March for Science protesters hit the streets worldwide

Tens of thousands of science supporters are expected to rally across the globe to highlight evidence-based facts. Climate change denial, "alternative facts" and Donald Trump have catalyzed the community.

Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2017

Thousands of people in Australia and New Zealand on Saturday kicked off the March for Science, the first of more than 500 marches around the globe in support of science.

The March for Science rallies come in response to growing worries over an assault on evidence-based facts and concern that funding for science and research will be cut. The organizers want to highlight the role that science plays in informing political policies and promoting the public interest.

More than ten thousand people turned out in several cities in Australia, carrying signs reading "Alternative splicing, not alternative facts," and "Science, the best bullshit repellent we have."

A protester in Christchurch, New Zealand, joined hundreds of others
across the country

Another said: "What do we want? Science-based policy. When do we want it? After peer review."

While the organizers say they are nonpartisan, they admit that US President Donald Trump has catalyzed supporters of science at a time of "alternative facts."

At the center of concern is denial of climate change and the Trump administration's plans to cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and research and science. Trump has called climate change a hoax and threatened to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

#sciencemarch @ScienceMarchSyd timelapse pic.twitter.com/G9tcZiJbqW

— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) April 22, 2017

"The march has generated a great deal of conversation around whether or not scientists should involve themselves in politics," the organizers said in a statement on the website www.marchforscience.com. "In the face of an alarming trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery, we might ask instead: can we afford not to speak out in its defense?"

The main march is scheduled in Washington, DC, with more than 500 satellite marches planned across the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

In Germany, 19 marches are planned, including in Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich and the tiny North Sea island of Helgoland.

cw/rc (AFP, dpa)

Related Articles:

"Demystifying the future" + "Physics in the next 500 years"(#) - May 16-17, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (#) New major Discoveries (This channel will become a historical channel in the future, prove that Kryon is a real communication from the Creative Source/God to Humanity - "Our Famly") - (Text version Physics)

1 To see and measure multi-dimensional/quantum physics, instrument (super-cooling quantum plasma lens)

2 Two more laws of multi-dimensional physics revealed: explanation of dark matter & acknowledgement of free energy (controlling mass)

3 God in the atom. God has - provable - part in physics. Intelligent/benevolent design. (Will bring religion and science together.)

4 Human Consciousness is an attribute of physics. (Pleiadians - Humans ancestors / Humans free choice only planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Other galaxies have their own spiritual systems and physics)

5.Coherent DNA. Multidimensional DNA coherent between dimensions will give Enhanced DNA


"Physics in the next 500 years" (Text version)

Kryon.com, May 17, 2014

This live channelling was Given in Moscow, Russia

Lee Carroll

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Sometime information is even added. Often what happens live has implied energy within it, which carries a kind of communication that the printed page does not. So enjoy this enhanced message given in Moscow, Russia, May 17, 2014.

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. Approximately three hours ago, I gave information to my partner about the subject of tonight's channelling. I always like to warn him in advance if we're going to have a science channelling. This is a test for him, to see if he can avoid being nervous. So, indeed, this channel is about physics. It's not going to be a very long channel, but it's going to be remembered. I have selected this time in this place [Moscow] to give this information.

There are always those who would ask, “What does this have to do with my spirituality? Why does an angelic form come in and then talk about science?” Before I am done with this information, I think you'll know. Dear ones, are you really willing to separate physics from God? Is the bias of your three-dimensional existence so structured that you would leave God out of creation? Of course not. But when we start to put these together, there are some who are not interested in the scientific portions. So we're going to make it simple.

My partner often becomes nervous in these discussions because his background does not include physics. So each time we begin to speak of these things, he thinks he's out of his league [not trained]. He is far more comfortable speaking of things of the heart. When we speak of the love of God and the personal attributes of love that each Human has, my partner sees and feels it. He knows it and experiences it. But when we start talking about atomic structure, he gets nervous.

What do you know about physics? Most of you will say, "Very little", but for some of you, "Quite a lot". So for most of you, let us simplify and demystify the attributes of what we will speak of tonight. Physics is the way physical things work in your reality. So up to now, it has not encompassed more than that. For instance, you don't have a segment for spirituality in physics, and in all fairness, you have yet to see a correlation for this. So there are no classes for that in your schools. In the "boxes of study", your institutions separate chemistry and life science from physics, but here will come a time where the very center of all learning boxes will start with physics, because eventually it will be the common denominator for everything.

I would like to attempt in these few moments to present to you the potentials of your physics discoveries for the next 300 to 500 years. These things happen slowly for you, and right now you think that is a long time, dear ones. However, the lifespan of a single Human Being in what we would call the first-world countries of health is creeping toward an average of 80 years. If you take an 80-year life, how many of those would you have to live to make approximately 300? The answer is less than what you would count on one hand. So in those terms, it's not really that long, is it? Four lifetimes for you. So let me tell you what may occur in that span of time, or what you you might see only returning three more times.

You've heard of quantum physics? Let us simplify that and not use the quantum that often. Instead, let us substitute multidimensional physics. So today, most of your physics is single-dimensional physics, up to four dimensions. You live in four (even though you call it three), and it is your common reality - linear 4D physics. The quantum physicists' work beyond the four with multidimensions. Simple. So right now, as you sit here, you're used to certain kinds of things and the way they work. This is about to change.

I'm going to present to you four major discoveries to come, and I'm going to simplify each one so that anyone can understand them. I won't go into the technical minutia of them or the hard science of them. Instead, I'll explain the concepts of them.

Intelligent Design: A New Premise

My partner [in his lecture] mentioned a physicist and astronomer who has looked at the development of life in general and the evolution of the Universe, and he realized it could not have happened in the way you were told [random chance]. The math overwhelmingly proves this new discovery and the statistics of it happening through chance are off the charts. More and more, scientists will start to realize this. At every stage of the evolution of your Universe, your galaxy and all planets and life, there will be a realization, from the staggering statistics alone, that there had to be a design or bias. Therefore, the term that was used, intelligent design, actually represents a future discovery. We'll talk about that one later.

The ones who visit you from other star systems are smiling, for they know what I'm about to tell you. The "hidden physics" is the basis of their ability to travel and be here. It is also the basis for their ability to have enlightenment. You see, it's multidimensional physics and it is the core of their reality and spirituality. They also know that you won't understand most of it, since it is beyond what you currently will allow yourself to perceive as truth. Where do I begin?

The Quantum Lens

Let us begin with what I have told you before. The first major discovery, which is not that far away, is what I have been talking about for two years. It is an idea that is not new, and it's the ability to see and measure quantum energy. Let us rephrase that. It's the ability to clearly see and measure patterns in multidimensional physics. As soon as you get out of four dimensions [your reality], the perception of it is like a non-defined swirling bubble of things that don't make linear sense - and it's very confusing to anyone who simply wants to stay in 4D. Can you imagine seeing things behave in ways that are "impossible"? This would be a multidimensional reality. The brain must get used to this, and it will. Imagine telling a citizen living in New England only 200 years ago that eventually they could throw voices and moving pictures through the air, and the entire world could hear and see them instantly. Today, you are not impressed by that, for it is your reality. But they would not even believe it, and you would be considered unbalanced! It simply wasn't in their perception of reality for what they were used to. 

Human Beings want to count the dimensions. They see many potentials, and they group them into boxes with numbers attached. Now, this is a linear concept and not accurate at all for multidimensional future thinking. However, it's fine to do it, for it suits your "physics comfort level". It helps you to identify the energies that you're feeling and helps you to compartmentalize things. But the truth is this: When you get past four dimensions, everything that follows modifies itself constantly. It's all dynamic, so it may seem uncomfortable for those who need consistency of linearity. It is not linear and it is not countable [you can't count dimensions past the four linear ones you have]. It is a soup of dimensional energy that is constantly changing and interactive with itself. You will eventually see these energies as "quantum patterns".

These quantum or multidimensional patterns will be seeable with an instrument that will be designed with a quantum lens. This will involve what we will call cryo-energy. This is the technology of super-cooling and we've said before that the science of super-cooling has the potential to allow this invention, and the actual lens will be made of plasma. Now, this is part of what we have discussed before, so it's not new. What is new is that we are putting these things together so you'll see a better flow of what is coming and why.

Why is this invention so important? Let us reveal yet again that when this invention happens, this quantum lens, it will not simply be used for physics. It will actually start with astronomy. But eventually, when it is smaller and when it is turned to look upon life, science will see quantum patterning everywhere! Humanity will see it in all of nature and it will be seen in the Merkabah of the Human Being! Imagine seeing an 8-meter wide quantum patterning around each Human! Can you see the beginning of some new, basic science questions? "Is it life or physics? Do we have to re-define life?"

Two More Laws

The ability to see quantum patterning will lead to the second major discovery in physics - the discovery of two more laws. Those laws, as we have told you, are a strong and weak multidimensional force. This will bring the laws of known physics to six (you only have four now) and will bring the concept of multidimensional laws into being. These missing laws will begin to explain a current mystery - missing energy in the cosmos. It's also the beginning of understanding spirituality in physics, but that's going to be later.

These two new laws will finally give a full explanation of the energy you see in the Universe and in your galaxy. Now, I'm going to give you some information that we have not really explained before. You tend to use the word Universe and galaxy as the same; they are not. The physics in your galaxy is not necessarily the physics in all galaxies. Therefore, my advice to you is to constrain your knowledge and your study to your own galaxy. Believe me, there is plenty to see here!

What do the two new laws bring you? The first is the explanation of what dark matter is in the vastness of space. Multidimensional energy is powerful, but it does not match linear models. In the past, the dark matter attribute was seen to be vast energy [based on what it did to things around it], but it was mislabeled as part of a Newtonian 4D-based system, and it's not. It is a nonlinear system that is part of multidimensional physics. The multidimensional part of the atom is not yet understood. There is energy there, tremendous energy, and the truth of it will explain that which the astronomers see in the sky as dark matter.

The second thing will be the acknowledgement that these two new laws of physics will finally bring you what you have always wanted - Free energy. You have known it intuitively, have you not, that the energy you create on the planet is accomplished in an archaic way? Digging into the earth to burn things for heat is archaic. Everything is about heat, isn't it? Everything is about creating motion with heat, isn't it? These are the things that you understand to make energy. I'm going to make a statement. Everything you think you know about energy right now will someday look like the time when you invented the wheel or even fire. It's that archaic! When you unlock that portion of multidimensional physics, you'll be able to create unlimited energy in a very refined way, without explosions or heat.

Now, there are those who would say that certain inventions on the planet right now have already done that. Not even close! Believe me, not even close. You don't understand the finesse of how to tap into multidimensional forces. You don't have the instruments and you can't see what you're doing yet. You're simply not there yet. "But Kryon, we know how to unlock the energy of the atom. We have nuclear power." [Kryon laugh] Really? You know what nuclear power is? It is a controlled explosion so that you can make heat! It's not elegant, it's dangerous to you, and there are byproducts that can hurt Human Beings. Is this your idea of a good thing? Just think: It's controlling a very dangerous explosion to make steam - the world's most expensive steam engine! Nuclear power. You have no idea.

Let me give you an example of this. Let's say that someone on another planet discovered a piano (pretend with me). They discovered that it could make a very interesting sound. Let's say that this sound was new to this space creature that had discovered it and he found that he could really make this fun sound happen if he pushed the piano off the second floor of a building! The crashing noise, and all of the strings breaking, made music. That's nuclear power. You don't have the elegance to know how to play the keys of the atom. You don't know how to find the multidimensional vibrations that work together, which slowly and elegantly release as much energy as you'll ever need - a concerto of coordinated energy! Now listen, because here's a hint for a physicist who will read this message in the future: You're not going to release energy to make heat. Instead, you're going to make energy that pushes objects around. You will be controlling mass! Imagine that.

Coherence with Create Source

The third discovery will be what I call coherence with the creative source. It's the attitude of benevolence in creation - intelligent design and more. It's in atomic structure. It's "God in the atom". It's a discovery that will be so profound that it will rock the religions of the planet, and not in a negative way, for God will simply get bigger for everyone.

The discovery that God literally has a part in physics will be provable. Coherence with the creative source creates a benevolence in the way physics works. Physics with an attitude! There will be acknowledgment of divinity in matter. Oh, this is just the beginning! I can't tell you when it's going to happen, for this is the beginning of proof of God in everything.

"Kryon, is that going to upset organized religion?" No! It's going to bring it together. The planet is already a monotheistic planet - one God. In all of the doctrines in all of the religions, one God. You're very ready for what comes next. Religions all over the planet already acknowledge creation from one God. This will be music to their ears! The proof of God in all matter will not upset spirituality, but rather it will bring it together. There will be commonality to celebrate and doctrines will slowly change. Commonality and synchronicity of belief. You see? Now, before this can happen, however, there must be a coherence with each other. These things will not occur while you are still killing each other and hating each other on a large scale. But then, you knew that, didn't you?

What happens to Human Beings when they have nothing in common? They tend to separate and even war with each other. What happens to Human Beings who find they all have something in common? They tend to unite, share resources, and celebrate what they have. Do you see how this might affect planet Earth? Do you see how this might affect you? Old soul, this is what you've been waiting for. Did you really expect it might come from physics? It will! Why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't it? If the study of all things and how they worked revealed God in everything, wouldn't it unite? It makes sense. The common denominator for all things is love.

The Physics of Consciousness

The fourth major discovery on the planet will be the one that happens perhaps last. It will be the realization that Human consciousness will be an attribute of multidimensional physics. Human consciousness, that elusive energy, will be seen as multidimensional quantum physics, with laws and rules that can be understood, applied, and used.

Do you see how far you can go? Do you see what the Pleiadians have done already? Do you understand why those from the stars will stand back and wait until you discover the things they know? They are not going to give them to you. With free choice, you have to make these discoveries into your reality. But the potentials are already there. These new discoveries in physics have been waiting for you, but you had to pass the marker of the precession of the equinoxes. This was the marker that indicated you had passed an old energy and were able to start a process of solving Earth's problems. This would include the potential to actually change Human nature, allowing for very little propensity for war.

We have told you before that there will be a flurry of old versus new energy and smallish wars all over the planet between both old historic enemies and old historic consciousness. It's after these have finally been settled that these discoveries will take place. Don't worry about the timing, since often an older generation with old ideas has to leave to allow the clearing for the new. We've said it before. The reason why these inventions can only be given to you in a new energy is because with a more mature Human nature, you won't have the propensity to weaponize these things! Instead, you will have the propensity to find out how they can feed you and clothe you and create energy for a population that has decided to live side-by-side in cooperative tolerance.\

It's beautiful, isn't it? If you could ask a Pleiadian, they would tell you what it's like to have these things and draw them right out of the atom, including the benevolence of God.

Finally, you'll also have to look at chemistry as a branch of physics. After all, all chemicals on the planet, all substances on the planet, follow the laws of physics. The quantum lens will show multidimensional life in all things, so the chemistry of biology will follow new physics rules. DNA is very special. It is a combination of all the sciences on the planet. It has multidimensional attributes; it is quantum and it has the seeds of the creative source within it. It locks into its memory all that you ever were and will be. It is the most complex multidimensional creation on the planet and, eventually, you will make another discovery - coherent DNA.

Ah, the doctor wants to know [referring to Dr. Todd Ovokaitys, who is present] what this is. Coherent with what? "You can't leave it like that, Kryon. You can't say coherent DNA without labeling what it is coherent with." So I will reveal a little of what he has already seen in his work. Multidimensional DNA, if it has coherence with certain specific dimensional attributes, will create what you see as magic! You would call it magic because you will see Human DNA start to seemingly evolve. The differences literally will extend life up to four-fold. The difference between DNA working at 30 percent and 90 percent is a dimensional alignment that we will call coherent DNA. Now, I know most of you didn't understand any of that, but he did, and that's the reason he is sitting here, and also for those who will listen to this message in the future.

Finally, let me tell you this: The channels of Kryon will be held [archived] forever. They'll never go away. Long after my partner is gone, there will be an esoteric library, and among the things in it will be the channelling I give you today.

Now, old soul, here is your challenge. When you return, I want you to find it, and I'll give you the reason. It's because the things that I have told you about today will be the proof that this is a real communication. If you see even one of these things come about in the way I have told you, it will push the envelope of discovery - and then you will look for the others. You may not understand any of this today, but within the next life or perhaps the next one, you will. This information will never get old. In the future, there'll be ways of hearing, seeing and reading this message that you cannot even conceive of. The future will be very different, but this information won't go away. The things that I'm saying and presenting today will be proven in time and you will be here to see it. When you hear the word “Kryon”, I want your Akash to ring! In this way, you'll go find out what that word represents, and then you might even be reminded of the energy of this day, in this place, in this meeting, where I told you that there would come a time when you'd discover God in everything.

Do you see how this begins to shape an ascended planet? Once you have discovered this, you cannot deny it. You cannot erase what you find out. You cannot suppress it, for everyone will know together, and no one can ever use it against you. The whole planet will slowly start to change its view on who is here and why.

Ask a Pleiadian, for they went through all of this. You might ask, "Do they have these inventions? Do they know all these things?" Of course! These and many, many more. I didn't tell you about the following 500 years! [Kryon smile] The next 500 for you is good enough for today.

There's so much here and it all revolves around you. All of it. It's the Human who is going to make the discoveries. It's the Human who is going to benefit from the discoveries. You have waited a long time, old soul, for this beginning. Celebrate it!

KRYON

Xi Jinping promises 'iron fist' for polluters

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-08

Xi Jinping, second left, during the work report review with NPC deputies
from Jiangxi province, March 6. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese president Xi Jinping said that he will crack down on polluters in the smog-choked country.

"We are going to punish, with an iron fist, any violators who destroy the environment, with no exceptions," said Xi, while reviewing the work report of the State Council together with National People's Congress (NPC) deputies from Jiangxi province.

He asked the Chinese to protect the environment like they care for their own eyes and lives, suggesting his resolve to curb widespread pollution that the world's second largest economy is battling. "Protecting the environment is ensuring livelihood," Xi said.

"Environmental pollution is a blight on people's quality of life and a trouble that weighs on their hearts," said the recent government work report.

The report also said that the world's biggest emitter will cut the intensity of carbon dioxide by at least 3.1% this year.

Soil, water and air pollution have remained hot topics at China's annual sessions of the top legislature and political advisory body.

China declared a "war against pollution" last year, calling for tougher regulations over polluting industries.

"Problems such as administration loopholes, weak public awareness and lack of supervision still exist," said Qin Dahe, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He suggested long-term planning with a focus on the promotion of green techniques.

Talking with the Jiangxi deputies, Xi also pledged to advance the battle against corruption and the governance of the Communist Party of China (CPC), calling for them to "pluck the rotten trees, cure the sick trees and straighten the crooked trees."

Supervision over officials, especially CPC officials, should be strengthened, he said.

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, joined discussion with deputies from the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions.

Talking with deputies from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Zhang said that the CPC Central Committee sincerely hopes that the region can carry out universal suffrage in the election of the HKSAR Chief Executive in 2017 according to the Hong Kong Basic Law and decisions made by the NPC Standing Committee.

That has been the CPC Central Committee's consistent stance on Hong Kong and also the expectations of the Hong Kong compatriots, he said.

Top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng called for the enhancement of the overall strength and competitiveness of the country's culture while joining the panel discussion with the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee members from the cultural and art sector.

Wang Qishan, head of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, called on to advance the anti-corruption battle and the building of CPC work style and a clean government.

He told NPC deputies from Fujian province that supervision over officials and the accountability mechanism should be highlighted this year.

Related Articles:

Beijing to reduce coal burning, close factories to curb air pollution

Li Keqiang wants to kick lazy officials into action

Li Keqiang delivers his government work report at the

Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 5. (Photo/Xinhua)

SBY Honored, Along With Companies, for Green Growth

Jakarta Globe, Feb 26, 2015

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he was still president of Indonesia. (EPA
Photo/Bagus Indahono).

Jakarta. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was among a diverse group of winners of awards for sustainable business practices whose names were announced on Wednesday evening, with the former Indonesian president receiving praise for “his achievements in developing green growth in Indonesia and his commitments to action on climate change globally.”

A Special Award for Leadership in Green Growth and Development was presented to Yudhoyono at the Shangri La Hotel Jakarta, during a ceremony attended by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Sofyan Djalil and other ministers, as well as CEOs, heads of international agencies and media.

“Development and growth is something that needs to be planned carefully. It needs to ensure social inclusiveness. It needs to protect the environment, it needs to correspond to climate challenge, it needs to go on for the long term,” Yudhoyono said at the award ceremony.

The 2014 Sustainable Business Awards Indonesia were organized by Global Initiatives in cooperation with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The organizers said in a press release that cement company Holcim Indonesia emerged the overall winner, but companies such as Bank BNI, Astra International, Bukit Asam, Nestle Indonesia, Bumi Serpong Damai and Unilever also won in various categories.

Tony Gourlay, CEO of Global Initiatives, said in the press release: “For the third year in a row, we are pleased to showcase companies in Indonesia who have embedded sustainability in their corporate mission and whose leadership shares this vision. We encourage other companies to follow their lead and communicate their sustainability efforts more widely.”

The complete list of SBA winners

MAIN AWARDS

Overall Winner: Holcim Indonesia

1. Strategy and vision: Unilever Indonesia

2. Workforce: Holcim Indonesia

3. Community: Astra International

4. Energy management: Holcim Indonesia

5. Water management: Bukit Asam

6. Waste & material productivity: Danone Aqua Group

7. Climate Change: Holcim Indonesia

8. Supply Chain: Nestle Indonesia

9. Land Use, Biodiversity and the Environment: Monsanto Indonesia (Branita Sandini)

10. Business Responsibility and Ethics: Unilever Indonesia

* Environmental Disclosure: Dupont Agriculture Products Indonesia

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS

1. Pioneer in Green Finance in Indonesia: Bank Negara Indonesia

2. Outstanding leadership in sustainable agriculture: Great Giant Pineapple

3. SME placing sustainability at the core of its business: Pulau Nikoi

4. Outstanding Energy Management in the mining sector: Vale Indonesia

5. Outstanding Water Management in the property sector: Bumi Serpong Damai

Special Award for Green Growth & Leadership: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

White Christmas? It's green Christmas this year: Minister

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/22/2009 9:12 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will distribute coconut tree and rain tree seedlings during the national Christmas celebration at the Jakarta Convention Center on Dec. 27 in a bid to encourage Christians to actively protect the environment.

Chairman of the event's organizing committee E.E. Mangindaan said Tuesday environment conservation would be the theme of the celebration.

“Green will be the dominant color of the stage decoration. It will be a green Christmas, not a white Christmas,” Mangindaan, who is the administrative reforms minister, was quoted by Antara.

The celebration comes on the heels of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen last week, in which Yudhoyono was among 110 world leaders in attendance.

First lady Ani Yudhoyono, Vice President Boediono and his wife Herawati Boediono, Cabinet ministers and other state officials are scheduled to join 6,000 people from across the country who will attend the celebration.

President orders solar energy development

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 09/01/2009 5:33 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered that development into solar-cell energy be explored in Indonesia.

Managing director of state-owned solar cell producer PT LEN Industri, Wahyuddin Bagenda, said following a meeting with SBY in Jakarta on Tuesday that the President supported moves for increasing the production of efficient solar-cell energies.

“... And he [SBY] is hoping that the price will be reasonable for the public. That was the most important issue.” Wahyuddin said in a press conference at the Presidential Office.

He said LEN could install solar cells with a capacity of 6 Megawatts, and could offer this renewable energy at US$3 per watt.

Wahyuddin said this capacity fell short of the government’s actual annual requirement of 10 MW.

“Based on our analysis, if we increase the installed capacity to 50 MW, we’ll be able to sell the solar cells at $1.2 per watt. The global price currently stands at around $1.7 per watt,” he said.

The Bandung-based firm will need around $17 million worth of investment to develop the 50-MW power plant, he said.

Carbon emissions may cost RI dearly

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Fri, 03/06/2009 9:37 AM

Peatlands for palm oil: Peatland is drained to make way for the cultivation of oil palms in Central Kalimantan. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest peatland areas. Scientists have warned that peatland reclamation could increase the release of carbon emissions stored in its area, leading to the worsening of global warming. (Courtesy Of The Indonesian Peat Land Association)

Indonesia suffers an estimated US$1 billion in potential losses each year from the release of carbon stored in its tropical forests’ peatlands, a study has revealed.

Mitsuru Osaki, a professor at Hokkaido University’s Graduate School of Agriculture in Japan, said the potential losses were due to poor management combined with the massive opening of peatlands for agriculture, such as in Central Kalimantan.

“If we convert it to the price of carbon, Indonesia loses about $1 billion annually, equal with the release of 0.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide [CO2],” he said Thursday on the sidelines of an international conference on carbon management in peat forests in Central Kalimantan.

Asked about the peatland condition in Indonesia, Osaki, involved in a study on peatlands in Kalimantan from 1997 to 2007, said it was “terrible, with no management of peatlands.”

Osaki, together with a team of 16 Japanese scientists, will conduct another five-year study to calculate the total carbon in the country’s peatlands.

The study will be jointly conducted with Indonesian scientists from the State Ministry for Research and Technology, the National Standardization Agency (BSN), the University of Palangka Raya, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan).

Tropical peatlands — including swamps and forests found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Amazon lowlands and central Africa — are estimated to reach 42 million hectares and contain 148 gigatons of CO2.

Rising levels of CO2 emissions add to the greenhouse effect, thus increasing the temperature in the atmosphere, widely blamed for climate change effects.

Bambang Setiadi, chairman of the Indonesian Peatland Association, told the conference Indonesia had about 27 million hectares of peatlands, mostly in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua.

“Indonesia’s peatlands store between 10 and 32 gigatons of CO2,” he said.

(JP/Irma)

The depth of the country’s peatlands ranges from 1 to more than 12 meters. About 42 percent of the peatlands are more than 2 meters deep, with deposits of 77 percent of total peat carbon.

Bambang, who is also BSN chairman, said deforestation and repeated forest and peat fires significantly contributed to carbon release.

“Fires have become the most dangerous threat to Indonesian forests and peatlands in the past 15 years,” he said.

Studies show peat deposits in Southeast Asia could be wiped out by 2040 due to fires.

Bambang added that up to 0.6 gigatons of carbon released into the atmosphere in 2006 were due to peat fires.

He said carbon release from reclaimed peatlands could not be avoided. However, improved land management could lower the peat carbon loss rate.

LIPI peatland scientist Herwint Simbolon said the building of canals in peatlands would only accelerate the release of carbon.

“The fact is, carbon release is far higher than storage in peatlands, because the use of canals has sped up carbon release,” he said.

The government is currently drafting a presidential decree on peatland management, in a bid to cut CO2 emissions from peatlands.

Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono issued a ministerial decree last month to allow oil palm companies to expand into peatlands with a depth of less than 3 meters.

A report in 2006 from Wetlands International said Indonesia’s peatlands emitted around 2 billion tons of CO2 a year, far higher than the country’s emissions from energy, agriculture and waste, which together amounted to 451 million tons.

This places Indonesia as the world’s third largest CO2 emitter after the United States and China.

EU told to prepare for flood of climate change migrants

Global warming threatens to severely destabilise the planet, rendering a fifth of its population homeless, top officials say

Ian Traynor in Brussels, The Guardian, Monday March 10 2008

In its half-century history, the EU has absorbed wave upon wave of immigrants. There were the millions of political migrants fleeing Russian-imposed communism to western Europe throughout the cold war, the post-colonial and "guest worker" migrants who poured into western Europe in the boom years of the 1950s and 60s, the hundreds of thousands who escaped the Balkan wars of the 90s and the millions of economic migrants of the past decade seeking a better life.

Now, according to the EU's two senior foreign policy officials, Europe needs to brace itself for a new wave of migration with a very different cause - global warming. The ravages already being inflicted on parts of the developing world by climate change are engendering a new type of refugee, the "environmental migrant".

Within a decade "there will be millions of environmental migrants, with climate change as one of the major drivers of this phenomenon," predict Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's chief foreign policy coordinator and the European commissioner for external relations. "Europe must expect substantially increased migratory pressure."

They point out that some countries already badly hit by global warming are demanding that the new phenomenon be recognised internationally as a valid reason for migration.

The immigration alert is but one of seven "threats" that the two officials focus on in pointing to the security implications and the dangers to European interests thrown up by climate change.

Their report, the first of its kind to be tabled to an EU summit - opening on Thursday in Brussels - amounts to a wake-up call to the governments of Europe, a demand that they start taking account of climate change and its impact in their security and foreign-policy decisions.

Read whole story ....

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Forest community empowered in environmental project

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Pasuruan

State company Perhutani, in charge of managing teak forests on Java Island, is creating a seven-hectare arboretum in East Java to help raise environmental awareness in the region.

The arboretum, in Pasuran, will be jointly developed by the Pasuruan forest management unit (KPH) of Perhutani's East Java office and the Ngudi Lestari Forest Community Group (LMDH) in Prigen.

Pasuruan KPH deputy administrative head Eka Muhamad Ruskanda said his office had provided the land for the arboretum, designed to become a center for scientific and educational purposes in Java.

"The arboretum is expected to function as an educational facility to teach elementary school students about biological diversity, conservation efforts, public education and ecotourism.

"This forest will be the first of its kind in East Java," said Eka on the sidelines of a tree-planting ceremony at the facility.

Eka said the arboretum, located on former pine production forest land at the food of Mount Arjuno, would be home to around 100 tree species by the end of the year.

As an initial step, the Pasuruan KPH and the Ngudi Lestari forest community had planted 35 endemic tree species in the arboretum.

They include the tamarind, Javan plum, yellow/Chinese magnolia, teak, breadfruit, Indonesian bayleaf, cajuput, ironwood, mahogany and pine.

Perhutani provided the land and plant seedlings, while planting, supervision and maintenance will be entrusted to LMDH Ngudi Lestari, supervised directly by the Kaliandra Sejati Foundation (YKS), operator of the Kaliandra resort area which manages an environmental education and Javanese culture training center.

The YKS will also assist in enhancing farmers' skills and provide them with Rp 25 million (approximately US$2,750) as compensation for each hectare of their land to be included in the arboretum.

The educational forest will be guarded by eight farmers. Developers guessed it would ready for public use within five years.

"The facility is aimed at raising environmental awareness of the forest community, such as sharing responsibilities in conservation efforts. It's high time for them to protect and manage the forest," said LMDH Ngudi Lestari leader Faturohman.

Farmers will be allowed to grow seasonal crops until the trees mature, he said.

Farmers will derive earnings from harvesting fruit trees such as guavas and coffee beans, and receive salaries as guides at the arboretum, said Faturohman.

They will also receive proceeds from visitor fees.

"The number of visitors to Kaliandra increases each year. Last year there were 20,000 visitors. If we set aside Rp 1,000 from each visitor, the sum collected would reach Rp 20 million per year," said YKS executive director Agus Wiyono.

He added the program was a form of community-based forest management, and aimed at encouraging the forest community to play an active role in reforestation and forest management.

In 2006, there were around 2,800 hectares of barren forest areas in East Java, but dropped to around 1,000 hectares last year.

"The educational forest is part of efforts to reforest barren areas, but the difference is that it directly involves the local community," said Eka.

PLN to distribute energy-saving bulbs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As part of its push for energy saving, state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) revealed Friday it would begin distribution of some 51 million energy-saving light bulbs in the third week of March.

In the first phase, up to 1 million bulbs would be given to households mainly in eastern Indonesia, chairman of the PLN's demand side management team, Syaiful B. Ibrahim, said Friday.

Each household would be entitled to receive three units.

"We target the distribution of all units to be completed by October," Syaiful said as reported by detik.com.

He said each household would need to exchange the units with conventional bulbs used previously used around their homes with a capacity of between 25 and 40 watts.

"This (barter) is to avoid misuse. We're concerned they will not use the bulbs or sell them to others."

The Indonesian Association of Electric Lights (Aperlindo) has estimated that 2.8 million units would be distributed to West Sumatra, Aceh, and Riau, and 3.1 million units to North Sumatra.

The association said Lampung, South Sumatra, Jambi, Bangka Belitung and Batam would receive 2.97 million, while South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan would get 2.56 million units.

It added North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo province would get 2.97 million units, while East Java 9.47 million, Central Java and Yogyakarta some 9.1 million and West Java around 9.6 million.

Jakarta and Banten will get 5.47 million while Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua and Maluku get 2.3 million units.

Climate change lessons in Indonesia

By Lucy Williamson, BBC News, Jakarta

Every morning, at first light, Java's rice fields come alive. One by one, farmers appear among the bright green plants, their wide-brimmed hats dotted across the fields.

This is the way Indonesia's rice has been farmed for generations; the basic rhythms of its paddies undisturbed by war or economic crisis

But now, something strange is happening. Parto is one of the first in the rice fields every morning. Carrying a can of pesticide, he swings the spray backwards and forwards over the crop.

"The harvests have become irregular," he said. "Normally we harvest two to three times a year, but it depends on the weather. We need to wait for the right conditions, but now that's become unpredictable."

Many small-scale farmers still plant and harvest their crops according to the stars, or the first few drops of rain.

But this year's heavy rains washed away many crops and caused major flooding.

Scientists cannot agree how much of this is down to climate change.

But then that debate means nothing to many of those affected - they do not even know what climate change is.

"We weren't told about climate change," one man told me, "and the only news we received from local officials is that a flood like this will happen every five years. I don't understand climate change, but I do know that a big flood will come every five years."

"Climate change is caused by global warming," said his neighbour, "and the thinning of the ozone layer. I think that caused the shift of weather patterns on earth."

A local woman joined in: "People here don't talk about climate change. I have read it somewhere in a book or in a newspaper, but I don't really know what it means."

With 17,000 islands and a biodiversity second only to Brazil, Indonesia stands to lose a great deal from rising sea levels and changing climate.

So why don't more people here understand it?

Educational opportunity

At a popular seaside resort outside the capital, Agus Purnomo, senior adviser to the Indonesian environment minister, looks out across the Java sea and the unseen changes happening in the vast waters that surround his country.

He told me the government here has some catching up to do.

"The climate change issue is more perceived as an international issue rather than a domestic issue," he explained.

"We need to start with the decision makers, the planners and also those who can approve the budgets - including the parliament - because we need to address this awareness campaign big time. And that will require substantial allocations of the national budget."

It is already clear that the effects of climate change in Indonesia could be devastating.

Many communities in Jakarta were hit by the floods earlier this year.

Even now, walking around the areas that were affected, many houses have been completely destroyed or still carry high water marks on the upper floors.

But some environmentalists, like Kuki Soejachmoen, head of the think-tank Pelangi, see disasters like this as a strange kind of opportunity - to educate people about climate change.

"Since this happened, people have started to realise that this is not only the product of the local environmental impact, but it's something that's happening over the long term," she told me.

And that is quite a change for Indonesia's poor majority.

"Most of the people here - and in other developing countries I should say - are forced to live on a day-to-day basis so [have] a very short term perspective," she said.

Floods might engage the victims of climate change, but what about those who cause it?

Indonesia straddles both ends of the global warming debate.

Forest fires have made it one of the world's worst polluters. Many fires are started by poor, remote communities, either as a way of clearing their own land for planting or on behalf of big companies.

In order to stop these blazes, communities will have to be convinced to think beyond their daily lives.

Changing Indonesia's attitudes and behaviour might start with the politicians, but they cannot do much without the co-operation of the country's vast population.

Algae farming

Bali’s fishing community adapts to looming climate change.

The Star online

By ANNE CHAON

AS COUNTRIES from around the world met in Bali, Indonesia recently to thrash out a new framework on fighting global warming, the fishing community there is adapting to the looming impact of climate change.

Many are turning away from fishing to a small but innovative scheme aimed at reviving the tropical island’s coral reef, which is threatened by rising temperatures and over-exploitation.

The scheme, run by environment group WWF, encourages people to give up damaging fishing practices and turn instead to the more sustainable – and lucrative – practice of seaweed farming.

Sustainable practice: A woman harvesting seaweed at her farm in Nusa Dua, Bali.

The algae farms, launched in 2001 in the village of Sumber Kima and the surrounding coast, support 200 households. This year, the fishermen will harvest 29 tonnes of seaweed, mostly to be sold to the United States and Japan.

WWF coral expert Lida Pet-Soede said the project was aimed at “reducing human pressure on this reef, which is so rich in biodiversity and in its variety of fish.”

“The local population who live here on fishing and tourism can continue to benefit from it in the future while at the same time being less dependent,” she said.

Many of the tiny bouquets of brownish algae being harvested from the reef come from the nets of fishermen who, in the past, used grenades to blast fish to the surface or captured fish for the lucrative foreign trade in tropical aquariums. Both practices have been hugely destructive on both the coral and populations of rare fish species.

Ria Fitriana, who runs the programme for the WWF, said the scheme offered fishermen the chance to earn about 750,000 rupiah (RM300) a month, almost double what they made before.

“For the first time I have enough money for my family. One day I’ll send my children on to higher education,” said Khairiyah, a 30-year-old woman who is part of the project and whose husband has now given up fishing.

“He had to go off for longer distances and longer times and petrol is getting more and more costly,” she said.

A warming of the seas caused by a severe El Nino in 1998 ravaged Bali’s coral reef. Some 16% of the ornate undersea flora was killed off and the remainder is still suffering a decade later. Scientists anticipate that temperatures are rising in Indonesia by 0.3°C per decade, raising fears that the reef’s rich biodiversity will be wrecked for future generations.

Women in particular have cashed in on the new business, using the protein-rich seaweed to make sweets, chips and crackers that they can sell.

The project receives small amounts of funding from the local government and from Australia, which contributed about US$2,000 (RM6,800). – AFP