Biomass-fired electricity plants are on balance more polluting than coal: report

DutchNews, October 30, 2019 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Power stations which burn wood, food waste and other plant-based products emit more carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide than coal-fired power stations, according to an as-yet unpublished report drawn up for the infrastructure ministry. 

Generating the same amount of power in a biomass power station creates more pollutants than traditional coal because the process is less efficient and needs more fuel, the AD reported. And compared with gas, biomass emits twice as much nitrogen-based pollution.

The Netherlands has agreed to close its remaining coal-fired power stations by 2030 in an effort to meet the Paris agreements on climate change. The government has also pledged to end the production of gas from under the province of Groningen in 2020. 

The government is pumping billions of euros in subsidies into building biomass plants and wood which is seen by the EU as a climate-neutral source of energy because the carbon dioxide is absorbed by newly-planted trees. 

According to research by the AD, 628 biomass installations in the Netherlands will get some €11.4bn in subsidies in the coming years, of which €2.6bn is going to the RWE power plants in Geertruidenberg and Eemshaven. 

And RWE will import thousands of tonnes of wood pellets from the US next year to burn in Dutch biomass power plants in a move that has been strongly criticized by local campaign groups. 

Wasting money 

Earlier this month, the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) said that governments should stop wasting billions of euros on subsidising biomass power plants because it is unsustainable. 

EASAC also said burning wood does not produce very much energy and the net amount of CO2 which is released is greater than when burning coal or gas. 

A number of regional health boards (GGDs) have also written to economic affairs minister Erik Wiebes warning him to be aware of the impact climate change policies can have on health. 

Plans to build more biomass-fired power stations plus wind and solar farms will all have an effect on humans but the health ministry has not been involved in the talks, the boards say.

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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.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Shell, other oil giants, spent €250m lobbying Brussels in 10 years

DutchNews, October 24, 2019

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell is among five big energy companies which have spent a combined €250m on lobbying the European Union in an effort to influence policy, according to Brussels-based research group Corporate Europe Observatory. 

‘Since 2010, just five oil and gas corporations and their fossil fuel lobby groups have spent at least a quarter of a billion euros buying influence at the heart of European decision-making,’ the organisation said on Thursday. 

‘We need a firewall that protects our democratic institutions and our political decision-making from fossil fuel industry interference,’ the organisation said. ‘No more private lobby meetings, partnerships, or collaboration.’ 

Shell, BP, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobile lobbyists have held 327 meetings with EU officials over the 10 year period, including 13 with Frans Timmermans or members of his ‘Better Regulation’ task force. This, the researchers say, is more than one meeting a week. 

In total, the oil giants have some 200 lobbyists working on their behalf in Brussels.

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Big firm products top worst plastic litter list: report

"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.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Big firm products top worst plastic litter list: report

RTL –AFP, 23 October 2019

The coalition's volunteers collected nearly half a million pieces of plastic
waste during a coordinated 'World Clean Up Day' / (AFP)

Tens of thousands of pieces of plastic littering the planet come from just a handful of multinational corporations, an environmental pressure group said Wednesday.

Coca-Cola, Nestle and PepsiCo were named by Break Free from Plastics, a global coalition of individuals and environmental organisations, who warned the companies largely avoid cleanup responsibility.

The coalition's volunteers collected nearly half a million pieces of plastic waste during a coordinated "World Clean Up Day" in 51 countries a month ago, of which 43 percent were marked with a clear consumer brand.

For the second year in a row, it said, Coca-Cola came out on top, with 11,732 pieces of plastic collected from 37 countries across four continents -- more than the next three top global polluters combined.

"Many of them have made commitments that they claim will make their products more sustainable, but largely protect the outdated throwaway business model that got us into this mess in the first place," said the report, released in Manila.

As nations, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka dump the most plastic into the oceans, but "the real drivers of much of this plastic pollution in Asia are actually multinational corporations headquartered in Europe and the United States", it said.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle were responsible for the most pieces of plastic collected, according to the report.

Others in the top 10 polluters include Mondelez International, Unilever, Mars, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive, Philip Morris and Perfetti Van Mille, it added.

Single-serve sachets

While global consumer brands now acknowledge their role in perpetuating the crisis, the report said they "have been equally aggressive in promoting false solutions to address the problem".

Plastic waste survey / AFP

Promoting recycling is their way of shifting responsibility to consumers, it said.

Just nine percent of all plastic produced since the 1950s has actually been recycled, the report said.

The report deems single-serve multilayered sachets, common in Southeast Asia and aimed at low-income families that cannot afford bigger volumes of consumer products, as "the most damaging type of plastic packaging".

Coca-Cola's promotion of a single-use bottle using plastic collected from the oceans, as well as PepsiCo's efforts to promote recycling, "do not get to the heart of the problem and all but guarantee the plastic pollution crisis will grow worse".

Nestle sells over a billion products a day in single-use packaging "but has no clear plans for reducing the total amount" it puts into the world, the report alleged.

The firm said it was working towards solutions "to make reports like this a thing of the past".

"As the world's largest food and beverage company, we know we have an important role to play in shaping sustainable solutions to tackle the issue of plastics waste," a Nestle spokesperson told AFP in a statement.

"It is completely unacceptable for this (plastic) packaging to end up as litter in the environment and we are working hard to make all of our packaging either recyclable or reusable by 2025."

The report said companies should veer away from promoting "false solutions" -- such as recycling and so-called "bioplastics" -- and instead transition from a throwaway economy.

All the companies named have made public commitments to reduce plastic waste and increase recycling.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo -- like Nestle -- have pledged to make their packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. The beverage giants have also pulled out of a US lobbying organisation that represents the plastics industry.

"Changing the way society makes, uses, and disposes of packaging is a complex challenge and we're playing our part," a PepsiCo spokesperson told AFP.

"We want to help build a system where plastic packaging never becomes waste."

The Coca-Cola Company said it was working to help stop plastic waste entering the seas, describing it as a "critical global issue".

"Any time our packaging ends up in our oceans -- or anywhere that it doesn't belong -- is unacceptable to us," the firm said in a statement.

Break Free from Plastics counts 6,118 individuals and 1,475 organisations around the world as its members, including Greenpeace.

Thunberg sets an example to teenage tennis star Gauff

Yahoo – AFP, 17 October 2019

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has been an inspiration to fellow
teenagers such as tennis sensation Coco Gauff she told The Guardian newspaper

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is leading a changing of the established order in how the young are now emboldened to speak up and not kowtow to their elders, said American teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff.

Gauff, aged just 15, has taken the women's tennis circuit by storm this year, with eye-catching performances at Wimbledon and the US Open and winning her first professional title in Linz, Austria, last weekend.

She told The Guardian she is using her fame to promote causes she believes in through her following in social media especially Instagram.

Thunberg, 16, came to the world's attention when in August last year, she began sitting alone in front of Sweden's parliament on Fridays with a sign reading "School Strike for the Climate".

In little more than a year, she has galvanised millions of young people around the world to take part in demonstrations to raise awareness for action on climate change.

"Lately, younger people are leading movements and I guess the world has to get used to it because we're used to older people telling us what to do," Gauff said speaking in Luxembourg where she played this week but lost in the first round.

Coco Gauff says her success on court is gaining her a growing 

following on social media and thus a bigger audience for 

her to address social issues she cares about

"My generation has just decided it was time to speak up on our own about things. I do follow the (climate) movement a lot and I’m learning about ways we can better change, at least my lifestyle and the way my family live.

"It's great when they say I'm young and I'm doing great things.

"It will get frustrating when they say: 'You're young, you don't know any better." I think it's a good thing to point out that to a younger person but I think we shouldn't put someone's intelligence down no matter what."

Gauff, who during Black History Month this year posted facts about Juneteenth -– the American commemoration of the abolition of slavery -– and things she did not learn at school, says fame is helping her to get her own messages across about issues she is interested in.

"Wimbledon (she reached the fourth round losing to eventual champion Simona Halep) has given me an opportunity to raise money and raise awareness for other things and I'm glad that I was able to," she said.

"With every match I win I seem to get more and more people following me, so that's good.

"And that means more and more awareness for subjects I care about. I always wanted to not just be a tennis player."

Her win in Linz last weekend aged 15 years and seven months made her the youngest player to win a WTA event since Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who triumphed in Vancouver and Tashkent two months apart in 2004 as a 15-year-old.

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"The Energy of the Future" - Dec 7, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The New 'Message' from Space

Let me tell you what the message is that is being communicated: Unlock to 44 percent! This is the message: The Human race has passed the marker and is ready for the next step in evolution. I am talking about the old soul. You are the ones who will be first to get this message. It is you, and some of your "old soul" children, who are starting to feel and accept this!

Let me tell you in this lesson today that the first thing that this unlocking will begin to create is what we're going to call Akashic acuity. You're going to start remembering, and it's about time. Can you celebrate this? It's about time that when you're born you don't start from scratch, in the dark, and doing everything all over again. Instead, you remember!

I want to talk to some individuals who are listening to this and are in this room. Have your grandchildren had the audacity to tell you who they used to be? Don't raise your hand; I know you're here. They feel it, and they know it, and out of the mouths of these babes come the most profound information that this planet has ever heard! They knew who they were! Some will point their fingers at you and say, “Don't you remember? I was your mum in another life.” That's a bit disconcerting, isn't it?

I want you to remember one of the premises of incarnation, the one that we have given you over and over. You incarnate in family groups. There's a reason for this, so there is comfort and joy. It's so you don't have to learn the energy of each related person, all over again, each time. The energies of the family stay together and you can accomplish more that way. There's always a benevolent reason for these things. Every single attribute of the esoteric system of life, whether it's your grids or reincarnation, is benevolent. Did you hear that? It's a beautiful system, and not random. It's not about judgment; it's not about punishment. It is, instead, about the love of God for you, and what I'm about to tell you is what is changing is energy.

Akashic Acuity

So we have established that you are moving into this new radiation, and we have established that it intersects the sun. The sun blasts your magnetic field with it (via the solar wind) and the magnetic field talks to your DNA. Suddenly, there is the potential some of your DNA is being unlocked. The attributes of unlocking Akashic acuity will help you to remember who you've been. Now, with this remembrance comes energy - not about who you were, but rather it gives you the energy of what you did. I don't mean physically; I mean energetically and mentally. Old souls carry with them experience. When you look into the eyes of a child, you're going to see wisdom just waiting to break out. Dear ones, these children are different. They are not going to go through what you did! They have a whole new set of issues, and most of their issues are trying to navigate the old issues you create for them!

There's something we brought up in a former channelling called the wisdom factor. Now, the wisdom factor is caused by Akashic acuity. After living Human life over and over, you start remembering the wisdom that you have gained through these past lifetimes. You don't necessarily remember who you were, but rather the fact that you were at all and the experiences you had. Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing how to read? Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing not to touch something hot? Where did it come from? You're going to see more of this, and a feeling of "been there, done that".

Akashic acuity is remembrance of experience during past lifetimes. As the child grows, that remembrance becomes pure wisdom. As the child starts to awaken and the pineal opens, something else happens. The grid starts talking to the child through the DNA, and in the grid is also the information from the time capsules we spoke about in past channellings. The time capsules start feeding the planet with increased wisdom and knowledge. You don't have to reincarnate to awaken even further! Akashic acuity means suddenly Humans know more than other children have in the past - much more. …”

Unilever to halve use of new plastic

Yahoo – AFP, Charlotte VAN OUWERKERK, October 7, 2019

Shampoo could be sold in bars, eliminating the need for plastic bottles (AFP
Photo/LIU JIN)

The Hague (AFP) - Anglo-Dutch commercial giant Unilever said Monday it will cut its use of new plastic by half by 2025, admitting the move was partly to appeal to young, more environmentally-conscious customers

The firm, which owns brands including Dove soap, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and Marmite, would cut annual use from the current 700,000 tonnes of a year to no more than 350,000 tonnes.

The move comes as multinational firms face growing pressure to cut the use of plastics which are polluting both land and sea.

"Plastic has its place, but that place is not in the environment. We can only eliminate plastic waste by acting fast and taking radical action at all points in the plastic cycle," Unilever chief executive Alan Jope said in a statement.

But Jope told the BBC that the company -- whose 400 brands also include Knorr, Lipton tea and Magnum ice creams -- was also trying to remain "relevant".

"We do believe in trying to remain relevant for younger groups of consumers, and we know that millennials and Gen-Zennials, the next wave, really care about purpose and sustainability, and the conduct of the companies and the brands that they're buying," he told the broadcaster.

Of the 350,000 tonnes of "virgin plastic" Unilever will cut, it said 100,000 tonnes will come from an outright reduction in the use of plastic packaging, for example by making reusable or refillable packs, using alternative packaging or "naked products" that use none at all.

The other 250,000 tonnes of the reduction will come from using recycled plastics.

The firm said it would also "help collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells".

'Greenwashing' alert

Unilever said it was the "first major global consumer goods company to commit to an absolute plastics reduction".

Alternative methods it has tried recently include shampoo bars, refillable toothpaste tablets, cardboard deodorant sticks and bamboo toothbrushes.

The world produces more than 300 million tonnes of plastics annually, the UN says, with much of it ending up in the oceans.

Companies are coming under increasing pressure to act.

In September, 19 companies including Unilever, Nestle, Google and L’Oreal announced a "coalition" to protect biodiversity at the UN climate summit in New York.

Swiss group Nestle has made a similar pledge to the one by Unilever, saying that it will make all of its packaging reusable or recyclable, and raising to 35 percent the proportion of its plastic bottles that is made of recycled material.

US coffee giant Starbucks is meanwhile planning to ban plastic straws by 2020 while Walt Disney Co. said it would replace small plastic shampoo bottles at its resorts and many British supermarkets have drastically cut down plastic bag use.

There was also a pledge at this summer's G20 in Osaka to tackle marine plastics pollution, although environmentalists attacked it for being vague on detail.

"There is a general awakening of conscience among consumers which is alerting both governments and producers," Gregory Bressolles, professor of marketing at Kedge Business School in France, told AFP.

However he warned against "attempts at greenwashing" by businesses.

"Greenwashing" is a term used to critics to describe efforts by companies to promote often spurious environmental measures for commercial gain.

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Greta Thunberg mocks Putin's 'kind girl' jibes on Twitter

Yahoo - AFP, October 4, 2019

Greta Thunberg, whom Putin called 'a kind but poorly informed teenager' (AFP
Photo/Minas Panagiotakis)

Moscow (AFP) - Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has responded with wry humour on Twitter to patronising comments made about her by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The 16-year-old changed her Twitter biography to say "A kind but poorly informed teenager" after Putin described her in these terms at a Moscow forum this week.

On Wednesday, Putin said: "I don't share the general enthusiasm" for Greta Thunberg's impassioned speech at the United Nations climate summit in September, which went viral with her repeated question: "How dare you?"

"I'm sure Greta is a kind girl and very sincere," Putin said of the campaigner who sailed across the Atlantic instead of flying to speak at the UN.

However, "no one explained" to Thunberg, who has 2.7 million followers on Twitter, that "the modern world is developing quickly," he lamented.

Putin said it was praiseworthy for young people to raise environmental issues, but raised the possibility that someone was manipulating Thunberg "in their own interests".

He warned "adults must do all they can not to lead teenagers and children into any extreme situations."

US President Donald Trump also attempted to crush Thunberg, only for her to use his own words against him.

After her speech at the UN, Trump mocked her tone on Twitter, saying she "seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."

Thunberg later changed her Twitter biography to read: "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."

Thunberg has been tipped as a possible winner of this year Nobel Peace Prize.