Climate change plans ‘a first step but not definitive’, says minister

DutchNews,December 21, 2018

Demonstrators for climate change in Amsterdam 

The climate agreement which is due to be presented on Friday afternoon is ‘not definitive’ but an ‘important first step’, environment minister Eric Wiebes has told broadcasterNOS. 

The plans drawn up in five separate discussion groups first have to be studied by the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency and only then will the cabinet decide which of the measures will actually be adopted, he said. 

The aim of the agreements is to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 49% by 2030, compared with 1990. The measures so far agreed include the highly controversial scheme to phase out the use of natural gas in private homes, higher taxes on industrial carbon emissions and phasing out the sale of non-electric cars. 

In particular, the cabinet will look closely at the impact of the measures on income. ‘If people are going to be faced with high costs and investments, then we have a problem,’ he said. ‘Everyone has to be able to participate.’ 

The plan to scrap the use of natural gas in particular has been criticised for the expense. The government has already decided that no new homes should be connected to the gas grid. 

‘A lot has to happen between now and 2030,’ the minister said. ‘And if things don’t work, then we will repair them.’ 

Carbon Tax

On Thursday it emerged that Dutch environmental organisations do not support the final agreements because a carbon dioxide emission tax is not going to be part of the deal. 

The green groups are said to be furious that a CO2 tax has been ruled out. Instead, companies which do not have proper sustainability plans in place will face fines – which, the environmental organisations say, are not high enough to properly act as a deterrent. 

Companies and the ruling VVD and CDA oppose a CO2 tax because, they say, it would hurt the Netherlands’ competitive position.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"....  A mini ice age is coming. "Kryon, isn't that doom for the planet?"  Many have seen the artist's rendering of major earth cities under ice and all of the other things that go very well with science fiction movies. That's simply a painting of someone's doom scenario, not reality based in the history of the cycle. If you want to know what a mini ice age is like, just flash back in history and study what took place in about 1650. That was a mini ice age. Due to the change in the Gulf Stream (the ocean), the river Thames froze in London. Dear ones, it was cold, but it did not doom the planet. That's a mini ice age.

That's what you're facing, and I'll say it again. If you live in a cold climate, heed this advice: It's going to get colder. Get off the grid! Within the next 15 years, find a way of producing electricity independently or in smaller groups. This can be done neighborhood-wide or separately in homes. You're going to need this, dear ones, because the grid as it exists right now all over the world is not prepared for this coming cold, and the grid will fail. That's not doom and gloom, that's just practical, commonly known information. Your electricity infrastructure is delicate, too delicate. Prepare for a cold spell that may last for a couple of decades. That's all it is. Technology is racing forward to allow this. Don't let your politics get in the way of your survival. ..."

"...  This is controversial. The planet can't just "change the water". It does it instead with a "reboot of life in the ocean" using the water cycle. Watch for evidence of this as it occurs, and then remember this channel. This weather cycle is to refresh the life in the ocean so that everyone on the planet will have needed food from the ocean. Gaia does this by itself, has done it before, and it does it for a reason - so it will not stagnate.

Dear ones, indeed, you have put compromising things into the air and the water, but it has not caused this cycle. We have said for a very long time, stop killing the environment! The reason? It's going to kill you, not Gaia. Gaia is spectacularly resilient and will survive anything you do. However, it is you who may not survive if you continue polluting. All this is starting to change with your awareness, and you're starting to see this and move with it. But Humans are not causing the current weather shift. This will be known eventually.

What is happening has happened before, and it's almost like a reboot for the oceans and it carries a lot of dichotomous events. You're going to see reports of a dying ocean, but at the same time you're going to see unusual reports of too many fish and other sea life in places that were supposed to have a decline. You're going to see the life cycle of the ocean itself start to change and reboot.

The chief player in this renewal is a place you would not expect: Antarctica. I want you to watch for magic in Antarctica. It has always been the core of the refreshing of microbes and other kinds of life in your oceans and it's especially active during these mini ice ages. The process will cause currents under the sea to be filled with new life, delivering it to both hemispheres almost like an under-sea conveyor belt. ..."

EU agrees to ban most single-use plastics

Yahoo – AFP, December 19, 2018

Single-use plastics account for some 70 percent of the waste in the oceans and
beaches, the EU says (AFP Photo/JOEL SAGET)

Brussels (AFP) - EU countries and the European Parliament on Wednesday agreed details of a ban on single-use plastics, including plates, cutlery and drinking straws, in a bid to cut marine pollution.

The new rules, which still need final approval before becoming law, target the top 10 items most frequently found littering European beaches.

Plastic cotton bud sticks and expanded polystyrene food containers are also barred, as the EU tries to cut back on products that account for huge quantities of waste in the world's oceans.

Officials from the parliament and the EU Council, which represents the bloc's member states, negotiated through the night, finally reaching a deal on Wednesday morning after 12 and a half hours of wrangling.

"Where possible, the measures laid down in this directive and their implementation should give priority to waste prevention or to the transition to reusable products rather than to other single-use alternatives," the council said in a statement.

In a measure of the gravity of the ocean plastics crisis, the legislation has been rushed through the EU's normally sluggish procedures in quick time.

The EU hopes to complete the final legal steps to bring the new rules into force in 2021.

The European Commission has said single-use plastics account for some 70 percent of the waste in the oceans and beaches, and research in October appeared to show for the first time the widespread presence of plastics in the human food chain.

Graphic showing the makeup of plastic waste in the EU and national recycling rates after the EU agreed to ban on a number of single-use plastics pic.twitter.com/E4Ks6G6sWN

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 20, 2018

Nations agree milestone rulebook for Paris climate treaty

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick GALEY and Marlowe HOOD, 16 December 2018

Representatives of nearly 200 nations have been holding talks at the UN's
COP24 summit in the Polish mining city of Katowice

Nations on Sunday struck a deal to breathe life into the landmark 2015 Paris climate treaty after marathon UN talks that failed to match the ambition the world's most vulnerable countries need to avert dangerous global warming.

Delegates from nearly 200 states finalised a common rule book designed to deliver the Paris goals of limiting global temperature rises to well below two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit).

"Putting together the Paris agreement work programme is a big responsibility," said COP24 president Michal Kurtyka as he gavelled through the deal after talks in Poland that ran deep into overtime.

"It has been a long road. We did our best to leave no one behind."

But states already dealing with devastating floods, droughts and extreme weather made worse by climate change said the package agreed in the mining city of Katowice lacked the bold ambition to cut emissions the world needed.

Egyptian ambassador Wael Aboulmagd, chair of the developing nations G77 plus China negotiating bloc, said the rule book saw the "urgent adaptation needs of developing countries relegated to a second-class status."

Selection of natural phenomena which could become dangerous for the 

climate if they reach their tipping points

Executive director of Greenpeace Jennifer Morgan said: "We continue to witness an irresponsible divide between the vulnerable island states and impoverished countries pitted against those who would block climate action or who are immorally failing to act fast enough."

The final decision text was repeatedly delayed as negotiators sought guidelines that could ward off the worst threats posed by the heating planet while protecting the economies of rich and poor nations alike.

"Without a clear rulebook, we won't see how countries are tracking, whether they are actually doing what they say they are doing," Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told AFP.

At their heart, negotiations were about how each nation funds action to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as how those actions are reported.

The talks overran massively as delegates picked over a range of contentious issues

Report controversy

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has recently backed down on anti-pollution fuel tax hikes in the face of country-wide "yellow vest" protests, said France must "show the way" as he welcomed the progress made at the talks.

"The international community remains committed to the fight against climate change," he tweeted on Sunday.

"Congratulations to the UN, scientists, NGOs and all negotiators. France and Europe must show the way. The fight goes on."

Developing nations had wanted more clarity from richer ones over how the future climate fight will be funded and pushed for so-called "loss and damage" measures.

This would see richer countries giving money now to help deal with the effects of climate change many vulnerable states are already experiencing.

Another contentious issue was the integrity of carbon markets, looking ahead to the day when the patchwork of distinct exchanges -- in China, the Europe Union, parts of the United States -- may be joined up in a global system.

A number of protests were held in and around the COP24 climate talks, as 

activists demanded immediate action from lawmakers

The Paris Agreement calls for setting up a mechanism to guard against practices, such as double counting emissions savings, that could undermine such a market.

A major sticking point, delegates eventually agreed Saturday to kick the issue down the road until next year.

One veteran observer told AFP that Poland's presidency at COP24 had left many countries out of the process and presented at-risk nations with a "take it or leave it" deal.

Progress had "been held up by Brazil, when it should have been held up by the small islands. It's tragic."

One of the largest disappointments for countries of all wealths and sizes was the lack of ambition to reduce emissions shown in the final COP24 text.

Most nations wanted the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to form a key part of future planning.

'The system must change'

It highlighted the need to slash carbon pollution by nearly half before 2030 in order to hit the 1.5C target.

But the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait objected, leading to watered-down wording.

The final statement from the Polish COP24 presidency welcomed "the timely conclusion" of the report and invited "parties to make use of it" -- hardly the ringing endorsement many nations had called for.

"There's been a shocking lack of response to the 1.5 report," Greenpeace's Morgan, told.

Dutch university grows bananas to help stamp out fungal diseases

DutchNews, December 13, 2018

A banana tree. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Researchers from Wageningen University are this week harvesting the first Dutch bananas which will be offered to restaurants and hospitals in the region as a ‘regional product’. 

The aim of the experiment, which marks the 100th anniversary of the university, is to investigate whether new ways of cultivation will help stamp out soil-borne fungal diseases which threaten banana production throughout the world. 

Taking the banana trees out of the soil and growing them on stone wool appears to have been very successful, says Gert Kema, professor of tropical plant pathology at the university. 

‘The banana plants grow very well on coco peat and stone wool substrate with only the application of a nutrient solution,’ Kema said on the university website. ‘The Dutch banana does not need disease control, which makes cultivation more sustainable than in traditional production areas.’ 

Ripening

There are 60 plants in the Wageningen greenhouse. ‘One of the things that we have learned is that the plant density is too high at the moment,’ Kema said. ‘We are going to adjust that, so that we will have more light and the bunches will be able to ripen faster in future experiments.’ 

Once the Wageningen bananas have been harvested they will be moved to a ripening centre operated by banana giant Chiquita, which is involved in the project. 

New breeds 

‘We are on the way to developing sustainable banana cultivation with new breeds of bananas that are resistant to diseases and that are grown in healthy soils in a responsible social climate,’ Kema says. 

The research group is also planning a trial in the Philippines to see how precision cultivation works under ideal conditions. 

Bananas are a staple food for more than 400 million people in the tropics, the fourth most consumed food crop, the most consumed non-cereal staple food, and the most consumed fruit in the world, Wageningen says.

Shell to link carbon emissions targets to senior executive pay

DutchNews, December 3, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Anglo Dutch oil giant Shell plans to set carbon emissions targets next year and link these to executive bonuses, chief executive Ben van Beurden has told the Financial Times. 

The move follows pressure from shareholders such as the  Church of England and Robeco who have ‘pushed Shell to make firm commitments to cut its carbon footprint’, the paper says. They have criticised last year’s announced ambition to halve carbon emissions by 2050 as not going far enough. 

Van Beurden said that by setting targets the company would be ‘systematically driving down our carbon footprint over time’. 

The company is still in talks with investors about the percentage to be targeted but the pay of 1,200 top employees could be affected, the FT said. 

Dutch civil service pension fund ABP has welcomed Shell’s decision. ‘The fact that Shell has anchored its ambition in its remuneration policy offers more confidence that Shell will really commit itself,’ chairwoman Corien Wortmann told the Financieele Dagblad. 

We will keep an eye on progress with ‘great interest’, Wortmann told the paper. 

The announcement comes at the start of UN climate talks start in Katowice, Poland.

Related Article:

Shell has paid no tax on Dutch profits for years: Trouw

Dead fish to power Norwegian cruise liners

Yahoo – AFP, November 26, 2018

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other
organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said
Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten plans to use dead fish to power some of its ships, it said on Monday, as it seeks to reduce its pollution and climate change impact.

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

"What others see as a problem, we see as a resource and a solution," the company's chief executive Daniel Skjeldam said.

"By introducing biogas as fuel for cruise ships, Hurtigruten will be the first cruise company to power ships with fossil-free fuel," he added.

The first biogas ship could be ready as soon as the end of next year, according to spokesman Rune Thomas Ege.

The company aims to have six of its 17 ships capable of using a combination of biogas, batteries and liquified natural gas, the cleanest of fossil fuels, by 2021.

Norway, which already has buses that run on biogas, has large fishing and forestry industries which produce vast amounts of organic waste.

The announcement comes as the cruise sector faces heavy criticism for its climate footprint and its impact on air quality.

A large cruise ship powered by highly-polluting heavy fuel oil emits almost as many fine particles daily as one million cars, according to German environmental group Nabu.

On Monday, a French court fined cruise company P&O and its US captain 100,000 euros ($114,000) for knowingly using fuel with excessive sulphur levels, the first such ruling in France.

Norway has a "zero emission" target for cruise ships and ferries navigating its fjords listed as world heritage sites by UNESCO by 2026 at the latest.

Hurtigruten, which aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, has ordered three hybrid battery/diesel vessels which the company said will be "the first cruise ships in the world that will be able to operate completely emission free for periods of time".

The spokesman said that is "and something deemed almost impossible just a few years back".

The first of those three ships should enter into service in May 2019.

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World's rarest plants, vital crops can't be banked: study

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick GALEY, November 2, 2018

New research by botanists at Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens found that the
seeds of more than a third of 'critically endangered' plants and trees can't be
put into seed banks (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Paris (AFP) - International efforts to save some of the world's rarest and economically important plants from climate change are doomed to fail because their seeds cannot be stored, researchers warned Friday.

As the planet heats and mankind continues to decimate natural habitats, scientists concede that the only way to save some types of vegetation is in seed banks -- giant repositories of thousands of species preserved for future generations.

Nations agreed a global strategy in 2002 to conserve at least three quarters of threatened plant species with the aim of recovering and restoring their stocks in nature at some point.

Scientists working in several seed banks around the world currently conserve seeds by drying them before freezing.

But new research by botanists at Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, found that 36 percent of "critically endangered" plants and trees aren't bankable under the current method because their seeds die when dried and so cannot be preserved by freezing.

"You can't dry the seeds so you cannot conserve them in a conventional seed bank," John Dickie, head of collections at Kew, told AFP.

It was previously known that at least eight percent of plants -- including oak trees, mango, avocado and cacao -- produce "recalcitrant" seeds that die when dried.

But with seed banking a work in progress, only a small proportion of plants have had their suitability for freezing assessed.

Dickie and his team developed a model using data on the climate, species habitat and the known seed-storage behaviour of related vegetation that predicted how likely it was that a plant's seeds would be bankable.

Preservation goals 'impossible'

The analysis showed that the goal of conserving 75 percent of the world's threatened plant species outside their natural habitat by 2020 was "practically impossible".

In addition, even a proportion of seeds that survive drying and freezing have been shown to deteriorate while in storage, further complicating efforts to save their species.

Plants including avocado trees produce "recalcitrant" seeds that die when 

dried (AFP Photo/DAVID MCNEW)

Dickie said the team at Kew, which has been banking seeds for nearly 40 years, noticed "declines in viability" in some seed varieties over the decades, meaning they are less likely to be successfully planted and grown in future.

Other common food plants with problematic seeds include lychees, jack fruit and coconuts -- all from the tropics. Ebony, parana pine and myrtle trees also have "recalcitrant" seeds.

"It's looking very crudely like some sort of 80-20 rule: 80 percent of what we've got seems to be doing perfectly well but maybe 20 percent is living shorter under conventional conditions," he said.

One potential way of saving plants with hard-to-store seeds is, somewhat counter-intuitively, to freeze them at a much lower temperature using liquid nitrogen.

This avoids the drying stage and, according to the team behind the study published in Nature Plants, can preserve seeds better than the current method.

Dickie said it was vital that seeds were stored quickly after collection to boost their chances of survival.

He said there was a need for greater research on identifying at-risk species -- often grown in remote, tropical areas.

"Once you know where the population of plants is you can get in there and then it's really a matter of getting them to a facility fast," he said.

"As successful as seed banking is for some species, it is not suitable for all seed plants and we need to invest in other ways to safeguard these."