Seven Dutch political parties join forces with a new climate agreement

DutchNews, June 28, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Seven parties in parliament have reached agreement on the text of a new climate law which says the Netherlands should aim to cut carbon dioxide production by 49% (compared with 1990) by 2030

In addition, the new law says that there should be a legally binding reduction of 95% by 2050 and that electricity production should also be 100% CO2 neutral by then.

‘This is the most ambitious climate law in the world,’ said GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver. ‘It is historic and it is going to change the Netherlands.’ 

The four coalition parties, plus GroenLinks, Labour and the Socialists have been working on a new climate law since February. 

The new climate law is not the only measure being worked on to reduce climate change in the Netherlands. 

The government has also set up five groups of experts to look at ways to reduce the Netherlands’ dependence on fossil fuels in different sectors. 

The group looking at the built environment, led by former Labour leader Diederik Samsom, recently recommended gas tax hikes. Others are focusing on transport, industry, electricity generation and agriculture. 

Their recommendations are due to be published in the next few weeks.

Oh no, here we go again: Atlantic hurricane season

Yahoo – AFP, Leila MACOR, June 1, 2018

A house destroyed by hurricane Irma still stands in disrepair in Big Pine Key,
Florida, following last year's monster hurricane season (AFP Photo/Leila MACOR)

Marathon (United States) (AFP) - Listen closely and you'll hear the groan of collective dread in Florida and the Caribbean: yes, it's already hurricane season again.

Both places were pummeled last year by monster storms and both -- in the case of Florida it was the plume of once-lovely coral islands known as the Florida Keys -- are still struggling to rebuild.

"If a storm comes through, we're screwed," said Cindy P., a 48-year-old waitress who lives in the Keys and explained houses in the area weren't yet prepared.

In the Caribbean, hit by two hurricanes in rapid-fire succession in September, the pain and shock of all that is still quite raw. People can't seem to catch their breath.

This week alone, a new study concluded that in Puerto Rico, 4,645 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria. The official toll in the US territory is 64 dead.

Against that jittery and shell-shocked backdrop, the new hurricane season started Friday.

The model of an affordable house built to withstand storms, is seen next to a house 

with the roof still unrepaired and covered by plastic bags in Big Pine Key (AFP Photo/

Leila MACOR)

Not even waiting for it, a plucky subtropical storm named Alberto caused flooding this week along the US East Coast.

Authorities in Florida say they have learned their lesson and are promising better telecoms and management of relief funds.

In Puerto Rico, the government is recommending that people amass provisions for 10 days, rather than just three as had been the case until now.

Much of the territory went months without water or power after Hurricane Maria.

But like that waitress Cyndi, people do not feel ready.

The Florida Keys are an archipelago that arcs out 180 kilometers (110 miles) southwest from the southern tip of the state and are connected by 42 bridges.

In this tourist destination, debris still clogs many canals. In working class neighborhoods you see many destroyed homes and some people living in tents on their front lawns.

"We take care of people up to a point. However, there reaches a point where they have to start taking care of themselves again," said Martin Senterfitt, emergency management director of Monroe County, which includes the keys.

A "now hiring" sign in a construction area in the Florida Keys, which is still struggling 

to rebuild after being pummeled last year by a monster storm (AFP Photo/Leila MACOR)

Latent problems

Hurricanes Irma and Maria accentuated problems that were already latent in areas that they blasted with storm surges and more-than-200 kilometer per hour winds.

For instance, of the 55,000 homes in the keys, more than 1,000 were reduced to their foundations and 3,000 suffered major damage. Also lost were 1,044 mobile homes and pre-fab houses.

More expensive homes, especially those in the last island, Key West, were spared by Irma, which scored a direct hit on the islands on September 10.

It was devastating for the working class: restaurant workers, landscapers, construction people and other low earners cannot find affordable housing. So they packed up and shipped out, leaving many employers without a workforce.

Many businesses have dusty "Help Wanted" signs in their front windows.

Many employers in the Florida Keys say they are struggling to find workers, after 

many people fled during last year's hurricane season (AFP Photo/Leila MACOR)

"We have major demand and there's no supply," Diane Eliopoulus, marketing manager at a Hard Rock Cafe in Key West, said at a board of commissioners meeting at which she said she had lost many employees.

"I get a lot of applicants, not anyone from this area. I say to them, 'would you mind looking at the housing market before making a decision to come?' I never get a call back," she added.

In Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria laid bare the decrepit state of the territory's electrical grid.

Eight months after the storm hit on September 20, there are still regular blackouts. And some 60,000 customers are still without power in the US possession of 3.3 million people, which was already saddled with a gargantuan debt crisis.

That extended lack of electricity killed older and sick people who depended on respirators or insulin, caused unemployment to rise and prompted nearly 200,000 people to leave the islands.

Tarps cover a house with the roof still unrepaired after the damage caused 

by hurricane Irma in Big Pine Key, Florida (AFP Photo/Leila MACOR)

Lessons learned

Governor Ricardo Rossello also says he has learned his lesson. The government filled warehouses with spare parts and prepared agreements that will allow for immediate assistance if the electrical grid collapses again.

"If we once again have to wait 50 days for the US Corps of Engineers to reach Puerto Rico, then we have not learned anything," Rossello said this week as he announced the plan.

In Barbuda, a tiny island in the Caribbean, Irma blew in like a bomb, destroying pretty much everything.

It is still recovering from damage estimated at more than $200 million. Just about everybody fled.

To this day, only 500 of the original 1,800 inhabitants have come back.

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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. ..."

"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."