Europe's largest rare earths deposit discovered in Sweden

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel ARONSSOHN, January 12, 2023

Europe's largest known deposit of rare earth elements, essential for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, has been discovered in Sweden's far north, boosting Europe's hopes of cutting its dependence on China. 

Swedish mining group LKAB said Thursday the newly-explored deposit, found right next to its iron ore mine, contained more than one million tonnes of rare earth oxides. 

"This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world, and it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition," LKAB's chief executive Jan Mostrom said in a statement. 

"We face a supply problem. Without mines, there can be no electric vehicles," Mostrom added. 

While the find is believed to be the biggest in Europe, it remains small on a global scale, representing less than one percent of the 120 million tonnes estimated worldwide by the US Geological Survey. 

In 2021, the European Commission said that 98 percent of the rare earths used in the EU were imported from China, prompting Brussels to urge member states to develop their own extraction capacities. 

LKAB's find was presented as a delegation from the European Commission visited Sweden, which took over the rotating EU presidency at the start of the year. 

"Today, the EU is way too dependent on other countries for these materials," Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch told a press conference, pointing specifically to Russia and China. 

"This must change. We must take responsibility for the raw material supply needed for the (green) transition," she added.

Trade not enough 

The European Union has agreed to phase out new CO2-emitting vehicles by 2035, effectively banning combustion engine cars, meaning the need for rare earth materials will only increase. 

In the short term, Busch said the EU needed to "diversify" its trade. 

"But in the long run, we cannot rely on trade agreements only," she said. 

Mostrom said the full extent of the deposit had yet to be established. 

"We are continuing to conduct exploration to see how big this is," Mostrom told AFP, adding that LKAB was also still in the process of figuring out how the new deposit could be mined. 

Mostrom said it was difficult to accurately gauge the impact of the discovery on reducing Europe's dependence on Chinese imports. 

But he said he was confident "it will have a huge impact." 

Asked during a press conference when the deposit could actually be mined and deliver raw materials to the market, Mostrom said it would largely depend on how quickly permits could be secured. 

But based on experience, it would likely be "10 to 15 years", he said. 

According to LKAB, the rare earth elements found in the Per Geijer deposit occurred "in what is mainly an iron ore deposit and which may therefore be produced as by-products," creating new opportunities for potentially "competitive mining." 

From magnets to lenses 

Rare earth minerals with names like neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium are crucial to the manufacture of magnets used in industries of the future, like wind turbines and electric cars. 

They are also present in consumer goods such as smartphones, computer screens and telescopic lenses. 

Others have more traditional uses, like cerium for glass polishing and lanthanum for car catalysts or optical lenses. 

Sweden is one of the EU's biggest mining countries. 

More than 90 percent of the EU's iron ore production comes from the Scandinavian country, which also has the bloc's largest lead and zinc production, the second largest silver production, and among the highest gold and copper production, according to the Geological Survey of Sweden.

Brazilian indigenous community threatened in aftermath of dam burst

Yahoo – AFP, Rosa SULLEIRO, February 1, 2019

An indigenous woman of the Pataxo Ha-ha-hae community crying as she looks out
over the Paraopeba river, filled with mud after a disastrous dam collapse in Brazil's
Minas Gerais state (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

São Joaquim de Bicas (Brazil) (AFP) - In her 88 years, Antonia Alves has seen much hardship as a member of Brazil's indigenous community, whose people have often been driven from their ancestral lands over conflicts with farmers and loggers.

Until a few days ago, she had never seen an entire river die right before her eyes.

This is the unthinkable ecological nightmare her people are facing, however, after a dam storing mining waste collapsed in Minas Gerais state in southeast Brazil, engulfing the village of Brumadinho, where 110 people have been confirmed dead.

Another 238 unfortunates are still missing, hopes of their recovery all but gone in the toxic wave of sludge that engulfed them, suffocating everything in its path to the Paraopeba river.

The brown waters, which reek of dead fish, reached as far as Nao Xoha, a village sheltered by the Atlantic rainforest 14 miles (22 kilometers) from the burst dam.

Alves and her small branch of the Pataxo Ha-Ha-Hae indigenous people settled in the forest a year and a half ago, relocating from their strife-torn ancestral lands in the north to live in nature according to their customs.

"It is very sad because we lived off the river," said Alves, her face lined by age and sun, head crowned with a band of white and purple feathers.

A member of the Pataxo Ha-ha-hae community carrying a cooking pan along a
path through the forest (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

"We bathed there, took our water from it, washed our clothes there and fished from it. Indians live from fishing and hunting."

Alves' neighbor Jocelia Josi describes the stench as she pulled dead fish from what formerly an important tributary of the Sao Francisco, the longest entirely-Brazilian river.

'Village of resistance'

"Now we don't have any more food from there," said the 46-year-old, who is waiting for her daughter and three-month-old grandson to return from the state capital Belo Horizonte, where they were evacuated after the disaster.

It is lunchtime in Nao Xoha -- which means "warrior spirit" in the community's native tongue -- and Alves and her husband Gervasio, a serene elder of 93, are waiting for their daughter to finish cooking outside their modest hut.

But today is no normal day. Nothing has been normal here since Dam Number 1, owned by mining giant Vale, burst last Friday, dramatically changing the lives of the 27 families living in the village.

Nao Xoha lacks its own medic, but a doctor has checked up on the 15 people who were not evacuated, and volunteers have brought supplies to the community, which always lacked electricity and now has no water.

Hayo Pataxo ha-ha-hae, the 29-year-old leader of the indigenous community, 

looks at the Paraopeba river, filled with toxic mud from the Brumadinho dam

collapse, where his community used to catch fish to eat (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

To reach the village, visitors have to cross a railway line where cargo trains pass and then enter the verdant Atlantic rainforest.

The dam breach unleashed a torrent of almost 13 million cubic tons of mud that swept across the countryside before reaching the river.

But its impact spreads even further than the vast scar of mud that rescue services are probing for the bodies of the missing.

The government of Minas Gerais has warned that the metal-tainted waters present a health risk and organizations like the WWF have said the environmental impact will be felt for years to come.

"They have taken away part of our reserve, killed a part of it, but we are a village of resistance and we will get over this," said community leader Hayo Pataxo Ha-ha-hae, who sported a head dress made of palm fronds.

"We will carry on even if the river has died. Nature depends on us to preserve it."

'Lack of respect'

He had just attended another meeting with FUNAI -- the Brazilian government body responsible for indigenous peoples' interests -- and said it was too early to determine what action the community would take against Vale.

He simply insisted that his people would resist, and defend their traditional lifestyle, just as they have for centuries.

A dead fish in the waters of the Paraopeba river, near the town of Brumadinho where 

a dam full of mining waste collapsed on January 25 (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

"It shows a lack of respect towards us", said Tahh'a, a well-built watchman aged 55, his frown wrinkling the black paint on his face.

"The biggest loss for us is the fish, because we are not permitted to hunt around here," he said, holding a pointed stick in his hand, a machete dangling from his hip.

While the full extent of the environmental impact remains unclear, the precedents are not encouraging.

No one here can forget the destruction of the Rio Doce river, also in Minas Gerais, which was devastated by the collapse in 2015 of the Mariana dam, the biggest environmental disaster in Brazilian history. That barrier was also jointly owned by Vale.

"I want to tell not only Vale, but also our leaders, to punish those guilty of doing this to our indigenous nation, together with the farmers and the families who lost people," said 29-year Hayo.

"How many more people have to be killed before the justice department takes notice?" he demanded.

"It is very sad," added Alves. "When are they going to clean up the river? When will there be fish in it again?"

Related Article:

UN shines spotlight on dying indigenous languages

'Hambi stays!': Thousands join German forest demo in anti-coal battle

Yahoo – AFP, Michelle FITZPATRICK, October 6, 2018

A banner reads "Hambi for Bambi" as thousands of demonstrators gather to celebrate
 the suspension of the planned razing of the forest in what they dubbed the region's
"biggest-ever anti-coal rally" (AFP Photo/SASCHA SCHUERMANN)

Buir (Germany) (AFP) - Thousands of anti-coal demonstrators descended on Germany's Hambach forest Saturday, celebrating an unexpected court victory that suspended an energy company's planned razing of the woodland to expand a giant open-cast mine.

The ancient forest near Cologne has been occupied by activists for the past six years and become a symbol of resistance against coal energy in Germany, a country that despite its green reputation remains heavily reliant on this dirtiest of fossil fuels.

Basking in early autumn sunshine, young people, families and pensioners flocked to a field next to Hambach forest, a day after a court in Muenster said it needed more time to consider an environmental complaint against RWE's upcoming clearing operations.

Organisers said 50,000 people had turned out for what they called the region's "biggest-ever anti-coal rally". Police however did not confirm the figure.

Chanting "Hambi bleibt!" (Hambi stays) and cheering loudly, the crowd listened to live music and speeches in a festival-like atmosphere.

Many held up banners and balloons demanding an immediate exit from coal energy.

"The mood is great," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Gesche Juergens, welcoming "the strong signal" sent by the court.

"But it's only a first step. The battle goes on to start phasing out coal."

The forest's days had appeared numbered after its owner RWE announced plans to clear half of the remaining 200 hectares (500 acres) from October 15 to expand its massive nearby open-pit coal mine.

Stop coal - RWE hands off Hambi" reads a poster close to the forest, whose days 

had appeared numbered before a court ruling which prompted a Greenpeace 

spokeswoman to hail what she termed a first step in the battle to phase out

coal (AFP Photo/SASCHA SCHUERMANN)

Police last month began dismantling activists' treehouses in a forced eviction that took nearly three weeks and fanned public sympathy for the activists' cause.

Tragedy struck when a freelance journalist covering the evictions died on September 19 after falling through a walkway suspended between two trees.

Demonstrators at the rally held a moment's silence in honour of the victim, Steffen Meyns.

Saved by a bat

RWE on Friday said it believed a final judgement in the court case could take until late 2020, sending its share price plunging -- the mention of which was greeted with loud applause at the demo.

The energy firm has long argued that the expansion of Hambach mine in Germany's industrial heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia state is necessary to fuel coal-fired power plants in the region -- which are among the most polluting in the European Union.

But judges said RWE had not sufficiently proved that renewed logging was urgently needed to ensure energy supply.

The plaintiffs in the case, environmental group BUND, meanwhile are arguing that the forest is home to rare species like Bechstein's bat and therefore qualifies as a protected area under EU legislation.

The fight has taken on fresh urgency as it comes just as a government-appointed coal committee is discussing an end-date for coal in a bid to combat climate change.

Germany gets around 40 percent of its energy from coal, contributing significantly to the country's carbon dioxide emissions and undermining Chancellor Angela Merkel's role as a leading advocate of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Activists have occupied the ancient forest for six years, their protest a symbol of 

opposition to dirty coal, and they had cause to celebrate -- the graffiti reads Hambi 

stays -- after a court suspended razing of the woodland (AFP Photo/Patrik STOLLARZ)

'They can't keep us down'

Buoyed by the court's temporary reprieve, demonstrators said they were hopeful Hambach forest could be saved.

"I have faith. So much can happen in two years' time, they'll have no choice but to keep the forest," said 43-year-old teacher Julia.

"I hope so," her son Arne, 10, chimed in.

But forest occupiers were more muted in their celebrations, saying it had been a bitter experience to watch police tear down more than 80 treehouses they had built with their bare hands.

"It's a double feeling," said Musel, a dreadlocked man in his early 50s who was twice dragged out of the trees by police and even wrapped himself in barbed wire.

"The court's decision is a step in the right direction... but the people who have lived here for years are traumatised."

But he added that the activists were unbowed, and that the rebuilding had already begun.

"The first hammocks are already back up," he smiled.

"They can't keep us down."

At the edge of the forest, demonstrators paused to take in the sweeping view of RWE's open-pit mine.

Two coal plants in the distance were belching clouds of smoke into the sky, while dozens of wind turbines dotted the horizon.

"One is the future, the other is the past," mused 40-year-old local resident Benjamin.

Anti-coal demonstrators gather at Hambach forest in Germany, celebrating an unexpected court decision that has temporarily suspended an energy company's plan to raze the woodland in search for coalhttps://t.co/p4OnBbcaVC pic.twitter.com/7m7WYj7aU8

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 6, 2018

Coal plants use enough water to supply 1 bn people: Greenpeace

Yahoo – AFP, 22 March 2016

Coal plants use water at almost every step of the process, from mining and 

washing coal to the treatment of combustion waste (AFP Photo/Patrik Stollarz)

Coal plants are draining an already dwindling global water supply, Greenpeace warned on Tuesday, consuming enough to meet the basic needs of one billion people and deepening a worldwide crisis.

Announcing its first global plant-by-plant study, Greenpeace said coal power use will increase with newly built plants, causing "huge stress" on the world's major river basins and threatening communities.

In its report "The Great Water Grab: How the Coal Industry is Deepening the Global Water Crisis", released in Hong Kong, the environmental activist group urged governments to stop depending on coal, a major source of electricity and a pollutant.

China's rise to become the world's 

second-largest economy was largely 

powered by cheap, dirty coal (AFP

Photo/Johannes Eisele)

It highlighted Asian giants China and India as being at the forefront of the battle with their heavy use of coal.

Coal plants use water at almost every step of the process, from mining and washing coal to the treatment of combustion waste, the report said.

"By choosing to continue huge investments in coal to power their economies for decades to come, governments would commit the world to a future of an ever more desperate fight for scarce water resources," the report said.

The watchdog looked at data from the world's 8,359 coal plants and information on another 2,600 planned plants.

It found that the existing plants "consume enough water to meet the basic water needs of over one billion people".

More than a quarter of the existing and proposed plants were located in what they described as a red-list of "over-withdrawal" areas, where water resources are being used faster than they can be replenished.

Over 40 percent of planned and existing plants are in areas categorised as "high water stress".

It named China, India and Turkey as three countries that have the most planned plants on areas that are running dry.

China's rise to become the world's second-largest economy was largely powered by cheap, dirty coal. Although the world's top greenhouse gas emitter has in recent years taken strides into renewable options, it still relies heavily on coal to power its industries and heat homes.

"Policy makers are not aware how much water is being used by coal plants," Harri Lammi, a Greenpeace senior global campaigner on coal, told AFP.

"Huge numbers of people" could be threatened, losing farms and ground water, if coal power expansion continues, he said.

The report added that countries were also risking their economies and social stability as they faced "stark choices" over allocating water supplies to the coal industry or to meet people's basic needs.

It urged governments to switch to renewable energy, which requires less water, and to prevent proposed coal plants in red-list areas from going ahead.

Plants in the most at-risk areas should be phased out and facilities over 40 years old should be retired, it said.

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Wind-powered desalination project targets world market

Alfredo Zolezzi: how a plasma water purifying system is saving lives

"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. ….”

Brazil mine disaster company settles for $6.2 billion

Yahoo – AFP, Eugenia Logiuratto, 3 March 2016

A fireman rescues a dog that was trapped in the mud that swept through Bento 

Rodrigues, in Minas Gerais, Brazil on November 9, 2015 (AFP Photo/Douglas Magno)

Brasília (AFP) - The owners of an iron ore mine in Brazil where a burst dam spewed a toxic flood, flattening a village and killing 19 people, settled with the government Wednesday for $6.2 billion.

Representatives of Samarco -- co-owned by Brazil's Vale iron ore giant and the Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company -- signed the accord in the capital Brasilia.

President Dilma Rousseff said the settlement would help heal "a tragedy without precedent."

The funds, which will go toward social and environmental damages, will be paid out over 15 years.

BHP Billiton's chief commercial officer Dean Dalla Valle (L) attends the signing

 of the agreement between Brazil's federal government, the states of Minas Gerais

 and Espirito Santo, and mining company Samarco in Brasilia on March 2, 2016

(AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

Twenty billion reais ($5.1 billion) is earmarked for damages and an extra 4.4 billion reais ($1.1 billion) is specifically allocated for investments aimed at providing compensation for irredeemable losses.

Rousseff underlined that the heavy financial costs for Samarco might not end there.

"There will be complete restoration of socio-economic conditions and of the affected environment. And I want to emphasize: There will be no financial limits until there is full reparation," she said.

"We want to build a new life on the ruins."

Destruction and 'homicide'

The November 5 accident near Mariana in Minas Gerais state began when a tailings dam at Samarco's mine failed, unleashing the flood of polluted water and mud into the River Doce, one of the most important in Brazil.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff attends the signing of the agreement between 

the federal government, the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo (Southeast 

Brazil) and mining company Samarco, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on 

March 2, 2016 (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

A village was destroyed, drinking water supplies for hundreds of thousands of people were interrupted and damage reached as far as the river's mouth on the Atlantic coast, with wildlife, tourism businesses and fishing communities all suffering.

Seventeen people were confirmed killed and two are missing, presumed dead.

BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie called the agreement an important step toward recovery and said his company was making a "commitment to repairing the damage caused and to contributing to a lasting improvement in the Rio Doce."

Paulo Hartung, governor of Espirito Santo state, which also straddles the River Doce, said the toxic flood marked "the biggest environmental disaster in the history of Brazil."

Last month, police announced homicide charges against six Samarco executives, including the CEO at the time of the accident, and an engineer.

A general view on November 6, 2015 of the village of Bento Rodrigues, in Mariana,

Brazil where a dam burst at a mining waste site (AFP Photo/Douglas Magno)

Samarco and its powerful owners could still face further legal difficulties, despite Wednesday's deal.

Last week, a federal prosecutor said that he would challenge the settlement, arguing that not enough care was taken in assessing the true costs of the disaster.

"How can you define an amount if there are no criteria for evaluating the damage?" Jose Adercio Leite Sampaio said. "Where did they get this number? For us, it's a magic number... It could be 23 or 24, 30, 40 billion."

Vale reported last week that it lost $12.3 billion last year due to lower prices for iron ore, the sharp depreciation of the real, and the deadly accident at the Samarco mine. The 2015 loss followed a 2014 profit of $657 million.

Brazilian courts freezes companies' assets in mining spill

A court has blocked the Brazilian assets of mining giants Vale and BHP Billiton to ensure they pay for damage of a deadly toxic discharge that buried villages. The spill caused Brazil's worst environmental disaster.

Deutsche Welle, 20 December 2015

A judge in Brazil's state of Minas Gerais ruled late Friday that the Brazilian assets of mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale SA be frozen after their joint venture Samarco was unable to pay for damage caused by the bursting of a dam at its iron ore mining operation.

"In 30 days, the companies should make an initial deposit of 2 billion reais ($502 million, 462 million euros) to carry out the full recovery plan," the judge ruled. Vale and BHP Billiton will be fined $37,000 a day if they fail to comply.

The dam burst last November - considered Brazil's worst ever ecological disaster - killed more than a dozen people, left hundreds homeless and polluted a 800-kilometers (500-miles) stretch of the Doce River across two states and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said it will take at least 10 years for the river basin to recover from the extensive mining waste that's permeated the watershed.

But despite the scale of the disaster, multinational mining giant Vale had argued its Samarco venture is an independent legal entity and wholly responsible for liability and cleanup.

Federal Judge Marcelo Aguiar Machado disagreed in his 19-page judgment: "I understand to be correct the allegation that Vale and BHP, as controllers of Samarco, can be classified as indirect polluters and as such responsible for the environmental damage caused."

Prosecutors plan to sue Vale and BHP Billiton for $5.2 billion for cleanup costs and damages relating to the disaster.

The collapse of two dams at a Brazilian mine has cut off drinking water for
 a quarter of a million people and saturated waterways downstream with dense
orange sediment that could wreck the ecosystem for years to come.

Farmers' livelihoods destroyed

A BHP spokesman said in a statement Sunday that it could not comment on the ruling as the mine company had yet to receive formal notification of the decision but made assurances it would assist with the cleanup.

"We are committed to supporting Samarco to rebuild the community and restore the environment affected by the breach of Samarco's Fundao and Santarem tailings dams, in the state of Minas Gerais," a company spokesman said.

The Australian company's share price has fallen more than 40 percent on the Australian Securities Exchange this year.

jar/sms (Reuters, AP)

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Pearl Jam donates concert proceeds to Brazil mine victims

Yahoo – AFP, 21 Nov 2015

Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam performs during the fourth annual Global Citizen
 Festival in Central Park Manhattan on September 26, 2015 in New York
 (AFP Photo/Kena Betancur)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - US rock group Pearl Jam donated proceeds from a concert in Brazil to victims of a toxic mining spill that killed 12 people and was the country's worst environmental disaster.

The group's singer Eddie Vedder interrupted a show Friday night in Belo Horizonte, capital of the southeast state of Minas Gerais -- where the disaster occurred November 5 -- and called for the mining company involved to be severely punished.

As seen on a video on the news website G1, the group got a standing ovation when Vedder said the take from that concert would go to victims of the disaster.

It struck when a dam collapsed at the waste reservoirs of an iron ore mine, unleashing a torrent of yellowish muck that all but buried a village, left 280,000 people without water and smothered thousands of fish, turtles and other animals.

Besides the 12 dead, another 12 people remain missing.

The mining facility is owned by Samarco, a joint venture between the mining giants BHP Billiton of Australia and Vale of Brazil.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said Friday it was the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history and that it will take 30 years to clean the basin of the Doce River, into which the sludge flowed.

Samarco has already been hit with damages, fines and frozen funds totalling more than $400 million.

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More than 10,000 people call on Dutch pension fund to divest from fossil fuels

Petition to world’s fifth largest pension, ABP, asks fund managers to drop oil, coal and gas holdings from £250bn portfolio

The Guardian, Emma Howard, Wednesday 18 March 2015

A dredger at a coal mine. Campaigners have called on the Dutch pension fund
ABP to drop coal investments. Photograph: Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images

More than 10,000 people have called on the fifth largest pension fund in the world to divest from oil, coal and gas. Members of the Dutch pension fund ABP handed over a petition to the fund’s managers on Tuesday asking them to remove fossil fuel company holdings from its $360bn (£250bn) portfolio.

The campaign is part of a fast-growing movement, launched by the campaign group 350.org, that is putting pressure on institutions around the world to remove their investments from fossil fuels.

Around 60% of those who signed the petition to ABP currently hold their pension with the fund.

Vatan Hüzeir, co-ordinator of the ABP Fossil Free campaign which organised the petition, said: “We are very inspired by what Scandinavian pension funds are doing, such as AP2, AP4 GPFG and KLP. They all have decided to take climate change and the stranded assets scenario seriously and followed up their concerns with concrete action. It’s now time for ABP to pick up the ball.”

José Meijer, vice-chair of ABP, said: “These kind of initiatives are good, they keep us sharp. We are going to take a critical look at the influence our investments have on climate change and better communicate what we do.”

KLP, Norway’s largest private pension fund, divested from coal in 2014, while Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, recently divested from 50 coal companies.

In September 2014, the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4) announced they have joined forces with a coalition of investors and the United Nations Environment Programme to decarbonise the carbon footprint of $100bn of institutional investments worldwide.

On Monday, the Guardian launched a campaign asking the two largest charitable foundations in the world – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust – to move their investments out of fossil fuel companies. More than 88,000 people have signed the petition calling for the foundations to divest.

Introducing the campaign, editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger wrote: “This [campaign] will almost certainly be won in time: the physics is unarguable. But we are launching our campaign today in the firm belief that it will force the issue now into the boardrooms and inboxes of people who have billions of dollars at their disposal.”

Vatan Hüzeir said: “The Guardian’s campaign has already inspired the media here to dedicate more of their work to climate change. We’re all mere grains of sand, but together we can call a halt to climate change and introduce alternatives.”

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Warren Buffett Ready to Increase Renewable Energy Investment to $30 Billion

One of the wealthiest men in the U.S., Warren Buffett said Monday
that he would double his renewable energy investments. Video
screenshot: Georgetown University/YouTube

"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. ….”