French PM says ban on 'bee-killer' pesticide will go ahead

Yahoo – AFP, June 26, 2017

The United Nations said last year that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators --
particularly bees and butterflies -- risk global extinction

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe weighed in on a row between his environment and agriculture ministers on Monday to rule that a pesticide found harmful to bees would be banned in 2018 as scheduled.

A ban on neonicotinoids, set down in a 2016 law on protecting biodiversity, has been fiercely opposed by cereal and sugar-beet farmers, who dispute research highlighting the chemicals' risk to bees.

In the first sign of discord in the week-old French government, Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert has been lobbying for the upcoming ban to be eased.

He complained that French law "went further than European law" on the issue, implying that it put French farmers at a disadvantage against competitors.

The European Union set down a temporary ban on the use of three key neonicotinoids in 2013.

Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot, a former activist and high-profile TV presenter, hit back that "where health is at risk, I won't make any concessions."

"We have made too many concessions" in this area, he said. "We will find out about the disaster soon enough."

France's national food safety watchdog, Anses, is due to publish a report on the chemicals' impact on human health by the end of the year.

It was left to Prime Minister Philippe to settle the issue as he released a statement saying: "The government has decided not to roll back the provisions of the 2016 law."

Philippe said the decision had been made on June 21.

Neonicotinoid debate

Farmers' representatives claim there is no cost-effective alternative to neonicotinoids, a pesticide based on the chemical structure of nicotine that targets insects' nervous systems.

Studies have blamed the chemical for harming bee reproduction and foraging by diminishing sperm quality and scrambling memory and navigation functions. It has also been linked to lower disease resistance.

The makers say neonicotinoids are safe if used correctly. They also maintain that evidence linking these chemicals to a plunge in bee populations is flimsy and that the phenomenon is due to a number of factors, such as viruses and parasites.

There are some 20,000 species of bees responsible for fertilising more than 90 percent of the world's 107 major crops.

Under the 2016 French law, which was fiercely debated in parliament, use of neonicotinoids will be banned from September 1 2018, with possible exemptions until July 1 2010.

The exemptions will be permitted on a case-by-case basis, and only when there are no immediate alternatives to a neonicotinoid product.

Travert pushed for the exemption clause to be used generously -- "when there is no substitute product, we should be able to authorise exemptions so that our farmers continue to operate successfully."

Macron in February had told the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) that he intended to stand by the ban.

Environment groups said Travert seems to have badly misread the political mood, given expectations that the EU will widen the 2013 ban.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), whose findings underpinned the EU moratorium, is to complete a wider scientific review this year.

Travert, 47, is a former Socialist who became an early supporter in 2014 of Macron's centrist movement.

He was rewarded with the agriculture portfolio, which carries great weight in France, in the post-election ministerial lineup announced on June 21.

Letters show Einstein's marriage formula was off beam

Yahoo – AFP, June 23, 2017

Albert Einstein died at the age of 76 in Princeton, New Jersey (AFP Photo)

London (AFP) - Albert Einstein may have been a genius when it came to the world of physics -- but the magic formula for marriage eluded him, according to letters up for auction at Christie's.

The man behind the theory of relativity was on less solid ground when it came to relationships, according to a series of letters to his lifelong friend and collaborator Michele Besso.

"What I admired most in him as a man was the manner in which he managed to live for so long peacefully but also durably with a spouse -- an enterprise in which I piteously failed twice," Einstein wrote to Besso's family on March 21, 1955, just after his friend's death, which preceded his own only by weeks.

In an emotional final paragraph, Einstein wrote of Besso: "Now he has again preceded me a little in parting from this strange world.

"This has no importance. For people like us who believe in physics, the separation between past, present and future has only the importance of an admittedly tenacious illusion."

Besso provided moral support to his close friend since their student days in Zurich in the 1890s as Einstein endured marital difficulties with first wife Mileva, from whom he separated in 1914.

They divorced in 1919 and he then married his cousin Elsa.

The collection of 56 letters to be sold at auction from July 6 to 13 stretches across 50 years and covers a raft of subjects.

They include intellectual matters, not least his study of relativity -- "a promising field theory" -- but also the rise of Hitler and the intimacies of private life.

Einstein at times shows great humility but also humorous self-deprecation, often joking about himself while also emphasising his deep love of his work.

He described his scientific breakthroughs as "getting closer to God".

In one letter he urges Besso to "keep me informed of the situation by means of postcards, without paying too much attention to any continuity of content. In the age of quantum theory, this is perfectly permissible."

Einstein died at the age of 76 in Princeton, New Jersey, having in 1940 taken out US citizenship. He renounced his German citizenship in 1933 after the Nazis came to power.

Related Article:

"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)- (Text version)

Kryon.com, November 19, 2016

This live channelling was given in Wilmington, North Carolina

Lee Carroll

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Sometime information is even added or condensed. 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 Wilmington, NC.

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service.

Today I want to talk about wild cards. I wish to help explain what or who they’ve been over time, but in order for this explanation to be understood and accepted and beautiful to your soul, you’re going to have to do some pretending.

Adjusting Your Attitude

If you were a scientist coming from another planet to observe Human history, you would need to do it without emotion or bias. I can tell the story about wild cards, both for your grandfathers and for you, but there is often emotion and bias involved. Because of this, I will say one thing, and you may hear another. Dear ones, it can’t be that way for you to understand this message.

Warning: What comes next has to be disengaged from what you think you know, or from the emotions of who you think you are, what you think has happened, or even from what you feel is historical. Remember, in his pretending scenario, you’re aliens coming from another planet to learn what has happened. You’re pretending so you will disengage. Pretend history will be told to you about a race you’re not part of. This is so you will have no attachment to anything as you listen. This is the only way you will understand this lesson today. It is the only way you will begin to understand the beauty of a spiritual system that pushes you when you need to be pushed.

Wild Cards Examined

Wild card, as used in spiritual language, is a term that is difficult to define. Wild cards can be events, they can be inventions, they can involve one Human or a few. They can be one of many things or many of one thing, but they follow a timeline that you can look at. We want to talk about some of the wild cards that you’ve had in the past, and some attributes of their occurrence that you might not have thought of.

The basic attribute of any kind of wild card is that it’s a surprise event. It’s often shocking, sometimes revealing, but always a surprise. We’re also going to do some of the numerology as we go, and also take a look at the energies that help define what the energy is around specific wild cards.

Numerology is an ancient system that helps define an energy around something. For instance, an event may seem to be one thing, but the numerology will tell a story around it that may be more explanatory. When you see what we will call synchronized numerology – the same numbers repeated around a wild card – it’s very telling, for there are no accidents.

Dear Kryon, you might ask, “Does spirit create wild cards for the planet?” Answer: No, you do. Your consciousness at a certain point in time gives an allowance for a wild card. Sprit is ready to enhance some wild card scenarios and not others. But the energy and consciousness of humanity allows for their occurrence.

A wild card can be a person, an invention, a thing, an event, a new system or a new paradigm that changes the planet. It is unexpected, sometimes startling and often dramatic in its influence. If it’s an invention, it has to be outside of the purview of what would normally have occurred through the evolution of science or the timing of expected scientific evolution. It is often a paradigm shifter, and it’s usually from one person. When you see that, you will know there it’s a wild card. It isn’t always an individual invention, and sometimes it’s collective. But, dear one, you can tell because every single wild card takes everybody by surprise.

Wild Cards in History

You’ve had a number of them, and I’ll list a few so you get the idea. You’ll also get to see a system of singularity that comes to inventors. You’ll see this as I go.

Tesla was a wild card. His ideas were unexpected, controversial and advanced to a degree that even to this day those in electronic engineering shake their heads. They will take a look at what he invented and will comment, “How is it possible for any one person to have seen that? If you study alternating current, it’s a conundrum. Phase relationships of alternating current are brilliant beyond brilliant.” This was Tesla.

However, what you know about him is only what he brought to you. Now, a brilliant mind like that would have other things, don’t you think? Indeed, he did, so you might ask, “Well, where are those other things?” The answer is that those other things were stopped cold – all of them. He only was able to promote the one thing that you needed for the planet. The brilliance of his mind had many other profound ideas, but he was unable to proceed. He saw ways to alter mass in his workshops, but couldn’t. He was frustrated that he didn’t have the elaborate tools to be precise enough to make it work on a regular basis. That’s just one. Transmission of electricity without wires through the ground was the other. However, it would not have been correct at the time for those things to have been presented to humanity. You weren’t ready, but you were ready for alternating current, one of the most needed inventions for the time. Tesla died frustrated, poor, in a small room and alone. He came to do one thing, and was stopped from anything else, then he passed. If you have analyzed the people who were wild cards in your history, there is a pattern.

Other wild card inventors have come into the planet just because the earth was ready for a specific invention. Remember, Spirit does not give the information, but allows for it to be released, often all at once, all over the earth. Let me give you some examples.

Another wild card is the Wright brothers. Isn’t it odd to you that it wasn’t that long ago that you got powered flight? It was just yesterday! Some of your relatives were alive when flight was discovered! Dear ones, the Chinese have been flying kites for thousands of years. Don’t you think that they knew the dynamics of a bird? Do you think that century after century after century occurred and nobody figured out how to sustain flight with any kind of power source? Two bicycle makers figured it out!

That’s odd enough, but the fact that they only beat the French by two weeks is something worth looking at. That’s odd! It’s almost like this profound invention was ready to be given to the planet simultaneously, all over the earth, at the same time. Whoever got to it first would be the ones who got the credit. The real oddity is the timing. It’s not logical that it was so hidden, then suddenly so many were working on it all at once.

The Wright brothers were here to show it to you, then stop. All they did was what you saw at Kitty Hawk. They never went past basic wing warping, and did not have first intuitive thought about ailerons, or the basics of flight control today. For them, it stopped there. Dear ones, there was great frustration, and perhaps even health issues from it, from having others take the basics and develop flight so fast beyond them. Dysfunction and sorrow followed them both, and they died without ever being able to participate fully beyond the initial invention. One died far earlier than the other, creating sorrow for the one left behind. They came to do what they did and move on. This is more common than you know with wild cards, especially when it comes to inventions that change this planet.

Who invented the radio? Was is the Italian Guglielmo Marconi, or our frustrated wild card Tesla? Marconi got the credit, but the invention was everywhere, ready to be claimed. The earth was ripe and ready for it, and it was delivered to the consciousness of the planet at the right time. But both men got it at the same time, apart from each other. I’m giving you things to think about.

We have told you that there are wild card inventions coming in the future. One in particular is ready, but you will not receive it until the time is right. It’s almost like there’s a thinking ceiling on what you can do. We even gave you some of the attributes of the coming invention, but not the one who will bring it. We’re not even concerned that you’ll do it in advance, because we know the wild card is coming. An invention is coming. It is an invention that will rewrite physics as you know it. You’d see the patterns in quantum fields, and there would be the big aha! It would be like reinventing the wheel.

“Kryon, why can’t we have it now? What’s stopping it?” We told you, it’s too easy to weaponize. When you reach the point where you won’t weaponize it, it’s yours. All this is coming. It’s natural, and it will come when it’s time just like the Wright brothers, just like Tesla, just like Einstein.

Einstein was a genuine wild card. He was not a quantum thinker at all, but what he presented is still alive and well today and they’re still looking inside the atom for the concepts he gave you. So I will make this statement: Einstein isn’t finished yet, because the very concepts that continue to be received from his work are going to be applied to the invention of the century. So the Einsteinean principles, even though they are not quantum, will be very much involved in what is coming. You might say he was a wild card and continues to be one. The joke is that his concepts last and last, outside of time, yet his main ideas were with time. If you asked Einstein if he was happy with what he brought to the planet, he would tell you no. He was frustrated that he didn’t get to do what he really wanted. Like Tesla, he felt that something was just “out of reach” and he didn’t get to do it.

Then there was World War II. Dear ones, pretend you are an alien scientist. Disengage your emotion. You’ve come in from another planet to look at this.

World War II (WWII) was not a wild card, but the man who created and enhanced it was. This planet was teetering on the edge of ultimate dark energy and destruction. Nobody expected it. The most despicable old energy card played itself out exactly as it should have, with the consciousness of this planet going to where it had brought itself. You had just finished World War I (WWI), yet WWII ignited and continued. So WWII was simply an extension of WWI. You did it again, only this time the weapons were getting bigger and more able to destroy all of humanity. Remember the prophecy of your scripture? You were headed for mass destruction. WWII would become World War III, and by the year 2000, you would be almost gone.

As I mentioned, WWII wasn’t the wild card, rather it was the man who led the lowest consciousness in recent history who was. He was the wild card, and you know of whom I speak. This wild card killed millions of people who were not even participants in the military portion of the war. Genocide had begun, a race war had begun, and many were following his lead. It showed the darkest side of humanity – more than you had ever seen before, and it almost targeted the demise of civilization if he had won.

It was a horror wild card, and the planet had created it. However, when it was over, the entire world took a breath and for a moment, just for a moment, there was a glimmer of realization: “This cannot go on, for we will do it again.” Many things took place due to this realization. Without the wild card, you would not have the European Union, you would not have the United Nations or any attempt at unity on Earth. Disengage from your logic and emotion, dear ones. These things were not created from Spirit, but rather from the depth of lower humanity. This is the dark side at its worst, showing itself with almost free reign, but the world objected to it and started to climb out of it. It was the beginning over half a century ago of what you’re starting to see now in the shift.

The amazing shift that you’re in right now is something that goes slow. It didn’t happen all at once. The Cold War was a natural occurrence out of the consciousness that was part of the end of WWII. But, dear ones, you could never have the shift if that Cold War had continued the way it was. Enter another wild card: The Soviet system fell over.

The Cold War could not continue, and it was stopped in the form it was in. Dear ones, for those reading now, that was one of the biggest wild cards of all. The consciousness of earth said “no” and it ended. That was a huge wild card. It changed everything; it wasn’t expected; nobody saw it coming, and it changed everything. It may not have changed things immediately to the way you want it right away, but it created that which you needed at that time.

Then there was Steve Jobs. He was a wild card. What he did had little to do with technology, for that would have happened anyway soon enough. Instead, it had to do with the paradigm of the business of music on Earth. He freed it, and the paradigm of how music is obtained and heard will never be the same. However, Steve Jobs did basically one thing for all of you, and then he died. Do you see any kind of connecting of the dots to some of the inventors who come and give you the one thing, then leave? If he had lived, would there be more? Yes, but you’re not ready for it. Consciousness has to support what happens.

Yes, it would seem we have left some things out – the invention of DNA, the atomic bomb, etc. However, these were not wild cards. These are your civilization, within a normal evolution of science. Wild cards are very unexpected things, and there are more coming your way.

The Wild Card of 2016

Remember: No emotion now. You have come from another planet and you’re looking at the end of 2016 – and there is the election. Understand without bias.

So for 2016, let’s do the numerology. You add the numbers and get nine. Nine is completion in simple numerology, and when you see a nine it often means the completion of something. Often it is of a time cycle, an energy or the completion of a paradigm. But it’s very strong.

The nines are stronger than many of the other numerological aspects and you feel them. The president-elect (at this writing) is a strong wild card. He is scheduled to become the 45th president. What a coincidence! Forty-five is a nine. A nine and a nine together are more than significant. They tell a story about what is happening. I will tell you something else. This story is not finished yet and there is more coming. You don’t know what you don’t know, so don’t make up your mind in advance about any outcomes. You’re from another planet, remember? There’s no emotion, no bias, no politics and nothing to judge. Look at it for what it is.

A big stick has just been inserted into what is normal and it’s going to be turned. As the big stick turns, other things will respond that never would have responded otherwise. I wish to tell you, dear one, old soul, relax with upcoming wild cards. They do what they do on purpose so that you will have a better civilization in the future. Sometimes they show you what won’t work, and sometimes they change paradigms that would have never changed otherwise. But what you have now is a profound wild card. That is the message.

It’s so common for you to respond certain ways when you are invested in the process. The knee-jerk reaction is expected or you wouldn’t be a Human. However, for this lesson, you’re from another planet and you’re looking down and you’re seeing it. Pretend.

Isn’t that interesting about a nine and a nine together? It means that truly the end of something is here. Perhaps it’s the end of the old way things were done? Perhaps it’s a shake-up of the system so it can correct itself? Don’t dare make up your mind where it’s going, because it’s not finished yet. However, wait a moment. Did you also realize that 2017 is a “one” year? Not only is the energy one of completion with a double nine, but it moves into “a new beginning” (the definition of a one in numerology).

I have more to tell you about numerology, and also something that will be clearer about this whole situation. I will give this to you in the next channelling.

Can you relax in the face of uncertainty when it’s your own country? Can you relax in the face of not knowing what’s next? When you’re so involved, can you disengage from either side of the fray? That is the test of a Lightworker.

There’s something else coming. Dear ones, this is beautiful. No matter what you think and no matter what your reaction is to this channelling, what is happening is correct for your time and needed for your immediate future. I will speak of this later. The beauty is when you step away and see how grand it is, that Spirit cares enough that it would allow a big stick to occur that would stir your complacency at this time. The real reason? The shift is here.

How do you feel? I want you to relax and smile at what the shift has brought you. For those of you who felt all the “shift talk” was nonsense, this may be your wake-up call. It’s real. Here it comes.

This is the message of the day. I am Kryon, in love with humanity, and for good reason.

And so it is.

KRYON

South Korea vows to move away from nuclear power

In a bid to fulfill his campaign pledge to abandon nuclear energy, South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in has said his government will ditch plans to build new nuclear reactors and instead embrace renewable sources.

Deutsche Welle, 19 June 2017

South Korea's new leader Moon Jae-In vowed on Monday to jettison all plans to build new nuclear reactors as he seeks to steer Asia's fourth-largest economy clearof atomic power.    

Moon also declared that the government would not seek to extend the life of existing plants. The move marks a shift in the country's decades-long reliance on nuclear energy.

Read: Can South Korea's Moon usher in a new climate era? 

Moon, who was swept to power with a landslide election win last month, campaigned on promises to phase out atomic energy and embrace what he says are safer and more environmentally-friendly power sources including solar and wind power.

The Fukushima nuclear meltdown in March 2011 in Japan, sparked by a tsunami which was itself the result of a powerful earthquake, triggered widespread public concern in neighboring South Korea over its own aged atomic plants.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

'Unimaginable consequences'

"We will dump our atomic-centric power supply and open the door to the post-nuclear era," Moon said in a speech marking the decommissioning of the country's first nuclear reactor, the Kori-1.

"I will scrap all preparations to build new reactors currently underway and will not extend the lifespan of current reactors," he said.

Many reactors are located dangerously close to residential areas in the densely-populated nation, Moon said, warning of "unimaginable consequences" in case of a nuclear meltdown.

"South Korea is not safe from the risk of earthquake, and a nuclear accident caused by a quake can have such a devastating impact," he said.

South Korea currently operates 25 nuclear reactors, which generate about a third of the country's power supply. Many of them will see their lifespans expire between 2020 and 2030, with decisions on whether to extend some of their operations set to be made during Moon's 2017-2022 term.

South Korea is one of the few countries that have also exported its nuclear reactor technology. Former President Lee Myung-bak promoted nuclear energy as part of the country's clean energy strategy and helped local companies win billions of dollars worth of deals to build nuclear reactors abroad.

Also abandoning coal

But South Koreans' enthusiasm for nuclear energy quickly waned following the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in neighboring Japan. In the following year, a fake parts scandal prompted an investigation and spread fear over the safety of nuclear plants.

Recent earthquakes in southeastern South Korea also dented public support in the country that was long believed to be safe from earthquakes. The country is also searching for answers on how and where to permanently store spent nuclear fuel.

Moon on Monday also vowed to cut South Korea's reliance on coal. South Korea, which has the highest level of small air pollutant particles among OECD member nations, will shut 10 old coal power plants and stop building more coal power plants.

Experts say the shutdown of coal power plants could dramatically hike utility cost in a country where coal power generates about 40 percent of its entire power needs. But Greenpeace and other environmental groups welcomed Moon's announcement.

sri/tr (AP, AFP)

Dutch call on EU countries to fill US climate change funding gap

DutchNews, June 16, 2017

Thousands of people take part a climate march in Amsterdam. Photo
Klimaatparade Secretariat

European countries must fill the financial gap left by the US’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal, Dutch caretaker environment minister Sharon Dijksma says in Friday’s Volkskrant. 

The Netherlands is doubling its donation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to €100,000 Dijksma said, urging other countries to do the same. Germany, Dijksma said, has already agreed to do so. 

Although the amounts are relatively small, they have great symbolic meaning, Dijksma told the paper. ‘You are showing that Europe is taking its responsibilities seriously and showing leadership.’ 

The IPCC, which was set up in 1998, is part of the United Nations and aims to an objective and scientific view of climate change, and its political and economic impacts. Its reports formed the basis of the 2015 agreement on climate change signed by world leaders in Paris. 

Many American cities and states have already said they will continue to be involved, despite president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw. The US was the biggest donor to the IPCC, allocating some €1.8m a year. 

Dijksma’s plan will be discussed the next European Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, the Volkskrant said.

Related Articles:

The Dutch Have Solutions to Rising Seas. The World Is Watching.
We need a Dutch-style Delta plan to stem the tide of floods

California plots to fight 'AWOL' Trump on climate

Yahoo – AFP, Jocelyne ZABLIT, June 3, 2017

California has led the way in promoting solar energy and electric cars and has the
largest fleet of zero-emissions vehicles in the country (AFP Photo/MARK RALSTON)

Los Angeles (AFP) - California stands poised to fill the US leadership vacuum in the battle against climate change, analysts say, as the state's governor Jerry Brown headed to China on Friday for a high-profile visit largely centered on environmental issues.

No sooner had President Donald Trump made his announcement on Thursday to pull out of the landmark Paris climate deal, that Brown fired off a statement decrying the decision and vowing to push ahead with ambitious climate policies.

"Donald Trump has absolutely chosen the wrong course. He's wrong on the facts... he's wrong on the science," said Brown before embarking on his weeklong China trip.

"California will resist this misguided and insane course of action," added the 79-year-old politician who has long championed environmental causes. "Trump is AWOL but California is on the field, ready for battle."

Experts said the Golden State, which has the sixth largest economy in the world, was well placed to pick up the mantle of leadership on the international stage given its aggressive policies on climate issues.

'Beacon of sanity'

"California has had a remarkable history already of leading the way on climate change, especially on climate change regulation, and it has the most ambitious economy-wide climate target in the United States," said Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA.

"So it has served as a beacon of sanity in some way for the United States and through the world on climate policy," she added.

The state -- which has some of the worst air pollution in the country -- in the last decade has dramatically slashed its climate-warming emissions.

It has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

California Governor Jerry Brown is heading to China for a high-profile visit 

largely centered on environmental issues (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

California also has its own vehicle-emissions standards -- exceeding federal standards -- which have been adopted by more than a dozen other states.

In addition, it has led the way in promoting solar energy and electric cars and has the largest fleet of zero-emissions vehicles in the country.

Experts say such aggressive action, which has served as a blueprint for the rest of the country as well as other nations, including China, puts the western state in a prime position to continue leading the charge against climate change.

"In some ways, California has been leading all along... and the governor, by sheer force of will and passion, will continue to accelerate that work," said Evan Gillespie, deputy director at the Sierra Club, where he oversees California's clean energy program.

"I think the administration in (Washington) DC has only emboldened both the public and elected officials in the state to step up and go bigger."

He added that California's long struggle with air quality and its reputation as the nation's green trailblazer meant there was no turning back for the state.

"There's a lot of momentum that is already built into our economy that is propelling us toward a cleaner future," he said. "I think the cost (of turning back) is too high not only from a climate perspective but from an economic perspective."

Experts also noted that despite all the theatrics surrounding Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and efforts by his administration to undermine clean energy policies, individual states and cities still make their own decisions on a host of issues, including climate, and California is a prime example.

"The world will now be looking at California, China, the European Union and others who are willing to take up the mantle of leadership," Horowitz noted.

"California is certainly at the forefront now of US climate policy and there is tremendous political will to continue to serve that role."

Related Articles:

US states, cities and firms unite behind Paris accord
Obama slams Trump for exiting Paris climate deal
Merkel: 'We have to protect Mother Earth' after Trump quits Paris Accord
Dutch politicians ‘deplore’ US exit from Paris climate agreement

Merkel: 'We have to protect Mother Earth' after Trump quits Paris Accord

World leaders reacted with shock and indignation to US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel meanwhile pledged her commitment to combating climate change.

Deutsche Welle, 2 June 2017

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a news conference that following the announcement from President Donald Trump, all remaining parties of the Paris Agreement had to "look to the future."

"We will focus our energies in Germany, the European Union and across the world with more resolve than ever before (…) to overcome these challenges of climate change. We need the Paris Agreement to conserve creation as we know it."

Trump's decision to pull out sent
shockwaves throughout the world

The chancellor went on to say that the German government and Germany as a whole would continue to meet its obligations under the agreement, and live up to its commitments towards assisting developing countries with the challenges they faced with regard to global warming.

"The Paris agreement is a cornerstone of cooperation among the nations of this world. This agreement is indispensable. (…) What we started more than 20 years ago made a quantum leap in Paris and will be a success. The road will be rocky, but there is no turning back. To all those who care deeply about the future of our planet, I say: let us continue together on this path."

Merkel: 'Nothing can and will stop commitment to climate protection'

Merkel also highlighted the fact that several major US businesses had expressed their disagreement with Trump's decision, pledging to continue their commitments to the environment. The chancellor said she felt "enthused about how many companies, especially in the US, want to walk along this path with us."

"The US decision can't and won't stop all those of us who feel obliged to protect the planet."

Gravitational waves spotted again, at furthest distance yet

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry SHERIDAN, June 1, 2017

A Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory optics technician
inspectsone of LIGO's core optics (mirrors) (AFP Photo)

Miami (AFP) - Two massive black holes colliding into each other created ripples in space and time, known as gravitational waves, which have been detected at the furthest distance yet, international physicists said Thursday.

The galactic mash-up which produced the gravitational waves occurred some three billion light-years away, and marks the science world's third observation of this phenomenon.

The finding further bolsters Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity, and comes two years after these enigmatic ripples were first detected, said the report in the journal Physical Review Letters.

"It is remarkable that humans can put together a story, and test it, for such strange and extreme events that took place billions of years ago and billions of light-years distant from us," said David Shoemaker, spokesman for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration.

The group includes more than 1,000 international scientists who perform LIGO research together with the European-based Virgo Collaboration.

In all three cases, each of the twin detectors of LIGO detected gravitational waves from the tremendously energetic mergers of black hole pairs.

"These are collisions that produce more power than is radiated as light by all the stars and galaxies in the universe at any given time," said a LIGO statement.

The latest black hole collision, resulting in a detectable "chirp" of a gravitational wave, happened when two black holes merged, forming a new one that is about 49 times the mass of the Sun.

Its size is smack in the middle of the first such black hole merger detected by LIGO, at 62 solar masses, and the second which had 21.

"We have further confirmation of the existence of stellar-mass black holes that are larger than 20 solar masses -- these are objects we didn't know existed before LIGO detected them," said Shoemaker, a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Detecting gravitational waves (AFP Photo/Vincent LEFAI, Philippe MOUCHE)

Dark side of the universe

The first-ever direct observation of gravitational waves was made in September 2015, and detected an event some 1.3 billion light-years away.

The second came shortly after, in December 2015, and was a distance of 1.4 billion light-years.

The third detection, called GW170104, was made on January 4, 2017.

It was more than twice as old and more than twice as distant as the first two events.

"With the third confirmed detection of gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes, LIGO is establishing itself as a powerful observatory for revealing the dark side of the universe," says David Reitze of Caltech, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory.

"While LIGO is uniquely suited to observing these types of events, we hope to see other types of astrophysical events soon, such as the violent collision of two neutron stars."

LIGO's observations are carried out by twin detectors -- one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana.

The observatories, which use laser interferometers to sense the presence of gravitational waves, are operated by Caltech and MIT with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

"It looks like Einstein was right -- even for this new event, which is about two times farther away than our first detection," said Laura Cadonati, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"We can see no deviation from the predictions of general relativity, and this greater distance helps us to make that statement with more confidence."