ExxonMobil, Chevron investors vote for more action on climate change

Yahoo – AFP, John BIERS, May 26, 2021

Shareholders of ExxonMobil will decide whether to replace up to four board
members with supporters of renewable energy investment

Shareholders at ExxonMobil elected Wednesday at least two board members who pledged more aggressive action on climate change, while Chevron investors directed the oil giant to deepen emission cuts. 

The dual meetings involving the two biggest US oil giants showed clear evidence of how addressing climate change has moved from the environmental world into the investor mainstream. 

At ExxonMobil, two board nominees from activist group Engine No. 1 won enough votes to secure board seats. Shareholders also backed a proposal requiring a report on the oil giant's lobbying activities on climate change. 

At Chevron, a majority of investors backed an activist proposal calling on the company to reduce "scope 3" emissions associated with company operations. 

Earlier Wednesday, a Dutch court ordered oil giant Shell to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by a net of 45 percent by the end of 2030 following a challenge launched by environmental group Friends of the Earth. 

Engine No. 1's Gregory Goff and Kaisa Hietala secured enough votes to join ExxonMobil's board, along with Chief Executive Darren Woods and several other incumbent directors who were reelected, said ExxonMobil corporate secretary Stephen Littleton. 

Littleton said the vote was too close to call on whether the other two Engine No. 1 candidates would join the board instead of incumbent directors and that a final outcome may not be known "for some period of time." 

After the results were announced, Woods congratulated the Engine No. 1 candidates and pledged to work with them to meet shareholder expectations. The company had launched a lobbying offensive to re-elect its incumbent board, arguing it was taking meaningful action to address climate change. 

"We've heard from shareholders about their desire to catalyze further progress at ExxonMobil and we are well prepared to deliver," Woods said after the vote. 

'Change is coming' 

ExxonMobil had announced a series of steps on climate change since Engine No. 1 launched its campaign in late 2020, making Wednesday's election contest unpredictable. 

Engine No. 1's Charlie Penner expressed uncertainty about the vote during remarks at the outset of the meeting. 

"No matter what the outcome of this vote, change is coming," said Penner, who noted ExxonMobil's promises made since the insurgent campaign launched late last year that it "cannot easily walk away from." 

The oil company in January established a new "low carbon solutions" business to commercialize carbon capture technology; announced two new board members in March; and earlier this week pledged to appoint two more board members in the next 12 months, one with energy industry experience and one with climate experience. 

ExxonMobil has battled annual meeting fights on climate change for decades, usually prevailing on shareholder resolutions. 

But oil majors are under intensifying pressure to develop more aggressive policies on climate change and embrace renewable energy. 

European rivals such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total have undertaken renewable investments and pledged to attain net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

The International Energy Agency earlier this month said all future fossil fuel projects should be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and stand any chance of limiting warming to 1.5C. 

The report goes well beyond existing policies adopted by the United States and other governments. The Biden administration, for example, has endorsed renewable energy investment, but has not supported an immediate phase-out of new fossil fuel investment. 

Both ExxonMobil and Chevron have announced new environmental initiatives in recent months, while insisting on the need for continued investment in oil and gas development. 

Woods called the recent IEA analysis a "helpful" contribution, saying reducing emissions is a "complex problem and a challenging one" that will require new technology and government policies. 

Shares of ExxonMobil rose 0.7 percent to $58.65 in afternoon trading, while Chevron was flat to $103.85.

Related Article:

Shell ordered to slash CO2 emissions more quickly in landmark court case

Shell ordered to cut emissions in landmark Dutch climate case

Yahoo – AFP, Danny KEMP, May 26, 2021 

Environmentalists celebrate after The Hague court announced the landmark ruling

A Dutch court ordered oil giant Shell on Wednesday to slash its greenhouse gas emissions in a landmark victory for climate activists with implications for energy firms worldwide. 

Shell must reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 as it is contributing to the "dire" effects of climate change, the district court in The Hague ruled. 

Campaigners hailed the "historic" verdict as the first time that a company had been made to align its policy with the 2015 Paris climate accords. 

Dubbed "the People versus Shell", the case was backed by seven environmental groups and more than 17,000 Dutch citizens. 

Judge Larisa Alwin said in the verdict that Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell has an "enormous CO2 emission for which it is responsible".

 Shell "is contributing to the dire consequences of climate change for the population" and must implement the decision "at once". 

Shell said it "fully expects to appeal today's disappointing court decision". 

"Urgent action is needed on climate change which is why we have accelerated our efforts to become a net-zero emissions energy company by 2050, in step with society," a Shell spokesman said in a statement. 

With energy firms around the world facing growing pressure over climate change, Shell set new targets in February to reduce its net carbon footprint compared to a 2016 baseline by 20 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2050. 

Shell must reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030, the Dutch court ruled

'Historical day' 

Dozens of campaigners hugged, clapped and shouted "climate justice" outside the court as the verdict was announced, an AFP reporter said. 

In a show of solidarity, a group of around 50 Dutch cyclists had also cycled from the north of the Netherlands to mark the judgment. 

"This is a historical day," said Donald Pols, director of the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, which originally brought the case. 

"It's the first time in history that the judge has decided that a large polluter, Royal Dutch Shell, should stop causing dangerous climate change," Pols told AFP outside the court. 

"This will have an enormous impact, not only on Shell itself, but on major polluters throughout the Netherlands and globally." 

The 2015 Paris accords committed all nations to cut carbon emissions to limit warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and encouraged them to go down to 1.5 degrees. 

Greenpeace Netherlands interim chief Andy Palmen said it was a "historic victory for the climate and everyone facing the consequences of the climate crisis." 

"Shell cannot continue to violate human rights and put profit over people and the planet... We can hold multinational corporations worldwide accountable for the climate crisis," he said in a statement. 

The case is one of a series around the world in which citizens and campaigners frustrated with inaction on climate change have hauled governments and big polluters before the courts. 

The judge acknowledged that Shell had 'already tightened up its goals' but said 
its climate policy was not 'concrete'

'Full of reservations' 

Dozens of climate marchers handed in the lawsuit to Shell's headquarters in the Netherlands in The Hague in April 2019 in what organisers said was the first case of its kind. 

Shell had argued that it is making serious efforts to cut gas emissions, but that there is no legal basis for the case and that governments are responsible for meeting Paris targets. 

It said it was investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy such as electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, renewables and biofuels. 

The judge acknowledged that Shell had "already tightened up its goals" but said its climate policy was "not concrete and is full of reservations." 

Shell's emissions were "greater than those of many countries" and the resulting climate change effects pose "serious risks to human rights, such as the right to life and an undisturbed family life," the judge said. 

She ordered Shell to make the emissions cut based on its 2019 levels. 

Campaigners have repeated the success of a case brought by the green group Urgenda in which the Dutch Supreme Court in 2019 ordered the state to slash emissions by at least 25 percent of 1990 levels by the end of 2020. 

The Netherlands, particularly vulnerable to climate change as a third of the country is below sea level, has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 49 percent by 2030. 

It is sixth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita in the EU, according to the bloc's figures.

 Related Article:

Appeal court upholds Urgenda ruling – government must cut CO2 by 25%

Dutch government to appeal court ruling on emissions cuts

Dutch government ordered to cut carbon emissions in landmark ruling

Urgenda supporters celebrate at the Hague after court ruling requiring Dutch 

government to slash emissions. Photograph: Chantal Bekker/Urgenda

New corporate initiatives aim for carbon neutrality

Yahoo – AFP, July 21, 2020

Apple is stepping up its efforts on climate change, with a pledge to be carbon 
neutral across its entire business by 2030 (AFP Photo/Emmanuel DUNAND)

New York (AFP) - Nine global corporations unveiled an initiative Tuesday to step up efforts to move to a "net zero" carbon emissions society, while Apple announced its own plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.

A new coalition including US-based Microsoft, Germany's Mercedes-Benz AG, France's Danone and Anglo-Dutch Unilever aims to "develop and deliver research, guidance, and implementable roadmaps to enable all businesses to achieve net zero emissions," according to a statement by the group.

The initiative, known as Transform to Net Zero, aims to help businesses achieve zero emissions no later than 2050.

"Over the past decade, many businesses have committed to net zero targets. It is now time to accelerate the actions needed to achieve this essential goal," said Aron Cramer, president of the nonprofit consultancy BSR, which will serve as the secretariat for the initiative.

"We are now in a decisive decade, in which we must urgently decarbonize the economy, if we are to stave off the worst impacts of climate change."

Other founding members of the coalition include the Danish shipping giant Maersk, Brazilian personal care firm Natura & Co, US-based Starbucks and Nike, India-based tech firm Wipro and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.

"The gap between where we are on climate change and where we need to be continues to widen," said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund.

"This new initiative holds tremendous potential for closing these gaps. Especially if other businesses follow in the coalition's footsteps."

Apple goes green

Apple meanwhile said in a separate announcement it would become carbon neutral by 2030 for all its operations including manufacturing.

The California tech giant, which is already carbon neutral for its corporate operations, said the move would mean no climate impact for all its devices sold.

As part of an environmental update, Apple said it plans to reduce emissions by 75 percent by 2030 while developing "innovative carbon removal solutions" for the remaining 25 percent of its comprehensive footprint.

This includes investing in projects to restore savannas in Kenya and a mangrove ecosystem in Colombia to remove or store carbon.

"Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.

"Climate action can be the foundation for a new era of innovative potential, job creation, and durable economic growth."

Apple said it has commitments from over 70 suppliers to use 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production.

As part of the effort, Apple will also establish an "accelerator" fund to invest in minority-owned businesses to contribute to the initiative, as part of its $100 million commitment to promote racial equity and justice.

A decade after Deepwater, BP faces new existential challenges

Yahoo - AFP, Véronique DUPONT, April 22, 2020

BP says it has reformed its culture over the past decade to emphasise operational
security and to prevent environmental damage (AFP Photo)

London (AFP) - Ten years after an oil spill that BP's new boss Bernard Looney admits tested the company "to the core", the firm is facing two existential challenges: the collapse of prices and climate change.

It was a decade ago this week that an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico triggered the worst oil spill in US history, killing 11 employees and ultimately costing the British firm more than $70 billion.

Speaking in February as BP announced plans to go carbon neutral by 2050, chief executive officer Looney said that "we learned some hard lessons we will never forget".

"We remember those lessons in this new decade, where the big challenge for BP is the one the world faces: climate change," he said.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has followed suit in pledging to become carbon neutral but the US groups and French firm Total are lagging behind.

Map and factfile on the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico triggered by

 the explosion in April 2010 of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform US 

environment energy oil disaster (AFP Photo)

BP says it has reformed its culture over the past decade to emphasise operational security and to prevent environmental damage, for example through a programme to detect methane leaks.

The company's latest figures show an increase in its oil spills from 124 in 2018 to 152 in 2019, but BP puts this down to acquisitions over the period.

The 2020s began amid greater pressure on multinationals to reduce their carbon emissions, from investor demands to dramatic protests by climate campaigners.

The global coronavirus pandemic has brought a new and unprecedented challenge for oil firms, causing a drop in demand that has sent prices plummeting.

The collapse in prices complicates the transition to cleaner energy for oil majors, because cheap oil makes green energy comparatively less attractive.

For campaign group Greenpeace, the choice for the industry is clear: 'Either 

becoming renewable energy companies or ultimately shutting down' (AFP 

Photo/Mark RALSTON)

BP puts almost all of its $15 billion annual investment budget into fossil fuels, although it has acquired stakes in solar panel firms and electric vehicle charging companies worth a total of $400 million.

"Their basic business model hasn't changed," said Bobby Banerjee, professor of management at City, University of London.

"They invest most of their money in gas and oil" because "they're confident there will be demand for oil" in the next 50 to 70 years, he said.

He said for BP, the energy transition was all about shifting from oil to gas, which is still a polluting hydrocarbon.

"The return they get on fossil fuels is not the return they'll get on renewables," he said.

In this file photo taken on June 08, 2010, veterinarians clean an oil-covered brown 

pelican found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP (AFP Photo/Saul LOEB)

Changing the model 

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said after the Deepwater crisis BP shed some assets and bet on low oil prices in the long run, reducing its costs and making the group more resilient.

But it has huge debts, totalling some $45 billion at the end of 2019, leaving it vulnerable to a sustained drop in revenues.

Looney now faces a dilemma. He must decarbonise the group while preserving its profitability and share price, which has fallen by 40 percent since the beginning of the year, a plunge experienced by many rivals.

He has promised to say more in September about how he will reach his carbon neutral target and is expected to bet on gas, still untested carbon capture technology and renewables.

BP could also take advantage of carbon offsetting schemes, which involve investing in green projects but are heavily criticised by environmentalists.

For campaign group Greenpeace, the choice for the industry is clear: "Either becoming renewable energy companies or ultimately shutting down."

"The crash in the oil market is the closest thing BP and the rest of the global oil industry will get to a dress rehearsal for the transition to come," a spokesperson said.

Related Article:

BP agrees to $20 billion fund for spill costs

EU leader urges MEPs to back green growth plan

Yahoo – AFP, Marine LAOUCHEZ, Dave CLARK, December 11, 2019

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the 'Green New Deal'  to
fight climate change was "Europe's man on the moon moment" (AFP Photo/
Aris Oikonomou)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top official Wednesday launched the bloc's new "Green Deal", hailing it as a strategy for jobs and economic growth, not just for cutting emissions.

Unveiling the plan to the European Parliament, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also warned against the steep cost of inaction.

Earlier, she had compared the ambition of the plan to the 1960s US mission to the moon, but Green groups were quick to warn it does not go far enough.

The key element of the plan will be a law committing member states to build a carbon neutral economy by 2050 -- but first it will need the go-ahead from parliament and EU leaders.

"We do not have all the answers yet. Today is the start of a journey. But this is Europe's man on the moon moment," Ursula von der Leyen said.

She promised a "new growth strategy" that "gives back more than it takes away", aiming to mobilise around 100 billion euros to fund clean energy projects.

"We have to make sure no one is left behind," she told reporters. "This transition will either be working for all and be just, or it will not work at all."

In parliament, she said: "Some say the cost of this transition is too high, let us never forget what the cost of non-action would be. It is rising by the year."

The document is the first major political challenge for the former German defence minister since she took charge of the European Commission this month.

And it comes as a UN global climate summit is under way in Madrid -- focusing attention on the crisis -- and on the eve of von der Leyen's first EU summit.

Various leaked versions of the plan have been flying around Brussels for weeks, and lobby groups from all sides of the debate have been piling on pressure.

The European Parliament was the first to officially receive the plan.

"At this point, we can't yet say if it's a Green Deal or green washing," said French Green MEP Karima Delli as associations feared the proposals did not go far enough.

The leaders of EU member states will hear it on Thursday at their Brussels summit and von der Leyen's deputy Frans Timmermans will take it to this week's COP25 forum in Madrid.

"It's important that, in parallel to the announcement, there's a signal" of support from European leaders, European Council President Charles Michel said.

The "European Green Deal" lists legislative proposals, financial instruments and action plans in different sectors, with a timetable.

The key goals are to use a combination of cleaner tech and carbon capture methods to make Europe the first "carbon neutral" economy by 2050.

Global competitors

Three countries still highly dependent on fossil fuels, particularly coal, could still block the way: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

To convince them, the Commission plans to establish a 100-billion-euro "transition mechanism" to help them transition to renewable energy sources.

"It would help if at the Council we get some progress on carbon neutrality," said MEP Pascal Canfin, chair of the environment committee of the leaders' meeting.

The European Commission wants to set a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50 or even 55 percent by 2030, up from its 40 percent goal.

But for some this does not go far enough.

"The promises are too small, too few, and too far off," said Jagoda Munic of Friends of the Earth Europe.

"We're on a runaway train to ecological and climate collapse and the EU Commission is gently switching gears instead of slamming on the brakes."

The action plan also includes plans to extend the EU Emissions Trading System into the highly polluting shipping sector.

And there are plans for a "border adjustment mechanism" aimed at importers to ensure that EU companies do not lose out to competitors who flout the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Commission will also lay out the timetable for its "from farm to fork" strategy to promote sustainable and quality agriculture, as well as that on biodiversity.

But however ambitious von der Leyen's environmental plan is, it will be very dependent on the money EU members are willing to spend on it.

For the moment, this is the unknown. Negotiations for the multi-year MFF budget for the period 2021-2027 are running late and entering a difficult stage.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time' 2019 person of the year

Yahoo – AFP, December 11, 2019
\

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has taken her disarmingly straightforward
message -- "listen to the scientists" -- around the world (AFP Photo/CRISTINA QUICLER)

New York (AFP) - Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who became the voice of conscience for a generation facing the climate change emergency, was named Wednesday as Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year.

The 16-year-old first made headlines with her solo strike against global warming outside Sweden's parliament in August 2018.

"We can't just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow. That is all we are saying," Thunberg told Time.

The magazine interviewed Thunberg aboard the sailboat that took her from the United States to Europe after a hectic 11-week North American trip to several US cities and Canada.

Thunberg has taken her disarmingly straightforward message -- "listen to the scientists" -- to global decision-makers, accusing them of inaction.

Thunberg's activism has inspired people around the world, including these 

demonstrators in Rome (AFP Photo/Andreas SOLARO)

The Swedish activist was in Madrid as the award was announced, at a UN climate forum tasked with saving the world from runaway global warming.

"The politics of climate action are as entrenched and complex as the phenomenon itself, and Thunberg has no magic solution," Time wrote in the interview.

"But she has succeeded in creating a global attitudinal shift, transforming millions of vague, middle-of-the-night anxieties into a worldwide movement calling for urgent change.

"She has offered a moral clarion call to those who are willing to act, and hurled shame on those who are not."

'I want you to panic'

Within months of launching her lonely "School Strike for the Climate" protest outside the Swedish parliament Thunberg was spearheading global demonstrations by young people and demanding environmental action from world leaders.

Then 15-years-old Greta Thunberg calls for a school strike as she protests in front 

of the Swedish Parliament in September 2018 (AFP Photo/Jonathan NACKSTRAND)

"I want you to panic," she told CEOs and world leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland in January 2019. "I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act."

Her words spread like wildfire online.

The daughter of an opera singer mother and an actor-turned-producer father born, Thunberg has faced severe criticism -- the latest from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who dismissed her as a "brat" -- and been subjected to a swarm of online conspiracy theory.

Some mock her youth or try to discredit her because of her Asperger's syndrome, a diagnosis she has never hidden.

Her diagnosis means that Thunberg "doesn't operate on the same emotional register as many of the people she meets," Time magazine wrote.

"I want you to panic," Thunberg told CEOs and world leaders at the World Economic

Forum in Davos in January 2019 (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

"She dislikes crowds; ignores small talk; and speaks in direct, uncomplicated sentences. She cannot be flattered or distracted" -- and according to the magazine, "these very qualities have helped make her a global sensation."

Thunberg says she is mystified by the hostility of some of the reaction to her.

"I honestly don't understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science when they could do something good instead," she wrote on Twitter in September. "Being different is not an illness."

She also insists that she has "not received any money" for her activism.

And with 12 million followers on her Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts, she continues to rack up high-profile supporters, from Barack Obama to the Dalai Lama and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Swedish climate activist Greta #Thunberg on Wednesday accused wealthier nations of inventing ways to avoid slashing their greenhouse gas emissions, branding their climate action "misleading" at the UN #COP25 summit in Madrid https://t.co/4GiEOW9k5u pic.twitter.com/UembNA3xfR

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 11, 2019

Kerry launches US bipartisan group addressing climate 'like a war'

Yahoo – AFP, December 1, 2019

As US secretary of state in 2016, John Kerry attended the COP22 climate change
conference in Morocco; this year, as the US sends a low-level delegation to the
COP25 talks in Spain, Kerry has founded a private group to raise climate
awareness (AFP Photo/Mark RALSTON)

Washington (AFP) - Former US secretary of state John Kerry said Sunday that he had formed a cross-party, celebrity-studded coalition to take on the cause of climate change and confront it "like a war."

The initiative's launch coincides with the opening Monday of the COP25 international climate talks in Madrid, where the US administration of Donald Trump will be represented only by a low-level delegation.

Trump has begun the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement signed by nearly every other country, calling global warming a "hoax."

In contrast, Kerry told NBC's "Meet the Press" that climate change poses "an international security issue" requiring the equivalent of a wartime mobilization.

Kerry said his new group World War Zero included admirals and generals as well as celebrities including actor Leonardo DiCaprio and rock legend Sting.

Kerry, a Democrat, appeared Sunday with another member, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and Republican former governor of California.

Without specifically referring to Trump or the COP25 talks, Kerry said that "no country is getting the job done."

"Things are getting worse, not better. So we have our unlikely allies coming together here... to treat this like a war."

The United Nations warned last week that barring an immediate, dramatic decline in fossil fuel emissions, the world will be unable to avert climate disaster.

The US is the world's second largest polluter, after China, and carbon emissions from the two countries are growing, not declining.

Some American conservatives, including Trump, question established climate science and say severe curbs on industrial emissions could inflict severe economic harm.

Schwarzenegger disputed that conclusion, saying California had provided "perfect proof you can protect the environment and economy at the same time" with the development of "green" jobs.

The Kerry group is planning to hold town meetings across the US -- including states seen as key to next year's presidential election -- with the goal of reaching millions of Americans and persuading climate skeptics.

It will not advocate any specific climate policies.

The group includes Henry Paulson, a former Treasury secretary under George W. Bush, and John Kasich, a former Republican governor of Ohio.

Related Articles:

“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

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."