Nganga said.

"Critical to achieving our target of replacing one million kerosene lanterns with one million solar lanterns is consumer awareness," he added.

The company says that each lantern will reduce CO2 emissions by 135 kilograms and save 52 liters of kerosene over its lifetime.

This means that as well as the environmental benefits using solar lamps will save families money on fuel.

The organization estimates that over a three-year period families will save $140 in lighting costs, making solar lamps cheaper than kerosene lamps in the long-run.

Leah also lives in Kayole and has a son in his last year at primary school. She said: "With the way life is right now and high fuel prices I couldn't always manage to buy kerosene.

"Sometimes my child has homework that he couldn't do so the lantern has really helped me."

Solar lighting is also being credited with better grades for school children. According to Solantern's research, over half of children living in households with a solar lantern were able to study an extra two hours a night.

"My child's performance is different now because he could not do homework and study at night with the kerosene lamp," Leah added. "He performs much better now."

As well as using her solar lamp in the home, Njeri says that she uses it on her market stall in the evening. Its makers say it can lead to better sales at fruit and vegetable stands as produce is no longer spoiled by fumes from kerosene lamps.

"My kids tell me not to return to the kerosene lantern but to instead bury it," Njeri said.

Greenpeace report links western firms to Chinese river polluters

Supplier to Nike, Adidas, Puma, H&M and Lacoste accused of discharging dangerous chemicals into Chinese water systems

• Video: The toxic path of electronic waste

• In pictures: China blighted by industrial pollution

The Guardian, Jonathan Watts in Beijing, Wednesday 13 July 2011

A Chinese conglomerate supplying Nike, Adidas, Puma and other leading brands has discharged hormone-disrupting chemicals and other toxins into the country's major water systems, according to a new Greenpeace investigation that raises questions about corporate responsibility for the firms they do business with.

The environmental pressure group has also linked hazardous textile plants in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas to Lacoste, H&M and half a dozen other international fashion brands despite many of those companies' claims to set high environmental standards in their supply chains.

The allegations follow a series of high-profile pollution scandals at Chinese firms that provide materials for multinational corporations. Chinese environmental activists say these cases highlight the hypocrisy of western outsourcers who promise high safety standards for rich consumers at home even as they trade with firms that benefit from lax environmental regulations overseas.

In their one-year investigation into China's textile industry – the world's largest, with 50,000 mills – Greenpeace campaigners collected samples from factory discharge pipes and sent them for analysis at laboratories at Exeter University and in the Netherlands. They discovered a range of persistent pollutants in the wastewater from two major plants.

The Youngor facility in Ningbo, near Shanghai, was found to have discharged nonylphenol, an endocrine disruptor that builds up in the food chain, perfluorinated chemicals, which can have an adverse effect on the liver and sperm counts, as well as a cocktail of other toxins.

These chemicals were detected in small quantities, but they are hard to break down so they tend to accumulate in nature to dangerous levels. Many were found in fish during an earlier study of toxins in the Yangtze food chain. Although the chemicals are not yet illegal in China, they are banned in the EU and many developed nations.

Youngor is China's biggest integrated textile firm and boasts some of the country's most advanced technology for dyeing, weaving and printing. Its Ningbo plant is also home to an in-house research centre and a Japanese-made sewage treatment system.

Greenpeace says Nike, Adidas, Puma, H&M and Lacoste have confirmed a business relationship with Youngor though all denied making use of the plant's wet processes, which are likely to be responsible for the pollution discharges into the Fenghua river.

Adidas said its only relationship with the Youngor is for the cutting and sewing of fabrics. "Adidas does not source fabrics from Youngor Group, which would involve the use of dyestuffs, chemicals and their associated water treatment processes," the company said in a statement. "We continue to engage with Greenpeace and have offered our full support and cooperation.

In response to questions from the Guardian, Puma also said its involvement was limited to a non-polluting subsidiary that it regularly audited. "Our relationship to Youngor Group is, according to our information, restricted to the ready-made garments factory Youngor Knitting, which is not involved in any discharges into the Fenghua and does not operate any industrial wet processes. We are currently in contact and discussion with Greenpeace and open for further cooperation on our chemicals policies."

H&M said its business partner, Ningbo Youngor Yingchen Uniform, was a discrete legal entity within the Younger International Garment City complex that did not contribute to discharges into the Fenghua river. The company said its code of conduct only applied at suppliers with which it had a business relationship.

"However, we share the general concern about discharges of hazardous chemicals into the environment," H&M said. "That is why we run a set of activities and procedures to limit and eliminate hazardous chemicals and improve overall environmental standards throughout our value chain and the entire industry."

Greenpeace says the foreign firms need to insist upon higher standards throughout their supply chains. In addition, the group says the brands have a moral obligation to phase out hazardous chemicals not just in the final product sold to first-world consumers but also in the industrial process that affect workers and the environment in developing nations.

"These companies are doing business with a polluter. We are not accusing them of being evil, we are challenging them to take the lead on eliminating toxins," said Li Yifang, who headed the investigation at the Greenpeace China office. "There is no safety limit for these chemicals because they accumulate. So we ask Nike and the others to help phase them out over a reasonable time frame. That would send a signal to the whole industry."

The other polluter accused in the report was Well Dyeing Factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, which is said to have discharged a range of heavy metals, including chromium and copper, in addition to alkylphenols, nonylphenols and other organic chemicals.

Greenpeace noted the factory released hazardous effluent into the Shiji River at night – a common practice by factories in China that want to avoid scrutiny from governmental inspectors.

Many other factories are likely to be guilty of even worse pollution but their activities go undetected because they bury their discharge pipes or mix their emissions with the effluent from other industrial plants. Greenpeace says it has approached both Chinese firms with its findings. Youngor has reportedly agreed to work with the environmental group to eliminate toxic chemicals, while Well Dyeing has denied it has a problem.

China has been the world's biggest exporter of textiles since 1995, but other industries have made a big impact on the economy and environment. Last year, a coalition of Chinese environmental groups traced a link between lead and cadmium contamination scandals and the production of materials for mobile phone batteries and computer circuit boards for foreign technology companies. In a follow-up study earlier this year, the activists reporteddischarge violations at several Chinese firms that are thought to be part of Apple's supply chain.

Many foreign firms privately complain that environmental groups hold them to higher standards than their Chinese counterparts, which undermines their competitiveness. The campaigners respond that the big companies profit from their brand reputation and thus have a greater responsibility to set a positive example.

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Japan PM Naoto Kan urges nuclear-free future

BBC News, 13 July 2011

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Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called for his country to develop into a nuclear-free society, amid rising public anger at the continuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Protesters have targeted Naoto Kan for
criticism on the nuclear issue

In a televised news conference, Mr Kan said his government would try to phase out nuclear energy in stages.

The 11 March earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima plant, which continues to leak radioactive material.

A large section of public opinion has turned against nuclear power.

About 30% of Japan's electricity was nuclear generated before the Fukushima crisis, and the country had targeted raising that figure to 53% by 2030.

But Mr Kan had already said this commitment should be scrapped.

On Wednesday, he went a step further, saying: "We will aim at realising a society which can exist without nuclear power."

The prime minister, who has been under immense pressure to resign, has slumped to his lowest level of popularity since he took office just over a year ago.

According to the latest opinion polls, just 16% of the population believe he is doing a good job.

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Abu Dhabi hosts Africa meeting on renewable energy

The Associated Press, by MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer, 8 July 2011

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — African governments should consider investing in renewable energies like wind, solar and hydro power to help feed the continent's growing energy demands and combat threats of climate change, the head of a new international energy agency said Friday.

Adnan Amin also told nearly 30 African energy and foreign affairs ministers at the start of a two-day meeting that the key to ramping up renewable energy deployment was for countries to develop regulatory framework needed to convince institutional investors it's safe to put their money into these cutting edge technologies.

"If Africa continues to grow at pace it is growing and intensifies that growth and uses only carbon-emitting forms of energy, it will exponentially change the picture on climate change and make it much worse," said Amin, a Kenyan who is director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency.

"We need right now to start making the kinds of investment that will lead Africa on a very different path," he said.

There is a global push to reduce dependence on traditional forms of energy like oil and coal as part of efforts to combat global warming and keep temperatures from rising more than 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) above preindustrial-era levels, which could trigger catastrophic climate impacts.

Until now, African has largely been left on the sidelines of discussions about climate change, mostly because its poor nations only use 5 percent of the world's energy.

But that thinking is beginning to change, as Africa's economy picks up steam and demands intensify to provide electricity to the more than half a billion mostly rural residents who live without it. There is also a push in Africa to find cleaner sources of energy, since almost half now come from burning wood and charcoal.

Rajendar Pachauri, who chairs the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the meeting in Abu Dhabi that he sees great potential for renewable energy in Africa, especially hydro, solar and wind.

He said renewables will be cheaper than traditional sources and that Africa has an abundance of land that could be used to solar and wind farms.

"The potential is enormous," he said on the sidelines of the meeting. "Given the fact we have over 500 million people without access to electricity, that is huge niche market that could be tapped in an economically viable way. If you would provide this section of society with electricity from the grid, it would turn out to be far more expensive."

Ministers and officials from the African Union and African development agencies all talked up the potential for renewables, with many saying the best hopes lie with hydro power in countries with large rivers, geothermal in Kenya's Rift Valley and solar almost everywhere on the continent.

Sugarcane producing countries could also burn the refuge to produce energy in a process known as biogas.

"We have sun in abundance and that is an area we can tap," Gambia's Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara said. "The initial investment is very high but in terms of sustainability and the long term impact, renewable energy is the way forward for Africa."

Saving energy and making money with 'useless' crop waste

RNW, 1 July 2011, by Johan van Slooten

(Photo by Ashden Awards)

Cotton farmers in the Indian state of Gujarat are supplementing their incomes - and helping the environment - by selling once-worthless crop by-products as fuel.

A local energy company has found a novel way to turn the leftovers into small pellets which are then sold as a cheap replacement for coal. “These pellets have a positive social, economic and environmental impact,” says Abellon CleanEnergy Limited.

Pankaj Patel, president of Abellon, says most cotton farmers in the Gujarat region (which is one of the world’s largest cotton growing regions) used to simply burn the debris or let it break down on their land. The volume of by-products is relatively high in the cotton industry, which means hundreds of tonnes of material is burnt in the open air during harvesting season.

Unhealthy smoke

“The farmers need to get rid of it. They burn it in open fields, which results in unhealthy smoke and fumes. That’s not good for humans or animals who live in the region. It’s a big health and environmental problem, but most people thought it was inevitable as there’s not much you can do with the residue.”

This problem led to Abellon’s idea to turn the residue into pellets.

“We found that burning the residue produces a lot of energy, even more than coal does. It just burns better. So it’s very attractive for industries that need a lot of energy in their production process. They don’t even have to modify their energy burning systems.”

Abellon collects the cotton biomass in the many villages in the Gujarat region, where it’s shredded into small pieces. From there it’s transported to a regional processing plant where the biomass is treated and cut into small pellets. These are sold to the industry as fuel.

Local level

“We specifically operate on a small, local level,” says Mr Patel. “Our people approach the farmers in their village, on the crossroads in the village centre. There we display the price we’re paying. The farmers bring their crop residue and we pay them money – it’s as simple as that.”

Abellon's local representatives work in small zones. “No farmer has to travel more than five kilometers to bring their material,” says Mr Patel. “If they have to travel ten kilometers or more, they simply can’t be bothered. You have to make it a little easy for them to cooperate.”

Watch a video on this project here (produced by the Ashden Awards). Story continues below.

Benefits

Most farmers are happy to cooperate, especially since the money is relatively good. But Mr Patel admits that the ecological benefits may be a little less important to them.

“Most of these farmers don’t know much about global warming. But they do know about local pollution. They know what it’s like if you burn this residue in the open air and what it does to the air quality. Many people suffered from respiratory illnesses.”

With that in mind, it didn’t take much for Abellon to convince the farmers to collect the residue rather than burning it.

Expand

Abellon now operates ten local collection centres, which gather the by-products for two plants. In all, it employs over 200 people.

“Currently we produce 65,000 tonnes of pellets every year. But we’d like to expand to the rest of India and possibly abroad as well. We expect to produce 500,000 tonnes of pellets in a few years time.”

The ecological benefits are big: burning one tonne of biomass pellets instead of the same volume of coal saves 1.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide. With the current annual production level of 65,000 tonnes of pellets, Abellon saves approximately 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Award

Recently, Abellon was awarded the prestigious Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy, for achieving such a high reduction of carbon dioxide in the region.

“As a company, we focus on carbon dioxide reduction and on doing something good for the local economy. And if our work also means that farmers make a bit of money out of material that used to be rendered useless, than that’s a nice side benefit. But to us, the ecological benefits are our prime concern.”

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ExxonMobil oil spill in US river prompts evacuations

The Jakarta Post, Associated Press, Montana, The United States, Sun, 07/03/2011

An ExxonMobil pipeline that runs under the Yellowstone River in Montana ruptured Saturday and leaked hundreds of barrels of oil into the waterway, causing a 25-mile (40-kilometer) plume that fouled the riverbank and forced municipalities and irrigation districts downstream to close intakes.

The break in south-central Montana led to temporary evacuations of hundreds of residents along a 20-mile (32-kilometer) stretch. Cleanup crews deployed booms and absorbent material as the plume moved downstream at around 7 mph (10 kph).

The river has no dams on its way to its confluence with the Missouri River just across the Montana border in North Dakota. It was unclear how far the plume might travel.

"The parties responsible will restore the Yellowstone River," Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said.

ExxonMobil spokeswoman Pam Malek said the pipe leaked an estimated 750 to 1,000 barrels of oil for about a half-hour before it was shut down. Other Exxon officials had estimated up to 42,000 gallons (158,982 liters) of crude oil escaped.

Duane Winslow, Yellowstone County director of disaster and emergency services, said the plume was dissipating as it moved downstream. "We're just kind of waiting for it to move on down while Exxon is trying to figure out how to corral this monster," Winslow said.

"The timing couldn't be worse," said Steve Knecht, chief of operations for Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, who added that the plume was measured at 25 miles (40 kilometers) near Pompeys Pillar National Monument. "With the Yellowstone running at flood stage and all the debris, it makes it dang tough to get out there to do anything."

Brent Peters, the fire chief for the city of Laurel said about 140 people in the Laurel area were evacuated early Saturday due to concerns about possible explosions and the overpowering fumes. He said they were allowed to return at about 4 a.m. after fumes had decreased.

Winslow said hundreds or residents downstream were told to evacuate in the early morning hours as authorities knocked on doors, but it's unclear how many did.

In a statement, ExxonMobil said it was sending a team to help with cleanup, and that state and federal authorities had been alerted to the spill. The ExxonMobil Pipeline Company "deeply regrets this release," it said.

An emergency response crew in Laurel, Montana, clean a section of
the Yellowstone river affected by the ExxonMobil oil spill. Photograph: Reuters

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"The Quantum Factor - Physics with an attitude!" - Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

LIVE KRYON CHANNELLING - This live channelling was Given in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

April 10, 2011

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Often what happens live has implied energy within it, which carries a kind of communication that the printed page does not. So enjoy this enhanced message given in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, April 10, 2011.

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. And so the message this evening is the same as it was the evening before, and depending upon that which my partner does will determine that which is then developed as an audio transcription - for I gave it to him last night for the first time so that he would understand these things and would not be a surprize today. So in that, there comes a greater understanding and a better wisdom, for the things that we wish to present this evening are new to some.

We speak now about a premise that we have not spoken of before in this detail, so perhaps it will be a bit unbelievable. It is a premise that has to do with physics, but also everything to do with you. It is a premise that has to do with the energy that you sit in now.

A few moments ago when we opened this door, we asked, "Is the man in the chair pretending?" [speaking of Lee channelling]. We asked that so that you would have discernment and you would know truth, for here is a message that will go to the core of reality. Here is a message that is unbelievable to some, so because of its nature, we bring you the practical part as well. We fill a little of it with your science - that three-dimensional aspect that will anchor things that might sound unbelievable. We present to you that which some day your scientists will see, but which some of them are beginning to see today. They are not understanding totally what it could mean, or how it works or what truly is the core meaning of it. But you can't deny it's there. So in order to do this properly, we will present it in pieces and parts.

The Overview

Here's the premise: As you open the door to understanding that which is quantum in your science, you are going to discover a new kind of physics that is always benevolent in its attributes. That is to say, you're about to open a door and look at something that is not linear and that has a bias - the bias of benevolence. Is it possible that there is an actual energy in physics that is biased benevolently? This really doesn't make sense, because physics is supposed to be a system of laws, relationships, and not a system with any kind of consciousness.

So the puzzle before you is many fold, but first it is one where you have to now assume that the quantum world might have an added attribute that is beyond just a "set of rules." How could a "system" be biased? This is going to sound like science, but it is not all the science you expect. We want to give you this information because it ties in with the creative energy that you are experiencing now, dear Human Being.

Quantum Definition

It is difficult to know how to begin and difficult to know how to explain this in a way that you will actually understand. So let us start with this. Your science believes at the moment that quantum physics has to do with the way small particles react to each other. These would be particles that are so small; they are even particles of light, molecules of DNA, and other products of the wave particle theory. These are so small, you have to see them under an electron microscope. This is what you call quantum mechanics and it's only being seen within the very small.

Here is a puzzle already. Did you know that light and other matter regularly changes from waves to particles? Did you know that light changes to a particle when it is being observed by a Human Being? Now, how can a mathematical system "sense" that it is being observed? Already you know that quantum energy might just be very different than anything you thought. What if it isn't physics at all? What if quantum energy is "the creator's fingerprint"? It would be physics and also have a consciousness. But then, perhaps that's just too strange?

The Large Quantum Energy of the Galaxy

I'm going to give you information to think about. The quantum energy you see in the very small also occurs in the very large. In fact, we'll even go so far as to tell you that physics is actually different in different parts of the Universe, depending on what is at the center of each galaxy. Let's start with that premise - that physics is not a set standard of universal rules. It varies depending on the quantum stamp of the creator energy of each one. Some of them are very similar, but all of them are slightly different. And if you could know the differences, you'd wonder why, and I just told you - it's what's in the middle.

Because your physics is mainly 3D, you have difficulty with how things really work. And quantum physics is the only clue you have to a multi-verse and the possibility that some laws of mass and gravity are determined by what happens in the middle of each galaxy. The creation energy is in the middle. That bipolar energy, that push/pull that we have called "the twins" are in the middle of your galaxy. You see it in 3D as a singularity - which, by the way, is impossible - but it's really a double event. Science doesn't know that yet. So we give this to you so that when they discover it, you can say you heard it here. It will then give credibility to everything else I'm going to say. By the way, how is it, when everything in your physics comes in pairs, even your current laws of physics, that you create a singularity in the middle of the galaxy? Did anyone consider that it could be another pair?

Let us start with the astronomer and ask, "Dear Astronomer, do you believe in God?" The astronomer will think for a moment and might then say, "I am not one to define divinity. It's not my science. I might believe in God, but that's not my study, for I deal in the scientific method." So you might ask him instead, "All right, what do you see that is scientifically interesting to you about our galaxy?" This is where the astronomer may get a bit excited and say, "All right, I will tell you what is interesting to all of us. We've discovered something we don't understand. There are physical principles in large things that do not apply to orbital mechanics as you have learned them within Newtonian and Euclidian physics. It's odd to us that the galaxy moves as one plate, almost like the stars were pebbles glued upon it. It all rotates together. There has to be some kind of energy that holds that form. For orbital mechanics as we know them have to do with gravity and mass and orbiting objects around a fulcrum, such as our sun, and it creates orbits that are all different. All objects around a gravitational center seek their orbits based upon mass and speed. That's why all the planets have different orbits. It's the physics that we expect. That's what our solar system does. But not a galaxy. Galaxies have something in the middle that must be gravity based, yet everything moves around the center as one. There is some kind of gravitational or attractive unity there. We don't understand it."

The Incredible Design - Against All Odds

But that's not all. Then they will tell you something that you cannot believe. It has to do with what you call random chance. So we're going to call this channelling, "The Quantum Factor." There is something you didn't expect that is happening all around you. In your three-dimensional reality, everything that happens on the earth seems to be in a random state. That is to say, reality responds in an expected bell-shaped curve. Common things happen more often than uncommon things. The odds take a shape of expected randomness. If you were to roll a dice over and over thousands of times, you would see a consistency of randomness that is what you call the way things work. That's what you expect. There's no bias to it.

Back to the astronomer - the astronomer is saying, "Everywhere we look, examining what you would call ‘the creating energy of the Universe', is incredibly mathematically improbable. It would be like if you rolled the dice and you got six and then six and then six, a thousand times. It is beyond the realm of randomness. It shows there had to be intelligent design." Now I'm not talking about a metaphysical person. I'm talking about an astronomer. Everywhere they look, against all odds, the Universe is benevolently designed for life. They've used the term "intelligent design." I use the term "benevolent design." And I will tell you that the energy that glues the solar systems of your galaxy together, more than 100 billion stars, is a giant quantum hand that sits upon all the galaxies of your Universe like the hand of God. It's a quantum, benevolent hand.

How can this be? It is the first of many examples we are going to give you, for this is the quantum factor, the very creator fingerprint of the Universe. It is biased in love, biased for life, biased in benevolence. Here you are, sitting on an earth that shouldn't actually exist, for the only thing that allows it to exist is intelligent design.

How long did it take for science to realize this? For them, it's a puzzle, not a divine statement. It's out of statistical probability and seems to only have been possible by design - a benevolence that is the creator energy of the Universe. Think of that. What does this mean to you? If there is a benevolence in the overall creation of the Universe allowing for life, allowing for this earth to exist, it means that other earths exist. There's life everywhere! We told you that many times. However, we sit on a very special earth - the planet that is the only planet of free choice anywhere. There's only one in every Universe, and there have been other planets of free choice before. There are also graduate planets of free choice, providing the seeds of life to other planets, which then become new planets of divine free choice.

So here you are, the creative energy in you has the wisdom of the ages. It is the wisdom of the ages of your galaxy, not of your earth. Others before you in the billions of years that this galaxy has existed have participated in other tests of consciousness. They have graduated to new levels of benevolence, passing it on to the next planet. It is a long-term event, and eventually you will do the same. In this way, you populate the galaxy with your own seeds and the seeds of those before you - seeds of divine purpose.

As you pass this benevolence, it actually shapes the next Universe and how intelligent the design will be. It has been around a long time to get to this place where physics can be shown to have an attitude. It is an attitude of benevolence. That's the big picture. Let's move to a medium one.

The Only Sustainable Quantum Energy on the Planet

Let me take you to an experiment over a decade ago. Two men in Scotland were involved - a physicist and a medical doctor. The medical doctor is Dr. Todd Ovokaitys, my partner's colleague. What a coincidence these two men of science met in this lifetime [Kryon smile]. The physicist and the medical doctor were the first to co-develop a sustainable, coherent, controllable, repeatable, quantum event. That is to say, they have an invention that creates quantum energy that can be sustained, repeated, and used. They've done it by opposing laser energies out of phase through what we would call a quantum holographic lens arrangement. An actual shift of time occurs and that coherent quantum soup, although very small, is controllable and can be repeated, manipulated, and delivered where they want it to go.

Now, they're not the first Humans on the planet to create quantum energy. But they're the first ones to create one that is designed and repeatable. The first Human to create quantum energy was Nikola Tesla. He couldn't control it, but he knew it was there and had seen it over and over within his magnetic experiments.

What the physicist and the doctor did over the next decade showed the quantum factor, for they then applied this designed quantum soup that they had invented to biology. Every time they imbued this energy into a biological test or experiment, they got healing! Think of it. What are the odds that you would develop some kind of an energy on the planet and wherever you pointed it, it healed? What are the odds of that? It's like rolling six and then six and then six. Are you starting to see a pattern?

When this quantum energy is able to be reproduced in other laboratories, there will be those (and there always are) who will try to weaponize it. Here is something you should know: It will be the first energy every discovered that won't allow this. It can't be weaponized because it is benevolent. Imagine, a quantum energy that's just simply physics, but which has an attitude! What does that tell you? It should show you that there's something going on within high physics that is more than math and attributes of matter.

In time, the quantum factor will be discovered on this planet. When it is, it will be highly controversial, and it's going to fly in the face of logic and 3D and the way things work via the scientific method. The ramp-up to all this is difficult. The old souls in front of me have signed on to work this new energy and they've waded through lifetimes, just waiting for this. What would you do as a scientist if the experiments before you had "a mind of their own"? What would you think if magnetics, gravity and light could only be assembled in a certain way that created healing and never a destructive alignment? All this is going to redefine some of the basic forces in the Universe. Intelligent design is only the first, and even today many astronomers and physicists still think it's an anomaly.

That will be the next largest discovery on the planet. It's been held back from you because it takes a higher vibrating consciousness to create and understand it. When any planet discovers a quantum energy and is able to use it, you could go to that planet and know that you will meet high-consciousness entities. This has never been given to you before that, for within the quantum factor contains the secret of interplanetary travel using large, entangled states. There are ways of doing things you never thought could happen. You can throw away your rocket ships. You're on the edge of that.

DNA - A Quantum Force

Now let me take you to the very small. Over a decade ago, Vladimir Poponin, a Russian scientist, used light in an experiment with one molecule of DNA. Through this experiment, he discovered a multidimensional field around DNA. Light patterned itself into a mathematical equation [sine wave] when DNA was present. He discovered that DNA had a quantum field. Not only that, it was a quantum field somehow filled with information. How else could the field pattern light into a sine wave? Now, this came from a quantum biologist, not Kryon. Yet there are many who doubt this experiment ever happened, since it shows something that no Human expected. There are those who simply don't wish to look at the fact that real quantum biologists did a real experiment! They chose to relegate all that information to the new age and not to science. It's always interesting what Humans do with science, isn't it? If it doesn't fit the 3D model of their reality, then they deny it exists.

When the full Human genome was transcribed, every single chemical in it was seen. The numbers are shocking, for in a molecule that is so small you cannot see it without an electron microscope, there are more than 3 billion chemicals! The double helix is more complex than you know. This molecule is small enough to be qualified to be in a quantum state, and Vladimir Poponin showed that it actually had a field around it, even a single DNA molecule.

Those who did the Human Genome Project wanted to know how the 3 billion chemicals of DNA create more than 26,000 genes of the Human body. By the way, there are more genes than that, but I'm using the scientists' numbers, not mine. So this is what they were interested in. They did not see DNA in a quantum state. They were not looking for that, even though the very science of DNA shouts with logic that it has to be quantum. They weren't looking for that. Instead, they counted chemicals and looked for codes, and they found them in a very odd arrangement.

They discovered that of the 3 billion chemicals in the DNA double helix, all the genes were being created in the protein-encoded parts of DNA. Three and a half percent of DNA was creating all the genes. More than 90% of the chemical makeup of DNA seemed to be random. It did absolutely nothing - that they could see or understand. Even to this day, science does not see the obvious, that the 90% is quantum and the 3.5% is linear.

Today, your quantum physicists are often dealing with ten dimensions plus time (11 dimensions) in the most popular kind of multi-dimensional physics, string theory. If you began to ask them about what this all looks like, they would say the words, "chaos" and "random patterning." For this is the way that quantum fields work. They are filled with potentials instead of absolutes, and they vary depending on many factors... including Human consciousness. Someday there will be the realization there is a strong possibility that DNA, although a biological molecule, is in a quantum state. This will break the rules of "size" in a quantum state. For it actually is "mostly quantum," and even affects the spin of the atoms that enter its field. Then the next obvious question will occur: "What information is in the ninety percent of DNA that is quantum?"

Now we get to the core truth, don't we? So I will tell you. The ninety percent of DNA which is quantum, is filled with information, both esoteric and timeless. It is a quantum blueprint for everything you are and have been since you arrived on the planet the first time. DNA contains instruction sets for your life; everything from your full Akashic Record - every single lifetime you have had - to the benevolent creator's fingerprint within the seeds of creation itself. Every single talent you ever had is there, even if you don't have any of those today... the record is there. Every predisposition of weakness and strength are there. Biologically, every single instruction to every single stem cell is there.

Did you ever wonder where stem cells get their "information" to make the Human Being? It's in the 90% of your DNA, and it's all quantum. Why do some quantum DNA contain instructions to create weaker bodies? Why is it that some predispositions for disease are there? Now I'm giving you this information so that you will understand something that is coming next... perhaps the most important biological attribute ever presented.

DNA is a Dynamic Molecule, not a static one.

Humanity is stuck in the 3D portion of their biological thinking. In your 3-D life, you simply accept the chemistry you're given. You act as though the three percent gene producing part is all there is. You believe it is a chemical protocol that is unchangeable and simply "you." You don't see it for the way it's designed. It's dynamic and always has been. It's not set, but will continue to simply repeat what it does unless there is another quantum influence on it.

Therefore you live with the 3 percent as though it were all there is, and since it just "came with your body" and seems to control everything, you never talk to it. Many of you come in with pre-dispositions based upon the karma which is put upon you from your past lives. You don't come in clean [without karmic energy]. Instead, you arrive with pre-dispositions, fears and phobias. Some are positive. Perhaps you come in as a prodigy continuing your last life... the 8-year-old who can paint like a master and do brushstrokes that take 30 years to develop. What does that tell you about what must be in the DNA?

Perhaps you come in as the composer, the pianist, the prodigy, the violinist, just waiting until your hands can go on the fingerboard or can reach up and fret the notes. Perhaps you come in knowing how to play the piano, just waiting for your hands to get big enough to do what you used to do... without any lessons. How do you explain that, dear ones? The answer is that all this is contained in the dynamic quantum instruction sets of your DNA... the part you never talk to it.

Cell Division - a static process?

Let me take you to the cellular division process. We've said this before, but you need to hear this to understand how it works. A cell is ready to divide. The Human body is designed to rejuvenate... all tissue. You've been told that there's some tissue that does not rejuvenate, but that is incorrect. It all rejuvenates at different speeds at different times and in different ways. It rejuvenates. So now you know that the Human body is designed to live a long time. Unfortunately, the energy that you have created on this planet and what you've gone through, has beat it up. You don't live much more than 80 years. That was not the design.

The Biblical personalities were sometimes prophets and sometimes masters and sometimes just there... and lived for hundreds of years. Did they really? Or perhaps this is that just a metaphor? Did they get that right in the Bible without a error in transcription? I'm going to tell you the truth. It's very accurate. Thousands of years ago you lived a very long time, Lemurian. If you knew your lifespan, you'd gasp. But not anymore. Instructions have been given over time to DNA, literally, by the energy of the planet... en energy that you have created through consciousness.

A cell divides. Right before it divides, it needs the blueprint to clone itself. The blueprint is available from the stem cell. The stem cell gets its information from the quantum part of the DNA, which has never changed since you were born. It's remained static, since nothing has ever changed it... and the fact that you don't believe it's changeable and have just accepted aging. There's not a conscious effort to do anything with it, and it just lays there like it always did.

The diving cell "talks" to the stem cell and says, "Do the same thing you always did? Change anything?" And the stem cell talks to the cell that is dividing, saying, "Make another one just the same." Then you rejuvenate just like the last one, accepting everything you received when you were born.

There's another quantum energy on the planet that has the quantum factor... the Great Shift. It is a benevolence that you have created, and that is new. You now sit in a revolutionary change and some of you are aware it and feeling it. It is the shift of Human consciousness and it's shifting right into the quantum factor, since you are becoming more quantum in your consciousness... and it is becoming benevolent. That is why you're seeing this earth react the way it is.

You're starting to see those who will not allow the old systems. You will no longer have dictators. Citizens all over earth want control over lives. They don't want war. They want their families to be safe! They want peace and abundance. They want their grandchildren to have hope for a better life than they had. You're starting to see it over and over in these places that have had dictators for years.

The question was asked, "When will Africa be included in this? Will it have benevolent revolution?" So again I will tell you about the next generation. Guess who's going to be there to make sure this happens? The man in the chair! [speaking of Lee] This is his choice, and he's is ready. He will have black skin, as he has before, and he's going to be right where he needs to be.

Seventy-five years from now, he'll be there ready to go, and he's not going to be a channeller. There's no way to prove that, is there? He won't know who he used to be, either... but he'll just know what he's supposed to do. Like the prodigy, it's written in his DNA, and he wrote it! He won't be alone, for there are those he knows who will be there too. Perhaps even the doctor? (speaking of Dr. Todd Ovokaitys). So karmically, you often travel together, except my partner has dropped his karma! So then what happens? The answer is free choice and control of who you will become. He will arrive "ready to play a part in a benevolent, unified Africa."

By then, there's going to be a healed Africa, ripe and ready to develop one of the most abundant and resource-filled continents this planet has ever seen... without any history that is democratic. They won't have to unlearn anything! They could start from nothing. They can take the best of any system that they've ever seen and build it. Africa will become one of the most abundant continents in the world. And, by the way, they're going to have one currency. [Kryon smile]

Some say, "Well, what about China? They're very large. Look at what they've done." So I again say, look at what they have to unlearn. They must rewrite thousands of years of culture in order to change. Africa will only have the history that you see today. Sickness, disease, dictators... and survival. There will be no establishment to remember or rewrite. It will be original... and benevolent! This is benevolent energy on the planet working in synchronicity for you. Did you ever wonder how energy can be developed like this? Because it loves you and it has an attitude!

The Great Shift

Here's what you should know: Within this shift of Human consciousness, you're starting to receive the quantum factor of benevolence in Human consciousness. That is to say, human nature is becoming more and more benevolent, What this also means is that you are now able to interface with another quantum field... a field around you called the Merkabah, which is your DNA's field. This will create "a confluence of quantumness interfacing with another." I don't know if you know what that means in physics, but I will tell you. What you think, you create.

So, what is the first thing you wish to create, Human? How about rewriting your DNA potentials... the quantum parts that talk to the stem cells and allow you to live longer lives? How'd you like to live another hundred years? Every time I ask that, Humans give me standard old energy, 3-D answers... and I just heard it here. "Not me! I don't want to look that way. It's bad enough what I look like now. I'll be old and infirm. Also, Earth just won't support it. The population will be too big. It's not a responsible thing to do. We won't even be able to feed that many."

Oh, how 3-D of you! Do you see your bias?

The one who has seen black and white all their lives is afraid of color. What will we do with all that? It will be confusing. It will distract us. We won't even know what to do with it! We might even self-destruct

What if... just what if... you also became wiser as well? What if you started to control that which is your population and the use of the earth's resources in a better way. What if you stopped using up the resources of earth and depended instead upon the ocean for power as we told you how to do? What if you decided to dig a hole and make steam out of the heat that's below your feet, instead of building a nuclear reactor? What if you finally realized that nuclear reactors are the world's most expensive and dangerous steam engines! There are lots of ways of making steam that will not hurt one animal, or molecule of air, and the process lays there ready for your discovery. What if you became benevolent and responsible, and GAIA supported the balance of your numbers? What a concept!

What is the second thing you might wish to change? How about creating peace on the planet? Believe it or not, this is actually in progress and has been for over 50 years!

Changing what is in your DNA

Stems cells are only one thing to change in your DNA. What about your emotional engrams... the energy which allows consciousness? There are those in this room that need to hear this. Who is it you won't forgive? Who is it you think has etched in to your life something that you can never forget, and that you wake up every day with it? I know who's here. Remember... when a cell divides, let us call it a brain cell, it asks, "The same or different?" Have you talked to your cells about this? Do you want this in your life forever? "The same or different?" Your DNA can become more benevolent if you wish it to. It's more peaceful, if you want it to. Even an event, which caused that groove of horror to be etched into your brain that you feel can never be forgotten, can be rewritten into balance! Do you see what we are telling you? You are in control! Are you paying attention? You can rewrite anything. That's the power of the Human being in this new energy.

The Old Soul has the Experience

In this new energy, old souls will pick this up first. Perhaps you are an old soul... wise on the planet, and you begin to start changing. Others around you will see it in youq2w3e4r5t6y7u8i9... perhaps even a change in Human nature, and they'll say, "What have you got? I want it." What will you say?

You don't ever have to give them a Kryon book! You never have to say one word about your belief system. Instead, they watch you work with other Humans beings; they watch you love others who are seemingly unlovable. They watch you care about people who you could never care about before.

Human nature becoming more benevolent? Perhaps you start to see it in areas you never thought you'd see it. Politics will begin to change. The way you do business starts to change. What you expect of each other becomes more peaceful, and less abrasive. Oh, dear ones, there will always be those who are unbalanced. There will always be that which you cannot control. There will always be Human free choice, and prisons. There will be ones who come to the planet for the first time who haven't got a clue how anything works, and do everything wrong, seemingly, just like you did. I'm talking about a slow move of the majority of consciousness, and old souls are the first to see it and make this shift.

There is a lineage in the room. Not just one of many lifetimes but one of wisdom that brings you to the chair. The questions you ask about civilization and earth are wise ones. "When are we going to learn the lessons?" you say. Well, it begins, and you must see the issues in order to have asked that question, right? There's a wisdom pool sitting in the room that is enormous. Don't you feel it?

And so, dear Human Being, you have the ability to start to return to an energy that you thought you'd lost, where Human beings are allowed to live longer and it doesn't destroy the environment. They don't overcrowd themselves because they can control it through their minds instead of laws... and through wisdom.

Some day you'll meet the star seeds, your Pleiadian sisters and brothers. They're even here now, since they are quantum. You've got Pleiadian ancestors who live a very, very long time in a graduate situation in a planet that went through the test just like yours. And it developed a quantum factor. They have benevolence and they have quantum energy. That's how they get here instantly and return, and they'll never interrupt your free choice. That's also why they don't land and say hello. Instead, they sit and cheer on the sidelines for what you've finally done. They are waiting with you to celebrate the December solstice of 2012... the half way point of the 36 year shift you are in.

Before we close, dear ones, we'll again tell you that this is a slow process. We have seen it before. It happens through generations, through children of the children of the children. It is not anything that you're going to see as a flashbulb experience. There may be some things that move backwards for a while before they move forward. But if you look at it together, it is a slow ship where the rudder of wisdom is steering toward a time when hatred will be something that is isolated, and does not cloak itself in culture or religion. It is because quantum energy is benevolent, and Humans are starting to see this.

So that is the truth this day. That is the energy this day. These are the potentials that I see, this day, and that is why we bring you this message this day. Go from this place different than you came, knowing more about who you are and what you've done and what is before you.

I am Kryon, lover of humanity.

And so it is.

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