Friday, April 27, 2007

The Future of Food

Control seeds and you control the world

Destroying the rights of farmers to save seeds
THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. Alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, organic and sustainable agriculture, offer real solutions to the farm crisis today.

Future Food?
Terrorising farmers to stop them developing and saving their own seeds.

Farming For The Future
Local Organic Farming: Pesticides are an unnecessary hazzard.

The Silent War on the People of India
No bombs have been dropped in this war. Instead, the aggressors have chosen two weapons that kill silently, slowly. Those weapons are deliberate contamination of India’s seeds with genetically engineered organisms and radioactive contamination of around 400 million people in India. The aggressors are: the United States Government and the multinational seeds companies [chiefly Monsanto and its Indian partners]. Other Ag-biotech firms are not far behind.

The United States Government, Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont, Dow, Bayer and a few others comprise a group that should rightly be called the mega criminal corporation; this one single group has the wherewithal to decimate world civilization as we have known and the process of decimation is on. That group includes Indian officials: without their support this war on Indians could not have taken place. Perhaps the same story of government officials colluding with these criminals has been repeated in nearly every country on planet earth. What is going on?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Exploiting Tibet

The Central Tibetan Administration is deeply concerned at the accelerating Chinese immigration to Tibet, and intensified mineral exploitation.

"We cannot but be alarmed at the rate of Chinese migrant workers coming to Tibet and China's mining of various minerals on the Tibetan Plateau" said Kalon Tempa Tsering of the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration.

"The pace of China's settlement of Tibet's urban centres with Chinese migrant workers and its exploitation of Tibet's mineral resources are undermining the ability of the Tibetan people to hold on to their distinct cultural heritage," Kalon Tempa Tsering said.

Kalon Tempa Tsering said, "It is precisely for this reason that we are firmly committed to the Middle-Way Approach of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which will allow Tibetans to have an effective say in their affairs and the allocations of their resources without undermining Chinese sovereignty."

Kalon Tempa Tsering is reacting to news reports that say China is involved in mining of a host of minerals in Tibet and the unloading of thousands of Chinese migrant workers to Lhasa on a daily basis.

There are two kinds of one-way traffic on the rail line, both harmful to Tibet. Coming in on one-way tickets, costing as little as $49 to come all the way from Beijing, are fortune seekers, often desperately poor, those displaced from the countryside by China’s voracious demand for urban construction land.

Our sources on the ground estimate that the train to Lhasa, operational since July 2006, brings five or six thousand people a day to Lhasa, but when one observes the trains leaving Lhasa for China only two or three thousand people are aboard. They are the genuine tourists. The stayers are fortune hunters, seeking any niche they can find, often by elbowing aside Tibetans from even small street stall trading.

In 1950, the population of Lhasa, despite its spiritual importance to Tibetans, was only 20,000. Today, due to massive immigration attracted by China’s government led urban construction boom, the population has swollen to nearly 300,000, occupying almost all the valley. Now there are reports that China’s target for Lhasa is a population of 700,000. Based on our observations of the train occupancy in and out of Lhasa, that target will be reached very quickly.

Kalon Tempa Tsering said, "The Tibetan Plateau cannot sustain such a population explosion. Already the Tibetans in Lhasa are a small quarter of the city, excluded from the construction boom all around them. We oppose all development project that does not benefit but marginalises Tibetan population socially and culturally."

Poor Tibetans live in shantytowns on the outskirts, seeking employment, only to be muscled aside by non-Tibetan immigrants who contribute nothing to the Tibetan economy, because they remit their savings to their home province.

The other equally alarming aspect of the one-way traffic is the export of minerals from Tibet to feed Chinese factories, said Kalon Tempa Tsering.

When the railway was first extended into Tibet in the 1980s, as far as the desert staging post of Gormo, the purpose was to extract Tibetan oil, which has gone, at rate of two million tons a year for the past 20 years. In addition China mines the salt lakes of the same area in the Tsaidam Basin on a large scale. Gas was discovered in huge amounts in the 1990s, also in the Tsaidam Basin, and a pipeline was built to supply China’s hungry energy demand for fuels for manufacturing and electric power generation. Tibetan gas is now piped right across China.

China is investing huge effort of geological exploration, mapping mineral deposits all over Tibet. Recently the China geological survey announced the discovery of more than 600 new mineral deposits after concluding a seven-year geological study on Tibetan plateau, which has nothing less than $128 billion dollars worth of various minerals potential for extraction.

The biggest concern lies with two minerals: copper and chromite, particularly the major reserves currently under development and are easily accessible. For example: Shetongmon, close to Shigatse, the second city of Tibet, and the chromite deposits at Norbusa, close to the town of Tsethang and the chromite at Dongchao (Ch:Dongqiao), close to the rail line at the village called Draknak (Amdo County) in Nagchu Prefecture. In all three cases, the railway makes possible large-scale extraction, as each deposit is close to the railway, or to its proposed short extensions.

Yulong Copper mine, which is known to have world class potential, located in Chunyido village in Chamdo prefecture has remained undeveloped due to remoteness but infrastructure necessary for mining is now reportedly close to completion. Chromite mine in Dongchao, was also closed because of remoteness but now it is no longer remote due to railway, and it could re-open on a much bigger scale. Both copper and chromite are vital to China's development and industrialisation, but as a raw material are in very short supply. China has relied heavily on imports for these minerals for the past few decades.

Of the many mineral deposits found so far, few have been developed into full-scale commercial operations, largely because of the high transport costs of trucking ores out of Tibet on unreliable highways. It is further exacerbated by harsh climatic condition that forces the mine to remain closed during the winter.

The arrival of the railway to Lhasa dramatically changes the economics of mineral exploitation, especially since it is not only the cost of a ticket to Lhasa that is subsidised; a freight subsidy also enables miners to send minerals out of Tibet for as little as US 1.5 cents per ton per kilometre.

Most of the Tibet's copper, including Yulong deposit is of prophyry type. Mines like these have to be large scale, extracting hundreds of tons of rocks per day in order to produce a profitable amount of processed or refined copper each year. The resulting need in all types of mine to dispose of large quantities of waste could severly impact the environment. Soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, grassland degradation and pollution of watercourses are some of the potential impacts of the mining. Mining waste contaminates the water bodies often leading to substantial reductions in water quality affecting the people living downstream and destroying aquatic ecosystem. Tibet is the principal source of rivers flowing in Asia upon which 47% of world's total population depends for their livelihood.

Besides as has often been the case, local Tibetans displaced by the mine receive almost nothing for their compensation, and the skilled jobs invariably go to non-Tibetan immigrants. Chinese discrimination against Tibetans and increasing settlement of Chinese workers in Tibet with railway already in operation would not only transform Lhasa and other towns in Tibet but also will create new distinctly Chinese towns and villages just as it happened in Gormo which serves as a model of concern. This is the beginning of Chinese colonialism. Gormo, once desert area inhabited by few scattered nomads has now grown to a large town with 200,000 populations according to 2000 census out of which less than two per cent are Tibetan. It was initially established as prison farm and resource extraction site but since the arrival of railway, immigration and development has created a distinctly Chinese settlement.

Life-and-death Struggle to Crush an Ancient Civilization

Death of Kelsang Namtso at Nangpa-La

Save Tibet

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Planet's Plant

It requires no pesticides and no fertilisers. It requires less water than other crops. It grows in 70 to 110 days. It uses minimal nutrients from the soil and it makes a stronger paper, cloth or canvas than the wood from trees. The oils can be made into bio-degradable plastic. The plant provides 1,500 pounds per acre (cotton produces 500 pounds per acre). It is the oldest cultivated fiber plant in the world. One acre can produce as much fiber as four acres of trees. It's paper is longer lasting and is acid and chlorine free. The plants roots break up hard pan soils. It's particle board products are stronger than wood. Straw from the plant does not grow mold spores. There are more than 25,000 practical uses from the plant. It produces ten times more methanol than corn. It burns clean and sulphur free. Oils from the seeds are the richest source of the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) Omega6 & Omega 3... The miracle plant: Hemp

Hemp seed protein more closely resembles that of the human body than soy; it is also easier to digest. Hemp contains a richer source of essential fatty acid oils than soy. These oils prevent heart disease and build the immune system. Hemp also resists UV-B light, which is a kind of sunlight that is blocked by the ozone layer.

Soy beans do not take UV-B light very well. If the ozone layer were to deplete by 16%, which by some estimates is very possible, soy production would fall by 25-30%.

We may have to grow Hemp or starve -- and it won’t be the first time that this has happened. (Hemp has been used to ‘bail out’ many populations in time of famine. One of the newest uses of Hemp is in construction materials. Hemp can be used in the manufacture of ‘press board’ or ‘composite board’. This involves gluing Hemp stalk fibre together under pressure to produce a board which is many times more elastic and durable than hardwood. Because it produces a long, tough fibre it is the perfect source for press board. Global Hemp

Hempseeds imported to the United States must be steam sterilized at 180 degree F for 15 minutes to prevent sprouting. Hemp Traders

If you sterilise the seeds you destroy the benefits. The living enzymes in the seeds are the healthiest part, and as Industrial Hemp has minimal amounts of THC... Why sterilise it?

Hemp seed is the richest source of EFA’s in the plant kingdom and contains a relatively low percentage of saturated fats. The EFA’s in the oil and seeds promote cellular growth, healthy skin, hair, and eyes, aid in immune response, disease prevention, weight control, and even in cognitive functions. The human brain is 60% fat; therefore the EFA’s are critically important to its proper function and good health. EFA’s are also the raw material the body needs to produce hormones, the body’s communication network for cellular activity. Hemp oil supports the body’s detoxification process due to the fact that the LA (linoleic acid) and ALA (Alpha- linolenic Acid) have the ability to carry toxic substances to the surface of the skin, intestinal tract, kidneys, and lungs where they can be eliminated from the body. Cannabis sativa L.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Von Ignoranz zur Massenpanik

Historical Note: The people in Switzerland were already living on the planet long before orthodox politics migrated into Europe. Therefore, they do not hide under the bed when news of a thunderstorm is announced, and they do not have a nervous breakdown when the lightning starts to blitz. - English translation below

Meteo Blog - Jahrelang wurde ignoriert und schöngeredet: Global Warming sei nicht bewiesen. Es kann nicht sein was nicht sein darf. Wie auch immer: Heute bestreitet niemand mehr, dass sich das Klima in den letzten Jahrzehnten massiv erwärmt hat. Diskutiert wird lediglich noch über die Art der Ursache: Menschgemacht oder natürlicher Vorgang, das ist hier die Frage. Nicht erst seit dem Erscheinen des neusten IPCC-Berichtes aber haben sich die Anzeichen verdichtet, dass anthropogene Handlungen den weitaus grössten Anteil der Erwärmung zu verantworten haben. Natürlich gibt es auch heute noch andere Erklärungsversuche. Momentan gross im Trend ist die Sache mit den "Cosmic Rays", kosmische Strahlen also, die für Wolkenbildung verantwortlich seien und somit das Klima beeinflussen. Nur Schade, dass die Stärke der Strahlen keinen Trend aufweist. Es wäre ja zu schön gewesen.

Die Vogel Strauss Methode ist heute, so darf man ruhig sagen, fehlgeschlagen. Natürlich war es toll all die Jahre einfach nichts zu tun. Aber 2007 ist ja Wahljahr und nun entdecken auch die letzten Straussenvögel, dass man ein solches Thema nicht einfach den Gegnern überlassen darf. Es ist erstaunlich, wie schnell Parteizentralen ergrünen können. Nun werden Ideen kreiert und jeder überbietet sich mit Vorschlägen, wie die Welt zu retten sei. Und natürlich will keiner auf den 3-Liter SUV verzichten. Das es dafür nicht einmal geeignete Parkplätze gibt, ist ja egal. Autofahrer, die so viel Geld für Sprit ausgeben können, haben auch ein entsprechendes Bussenkässeli. Also müssen Vorschläge her die möglichst wirksam scheinen, aber bitte ja niemandem weh tun. Vor allem nicht den Wählern. Die Australier machen es vor: der Teufel ist rund und wurde von Edison erfunden; der guten alten Glühbirne geht es an den Kragen. Natürlich ist die Glühbirne mehr Heizung als Beleuchtungskörper und natürlich sind andere Beleuchtungsformen seit langem der Glühbirne technisch wie auch in Sachen Energieeffizienz überlegen. Trotzdem verbrauchen Glühbirnen nur einen Bruchteil unseres Stroms und noch einen weitaus kleineren Anteil unserer Primärenergie. Die Glühbirne ist Sündenbock und Opferlamm zugleich. Nützen wird das Glühbirnenverbot keinem. Und WER braucht den heute noch Glühbirnen. Wir haben 2007, nicht 1930. Wichtig ist das geplante Glübirnenverbot also nur, weil es ein erster Ansatz ist und den Willen demonstriert (oder zumindest soll), dass man das Problem nicht nur erkannt hat sondern auch ernst nimmt. Es hat mehr mit Psychologie als Naturwissenschaft zu tun.

Gleichzeitig überbieten sich mediale Selbstdarsteller und Möchtegern-Weltuntergangspropheten mit neuen Ankündigungen. Der Grundtenor ist immer derselbe. Die Natur schlägt zurück und wir werden alle sterben. Natürlich ist es sehr kindisch und naiv, von einer solch personifizierten Natur auszugehen. Die Natur hegt keinen Groll gegen uns, sie 'ist' einfach und wir sind Teil davon. Was wir machen ist eigentlich egal, die Natur funktioniert hervorragend weiter - nur nicht zwingend identisch wie bisher. Und genau dort liegt das Problem. Veränderungen sind mal gut und mal schlecht. Die Völkerwanderung war gut für die Germanen, wohl etwas weniger gut für Westrom. Das Massensterben der Dinosaurier war schlecht für die Echsen und gut für die Säugetiere. Und ganz ähnlich ist es mit der Klimaänderung: Es wird Gewinner und Verlierer geben. Aber die Welt wird nicht untergehen.

Das deutsche Wort Klimaerwärmung ist leider etwas unglücklich gewählt. Wer in Mitteleuropa ist traurig, wenn es im Sommer statt 28 nun 30 Grad warm ist. Oder im Winter statt -5 nur -3 Grad gemessen werden. Ein bisschen wärmer ist doch was schönes. Im Englischen sind die Ausdrücke besser gewählt: Einerseits 'Global Warming', was andeutet, dass mehr Wärme in der Atmosphäre zurückgehalten wird, andererseits 'Climate Change', was eben andeutet, dass sich das Klima ändert und sich Klimazonen verschieben. Es kann also auch trockener, windiger, nasser oder kühler werden. Es sind diese Veränderungen, die Einfluss auf die Tier- und Pflanzenwelt, aber auch auf unser Leben hat und haben wird. Wird es etwas trockener, so baut man andere Getreidearten an. Wird es etwas wärmer und sonniger, wird es den Mais in unseren Breiten wohl auch kaum stören. Sollte es viel feuchter und etwas wärmer werden, so werden wir halt Reisbauern. Je nachdem wie stark die klimatischen Änderungen sind, ist aber der Handlungsspielraum begrenzt. Der Mittelmeerraum schnuppert bereits an einer solchen möglichen Veränderung: Wassermangel ist auch dieses Jahr ein Thema und es ist nicht damit zu rechnen, dass sich die Lage diesen Sommer entspannt. Ein marodes Leitungsnetz und eine Preispolitik die den Namen nicht verdient tragen das Übrige dazu bei. Portugal und Spanien haben zunehmend Konflikte - wegen Wasser. Von alledem wird der Durchschnittstourist kaum etwas merken. Kommt kein Wasser aus der Dusche wird reklamiert, man hat ja schliesslich gezahlt. Vielleicht steht ja in 10 Jahren im Prospekt: inkl. 30 Liter Wasser pro Person und Tag.

So gern publikumswirksam griffige Thesen formuliert werden und Gesetze gefordert werden (es ist ja Wahljahr), so wenig wird persönlich gehandelt. Denn das Eingeständnis, das ein jeder einzelne von uns Verantwortung hat, ist so leicht nicht gemacht. Und zugegeben: Was kann einer allein schon bewirken. Natürlich ist der letzte Satz eine Art Ausrede, eine Art Kapitulation. Und trotzdem ist das Klima-Problem eine wirklich globale Sache, lediglich mit starken lokalen Auswirkungen. Eine Lösung muss somit auch global erfolgen.

From Ignorance To Mass Panic
For many years it was ignored as it was said: "Global Warming is not proven. It is not happening." As always, today no one denies that the climate has substantially warmed in the last decade. The discussion is now about the cause: Man made or a natural process, that is now the question. Since the appearance of the newest IPCC report, however, have consolidated that human actions have to answer for the largest portion of the warming. Naturally, there are also today different attempts at an explanation. Currently, the trend is with the “Cosmic Rays”. Cosmic rays, which are responsible for cloud creation, and thus affect the climate. It is a pity that the strength of the rays do not exhibit a trend. It would have been too good.

One could say today, the Vogel Strauss Methode has failed. Naturally it was great to simply do nothing all these years. But 2007 is an election year, and now the home birds discover that one cannot leave such a topic simply to the opponents. It is amazing, how quickly party headquarterses can become green. Now ideas are created and everyone over-exerts themselves with suggestions as to how the world is to be saved. Naturally no one wants to do without the 3-Liter SUV. That there are not enough park places for them is irrelevant. Drivers, who can spend so much money on Gas, have also an appropriate penalty pot. So suggestions must seem to be as effective as possible, but cause nobody harm. Above all not the voters.

The Australians have decided: the devil is round and was invented by Edison; the good old lightbulb goes to the dump. The lightbulb, more heat than light, and naturally other technically superior forms of light are now more energy efficient. Nevertheless lightbulbs use only a fraction of our power and are, by far, a smaller part of our primary energy. The lightbulb is a scapegoat and a sacrifice. The bulb prohibition will not be useful. Who needs lightbulbs today? We have 2007, not 1930. Important is that the planned lightbulb ban is a beginning, and it demonstrates the will (or at least it should), that one does not only recognize the problem, but also takes it seriously. It has to do more with psychology than natural science.

At the same time self-created end-of-the-world prophets over-exert themselves with new announcements. The basic tenor is always the same. Nature is hitting back and we will all die. Obviously, it is very childish and naive to create such a personalisation of nature. Nature holds no grudge against us, nature “is simple”, and we are part of nature. What we do is irrelevant, nature continues to function - not identically as before. And the problem lies exactly there. Changes are times of good and times of bad. The people migrations were good for the Teutons, probably somewhat less for west Rome. The mass death of the dinosaurs was bad for the reptiles and good for the mammals. And it is the same with the current climatic change: There will be winners and losers. But the world will not go down.

The German word Klimaerwärmung (climate heat-up) is sadly somewhat unfortunately chosen. Who in Central Europe is unhappy if it is not 28 degrees, but now 30 degrees in the summer. Or in the winter instead of minus 5 degrees only minus 3 degrees are to be measured? A little warmer is nevertheless nice. In English the expressions are better selected: On the one hand “global Warming”, which suggest that more warmth in the atmosphere it is held back on the other hand “Climate CHANGE”, which evenly suggest that the climate changes and shifts between climate zones. It can therefore become drier, windier, wetter or cool. These are the changes, which influence the animal and plant world, and also will effect our lives. If it becomes somewhat drier, then one cultivates other varieties of grain. If it becomes somewhat warmer and sunnier, it will probably hardly disturb corn at our latitude. If it should become wetter and somewhat warmer, then we become rice farmers.

Depending on how strong the climatic changes are, the scope of action is limited. The Mediterranean area already complain at such a possible change: Water restriction is also an issue this year, and it is not to be expected that the situation this summer is resolved. An outdated supply system, and a price strategy which has not lived up to the claims, contributes to it. Portugal and Spain have increasingly conflicts - because of water. From all this, the average tourist will hardly notice. No water comes from the shower, what was paid will be reclaimed. Perhaps, in 10 years exists the probability: 30 litres water included per person a day.

Public-effective handy regulations are to be formulated and laws demanded (it is election year), so few personally act. Then the realisation, that each one of us has a responsibility, is so easily not made. And we ask: What can one do alone? Naturally, the last sentence is a kind of excuse, a kind of acceptance. And nevertheless, the climatic problem is a truly global issue, unfortunately with strong local consequences. A global solution must also be realised.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Global Warming? Cold Fusion!

Cold Fusion scientist, Dr. Martin Fleischman, has joined D2Fusion to develop cold fusion heaters for the market. Company expects a production prototype within a little more than a year. After its recent formation in California, the company D2Fusion has extended an invitation to Dr, Fleischmann to work with them as a senior research advisor, with the objective of bringing a commercial application of the technology to market. A California-based solid state fusion energy firm with engineering centers in Silicon Valley and Los Alamos, New Mexico, D2Fusion is a subsidiary of Solar Energy Limited.

On Thursday (March 23rd), the seventeenth anniversary of the original announcement of cold fusion, the company announced that they will tap Dr. Fleischmann's experience and expertise to produce prototypes of solid-state fusion-heating modules for homes and industry.

One physicist working in the field believes cold-fusion home-heating units are no more than a decade away. Others are even more optimistic. Everyone who doesn't have stock in or work for a fossil-fuel-related company hopes they are right.

Google Videos:
The War Against Cold Fusion
Fire From Water

The future implications for the world when major developments in Cold Fusion energy become standard practice, is that we wont need coal, oil or gas to power our world. We probably wont need a centralised power structure. The power can be generated at a local level, and as the technology is refined a small unit can power a house or a car. Producing energy in this way is the end of the fossil fuel age and the end of our pollution problems. We no longer need to play the food food for fuel game. It also means the end of profits from coal, oil and gas. Sea water? There is plenty of sea water on this planet. New Energy

D2 Fusion
A solid-state, low-temperature, non-radioactive nuclear reaction that fuses two heavy hydrogen nuclei into a helium atom and releases enormous amounts of heat. These reactions have also been called Cold Fusion, Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, and Chemically Assisted Nuclear Reactions, as well as the nation's last, best hope to end oil & coal dependence and skyrocketing energy prices.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Seal Hunters Trapped by Crushing Ice

When I wrote A Great Storm I did not really know what I was writing. I was praying for balance, and my heart was heavy to know that year after year this brutal regime carries out its senseless blood sacrifice, brutally killing hundreds of thousands of baby seals. It's not like these creatures can defend themselves. I mean, it does not take much of a brain to club a baby seal to death.

Newfoundland and Labrador, together with the Canadian Government, say that this activity is vital to the survival of the Fishing Industries in that area: The cull, which reportedly earns C$16.5m ($14m, £8.3m) in meat and pelt sales, is an important source of income for fishing communities in Quebec and Newfoundland that have been hit hard by dwindling fish stocks in the Atlantic.

This year, a US business woman offered $16m to end seal cull. "Your government has repeatedly stated that the $16m realised from the slaughter of Canadian baby seals is vital to the fishing communities of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Newfoundland," Ms Kangas said in her letter. "If you stop this year's hunt immediately, we will provide you with this $16m to be distributed at your discretion."

The Canadian Government turned her down. "Go away woman, it has to be done!" Almost as though this is some kind of mass Satanic blood sacrifice to ??? I am not sure who they are sacrificing the baby seals to? To commerce? To the god of globalisation? To the banks? Maybe there are multiple Gods involved. Well, now they need to be rescued by their global gods.

Canadian coastguards are trying to rescue the occupants of about 100 boats carrying seal hunters trapped by packs ice off the country's eastern coast. Several of the boats are threatened with damage or sinking, and at least one crew had to abandon ship.

Winds pressing the ice floes in towards land have made conditions difficult for the boats, some of which are hemmed in and face having their hulls cracked open. Conditions are set to continue until the end of the week and could deteriorate further, coastguards say. Canada's CBC network said some of the boats were running out of food and fuel. A Canadian coast guard icebreaker that was trying to reach the trapped vessels also became trapped in the pack ice.

Canadian coastguard icebreakers are battling to free about 100 sealing vessels stuck in ice off Newfoundland's northeast coast. Some Seal hunt vessels are disabled, some vessels are damaged. Seal hunt crews are out on the ice because of a possibility that their vessels may sink. Some of the hunt vessels are out on their sides. Keep clubbing guy's! Your time is coming.

I kind of sense that we are going to be seeing a lot more of these unusual events in the years ahead. With respect to the arrogant attitude of the Canadian Government when offered 16 million dollars to stop the hunt, now they have a lot of broken boats and who will pay for that? It was cheap and easy to sail out there year after year and to carry out the seal massacres. I don't know why they use the term hunt? When your boats get crushed, or they sink, do the rescue services also rescue the seal pelts? Or do they leave them there to sink with the vessels?

Canadian taxpayers foot the bill when the coastguard goes in to break the ice for the sealing vessels, to rescue their $ 55 pelts.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that as we pass through the stargate portal converging in 2012, and you have 13 years before 2012 and 13 years after. I suspect that the world around us is going to change in terms of consciousness, and this is why all the sacred texts warned mankind to stay close to the earth. Meaning to stay close to the earth's harmonic resonant field.

Over the last two thousand years the brute mentality has spread to rule the earth. Today, brute force and brute mentality control our world. These are the people who lead, control and direct the collective human societies on earth. I have this theory that all that is going to change, as we enter a finer energy frequency that enhances the finer abliites of man.

The dark age was a chance to learn compassion and balance, but people used their time wrongly, and now we are coming to the end of that age and a much finer frequency is emerging. The changes in our world will not, at first, be obvious. I sense that time is running out for the people who thoughtlessly destroy our world. This is also related to nature's cycles. It will require a fine tuning of the human mind to meet the changes to our magnetic environment.

This is the aspect of climate change that most people do not consider. People have this very physical materialistic view of the world, and they do not see that physical weather changes follow magnetic resonance changes. The magnetic resonance of the earth is changing in ways we do not yet understand. Changes in the magnetic field are behind the fluctuations in the weather. This is because physical particles, including CO2 are the obvious visible particles of magnetic resonance.

Science studies what it sees without perceiving the force behind the observed movement. It is the magnetic resonance field behind the material world that is changing, and the physical world around us reflect those changes. With alterations in the magnetic resonance we will see severe and abrupt local changes in the climate, sometimes appearing to take place on an almost supernatural level.

The brutality is not only related to baby seals: The Canadian Holocaust The same brutality brought about the complete genocide of the Native Beothuk people who had lived on Newfoundland for 9,000 years until the appearance of the British on the island. Although you may think the two are unrelated, they are related. As the whole world protests the clubbing of the baby seals on the ice floes, the extermination of the Native people remains an inconvenient truth.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

To Move In The Opposite Direction

At this point in our current devolution human beings are beginning to look ridiculous, and in some ways it is getting embarassing. The world has this international organisation called the United Nations, where discussions are held by world leaders and policy makers, and where the planet's weather is to blame for continuing human disorder into the future: "UN Council debates 'weather of mass destruction". The premise is that climate change will cause security problems for the nations of the world. Sure, because of the way we behave. Not because of the weather, but because of the state of our minds.

The 21st Century is progressing like some kind of Holywood film: "Gone With The Wind", starring "Weather Changes", with supporing roles from "Global Warming" and "Hurricanes". Scarlet O'Hara has transformed into a Tornado, with the destruction of Atlanta happening through a guest appearance by "Earthquake". And don't steal my funny ideas - you media pundits out there!!

Climate Change Story: Gone With The Wind, is the worst possible approach to the situation we are in. The weather is not at war with mankind. Planet earth is not at war with mankind. The climate is not our enemy and it is not a threat to national security. Human behaviour and the way humans think are creating these problems. That is because no matter what is happening around us it is business as usual. The weather is not the problem, we are the problem. Sure, the shifts in climate over the next fifty to a hundred years will challenge mankind in ways that demand a change in how we live. So, big deal... We have to change.

In some ways this whole situation is playing out as an International comedy. The Pentagon announce that they want to control the weather by 2050, and no one says a word. The military announce that they will use the weather as a weapon to achieve success in bringing a country to its knees, and no one says a word. The earth does it on its own as part of a natural cycle of change and growth, suddenly people are upset: The weather is killing us. The weather is dangerous. We are under threat. Is this maybe a control issue problem? If humans control the weather and use it as a weapon, it is okay. If things happen outside our control we have a global nervous breakdown...

I saw this coming since I was a young child. I would have dreams where I saw tidal waves engulfing cities, more powerful storms, earthquakes and it all seemed to be happening together. This is nothing new, it has happened on the earth before and it will happen again. This is a natural cycle, made worse by our degradation of the natural environment. Even if the earth was pristine, the climate would still be undergoing upheaval and change. Humans have made the situation worse for themselves, by destroying the natural environment that would normally protect them through these cycles. So, we did it to ourselves.

Recently I dreamt that I was in a world very similar to this one, but it was more like a twin dimension or a parallel world. Just as I live here, I seemed to live there. This dream was current day Switzerland, but totally different. The buildings were smaller and ecologically designed, the people were peaceful and they wore special Hemp clothing that was a bluish-indigo-purple weave. The clothing was loose and comfortable, and very well designed. They were also having earth changes. The only thing is they were better prepared than we are. They knew what was happening.

A large group of young people had gathered to shelter in a special building, where they were outwaiting the storm and were discussing the situation. But it was natural and they were not afraid and taking the attitude that the weather is a threat. There was no panic. The atmosphere was more of co-operation and awareness. These people were highly intelligent. It is not like there were wars. The people were very calm, as though they were guided by something.

If people in this world are concerned about the climate change, then they only have to look in the mirror to find the solution. If politicians really want to create an environment of global security then they have to change the way they think, because that is what determines how we meet events. Obviously in areas where water supplies dwindle to nothing the towns and cities will die. Take a look around you, at the dried bones of lost civilisations. It happens.

The problems we face this time around is that over the last 100 years humans have largely destroyed the natural environment that sustains them through hard times as it has sustained us through times of abundance. Even worse, the colonisers wiped out the people and cultures with the wisdom needed to guide us through these difficlut times. This wisdom always guided the remnants of mankind through the cycles of transformation, and all that was destroyed. So, when you stand up and say: The weather is attacking us and this is a major problem... The actual problem was created back when you started to eliminate the people whose wisdom you now need. That is the problem, and not the weather.

I find the continuing push by global corporate interests to make plants and herbs illegal much more cause for concern than changes in the climate. Once more this is the aggression of the corporate banking colonies attempting to further destroy the wisdom of the indigenous people on this planet. No one at the UN is standing up and discussing moves to protect the rights of people to freely use healing plants and herbs in their journey to be close to the earth. Being close to the earth is the wisdom required to understand and balance the way we live through these times ahead.

This aggression on the freedom and physical, mental and emotional security of local populations to live in peace and harmony is not coming from the weather, it is coming from corporate financial interest. In the future, when things get really bad, it is the people who can harmonise with the earth who will adapt and survive. Rather than focus on severe weather changes, we should look at our own behaviour and eliminate the radical and exremist philosophy of one faction seeking global control over the actions of all other human beings.

The solution is that, we are the solution. That means changing how we think. As we change how we think we also change how we live. This is not the Weather of Mass Destruction, this is the Weather of Mind Development. We have no choice, we have to adapt and change to survive. So, it is in some part Climate Change, and in other ways the Human Climate will change or go extinct. Extinction is another form of change if we choose that road.

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction.” - Albert Einstein

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Saving The Environment

I have been very fortunate in my life, I have had to face hardship. The world today is very rich, and those riches can buy people a false security where they can finance their way through life and not have to experience hard times. That translates to a weak mind in times where personal riches will not buy a way out of difficult times. I see a lot of the upcoming generations are lost in the false security of having what they want now, and very few are aware that this may not be so easy in the future.

The rapid and expanding world growth is totally artificial. The growth and development is being financed in a way that is not economically sustainable. In Europe and around the world the consumer boom is being fired by large injections of banking capital into local areas to delvelop those areas in uneconomic ways. So, you see building projects that are so massive that they could only be financed by a large consortium of financial interests. I look at the designs of the buildings, and they are not energy efficient, they wont deal too well with the extreme swings in temperature coming in the future. By that I mean when it gets really cold those monsterous buildings will be expensive to heat, and when it gets really warm the buildings will be expensive to cool... and all at a time when energy prices are rising.

I imagine that the minds of the architects designing the buildings are still living back in the 60's and the early 70's? Or they are part of a new arrogant breed who want to design bigger and better than daddy did in the 60's and 70's. So, you see big concrete bunkers with glass panels being constructed in odd shapes and sizes that will create problems when people have to deal with severe weather changes and unusual extremes of weather. Not only are these buildings ugly, they are irresponsible. I look and I wonder why is planning permission given to construct such monsters, when everyone is talking about energy concerns, green living, ecologically sound management. The key word is: TALKING.

It has become politically correct to talk about energy concerns, and to talk about the environment. To talk about it. This has become a very popular past time. In real day to day living, very little is being done to change our collective approach to how we live on this planet. The worst offenders are Governments, local councils and banking organisations like the European Union, generally the people who have the finances to do what they want. These organisations are now developing and destroying the "green zones" within towns, where development projects are expanding at a cancerous rate. Once the whole complex has been built they plant a tree. There is a ceremony for the tree and they photograph the happy people with headlines such as: New tree offsets monster complex carbon emissions. No one photographed the clearing of the local green landscape and the smashing of mature healthy trees with a demolishing crane.

I have noticed this is a new development of building sites where ALL the trees are cleared from an area and nothing is saved, and the building uses up every last square inch of the land available. Recently I have become aware that they smash the mature trees to the ground with the giant digger vehicle brought in to demolish the old structure. It is exactly what Tolkien described in Lord of the Rings when Sauron's Orcs destroy the trees and forest around Isengard.

There has also been a surge in remodernising the roofs of many buildings in the town where I live. But I don't see one solar panel, nor do they invest in the new solar tiles. In fact there is not much happening in terms of ecological sustainability in local developments and the ecological sound areas are being built upon at speeds which almost defy gravity.

The high rise towers they are building all over the world, as a sign of the countries new found virility, will become highly unpopular in a future where rising energy and water costs make the buildings economically unsustainable. But keep building them guy's! You are doing a great job! It will give people employment in the future figuring out how to bring them down and replace them with green zones. All this is manifesting out of the mental attitude of not having to take account of any other factor outside of: I do what I want, regardless of the surrounding cost.

When I look at the ongoing destruction and development of the local environment, I wonder if the architects, politicians and bankers live in the same setting they create for the community? Would they live in those types of monsterous buildings? Do they live in the kind of environment they create for others? Would they hire large demolision vehicles to come and crash down the trees around their home? Have they also paved their gardens with concrete and asphalt as they use the trees to make bio-fuel for their cars? It would be an interesting survey.

Once it becomes really obvious that businesses will not be able to afford to sustain the costs of these buildings, they will demand land where they can build structures they can afford. Nobody is going to want to pay to knock down the architectural dinosaurs, and dead zones will spread as businesses move out to more viable areas. Maybe it would be a good idea to change now while you still have the finance and capital. Probably this will require a totally new way of thinking and of organising community living. Saving the environment is currently an international film played by actors, who go home to their sordid little lives once the scenes are shot. The scenes you see on the film are not reality. The actors playing their roles do not live what they preach. The reality has still to come crashing down. It will take a sensitive and strong mind to deal with that reality when it hits us.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Evolution of Space

I had a very strange dream where I saw a very advanced kind of natural drawing floating in the sky. I call them sky-paintings. It was a very beautiful picture representing a solution to mankinds problems and to our current state of mind. In ancient times the mind was nature, they did not divide consciousness from nature. The problem is if we pollute our world now we will suffer greatly because of it. The current state of the human mind is the cause of the way humans are destroying the natural environment. A healthy mind would not destroy the natural environment, destroying the Grandchildren's world before they have arrived.

In this dream I was told that people can change the future by changing how they live now. Good people do make a difference. It is very hard to draw what you see in a dream. The drawing on the left is a representation of what I saw. The tight dark red lines is a pictogram that represents selfishness and greed. It is all packed in together and there is no space to breathe, meaning that we are all taking too much, and in the wrong way. The circle on the right of the drawing has more space, representing the goodness in the human nature that understands less is more. You see both circles are about the same size, although one is made of space and light and the other is darker.

In the dream someone said to me: "One good person makes up for a million dead weights on your planet." I found that amazing, because people who care about our world are asking themselves why we are here on earth, because everything around us seems only to be getting worse. The impression I received is that this world would be in a much worse state, and the few people who do care are holding it all together on a higher level than appears at this point in time. People who care about our world can easily go into despair and falsely think that they are having no effect. This dream turned that around and said: No, this is not true. The ONE makes up for a million dead weights.

This dream was very strange. The most important part of the dream were the sky paintings. The sky paintings are beyond anything we can create at this point in our evolution. The drawing on the left is the basic form of what the people in the dream call: Making a difference. When we get all cramped up and the energy lines tighten, and we cannot see too clearly ahead - we panic. The dream was more relaxed, there was a lot of space in the sky painting. They see this space as being the solution. It translates as space in our actions, space in our behaviour, space in our thoughts and space in our way of living.

The way I understand it is that when we create this space we are making a big difference to what goes on down here on earth. As bad as it is now, I get the impression it could be a lot worse. The people all over the world, who have this lifestyle where there is no space, will soon get very sick. The mental lifestyle of people today, to consume the planet at increasingly rapid rates, will soon translate to severe mental and physical exhaustion and sickness in these populations. This is how nature deals with imbalance. It is a self-correcting mechanism.

In the background a new vision of who we are is taking form. I get the impression that this vision of goodness is forming outside of all the stress events where nations no longer understand that we are here as guests on this world, and that the earth does not belong to us. We are not the supreme race who owns the planet and can do whatever it wants without consequences. Down here on earth, if you drive into the wall you hit the wall. While this is happening, I saw that something else is also taking place and that is the evolution of space into our lives.

Friday, April 13, 2007

EarthShips: Building The Future

One very important aspect of the Earthship Concept is to be available to the masses. That is to say, it cannot be a multi-million dollar vessel that only the rich can afford. Everyone is entitled to voyage into the future. The concept, design, and actual method of manifestation of an Earthship must be developed with this in mind. In addition to interfacing with natural phenomena, this concept must interface with the nature of the common person.

What is an Earthship?
The Earthship is an independent globally oriented dwelling unit made from materials that are indigenous to the entire planet. The major structural building component of the Earthship is recycled automobile tires filled with compacted earth to form a rammed earth brick encased in steel belted rubber. This brick and the resulting bearing walls it forms is virtually indestructible.

The Earthship design is based on the principle of Thermal Mass. The tyres are packed with earth, and then stacked atop each other. The gaps are filled with cement and the structure is skimmed with plaster. The tyres give the structure a solidity and water-resistance an Adobe hut would lack. Thick walls ensure the internal temperature is very stable, says Reynolds. The knock-on effect is that little energy is needed to heat or cool the building, meaning electric power from solar or wind sources is devoted to lighting and powering appliances — of which the most energy-greedy is the fridge.

Integral to the design is that Earthships are south-facing in all but the hottest climates. That gives maximum exposure to the sun, both for warming the house and for solar power. Roofs are designed to catch water rather than run it off. Water is then passed through multiple filtration systems to be used for drinking and washing, then household uses and finally gardening.

Reynolds estimates that if you pay builders, an Earthship cost roughly the same as a conventional house - an average $200,000 in the US. The Low Carbon Trust (which aims to be the first stop for European Earthship enquiries) is hoping to drop the cost to around £80,000 for a three-bedroom house, about £65 per square foot — cheaper than conventional housing. The typical delivery time they expect to be six months said Howarth.

Each tyre takes about 10 minutes of hard, bone-shaking work to fill with rammed earth using a light sledgehammer. To prevent the earth spilling, the bottom of the tyre is lined with cardboard, another plentiful and free building material. This design is built around a double U-shape which maximises the frontage exposed to direct sunlight and the space available for solar panels.

The team from Taos pound the earth with practised grunts while the paying guests mill around and take occasional stabs at work. But by the end of the second day a rhythm has settled and the outline shape of the whole building had emerged.

The final seminar was spent on water management, perhaps the most intricate part of the process, and the least understood. Solar energy solutions are now widespread. Rainwater management is under-used and brings its proponents into direct contact with health and safety standards.

Water collection starts with the roof, and Reynolds recommends an enamelled metal roof as the most economical, durable and drinkable solution. Rainwater is collected into a tank, and from there passes through several filters to ready it for drinking and bathing. First-use water runs off from the shower or sink and is then recycled to the toilet. From there the water proceeds through another filter and into the garden. Reynolds showed us photos of his Taos set-up with banana trees fed entirely from third-use water.

“Its not a widescale thing yet” says Reynolds as he looks over the building site.” but it is much broader than when it started. ..we had to learn to make a building out of tyres, cans and bottles. That took a decade or so. Look how long traditional building has been around, . It’s a good thing it didn’t go faster, but we are ready now.

“In the future, if we can sell people a product that will take care of them without expense and without the insecurity of relying on municipal power water and sewage — if you can sell that, everybody’s going to be interested.”

As land gets scarcer in the UK; as technologies improve, allowing us to work and communicate without mains electricity or phone-lines, demand for Earthship-style solutions will increase exponentially. Whether planners will allow us to set sail for these futuristic dwellings is another matter.

Earth House Links

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Cycles of The Earth

As a child I always loved to wander around ruins in the Highlands of Scotland and imagine what kind of people once lived in those places, and where they are now? I had a good imagination, maybe I should have been an Archeologist? I could imagine how the buildings looked when they were new and when people lived in them. I could always see the people of that time as though they were actually there and I was not. In my imagination, their world existed and I was some future phantom briefly visiting their lives. Then I would return to my own time and the buildings became empty bones of stone covered in moss and peat.

I would spend hours following and studying old earth eaten tracks that used to be, for the people of the time, newly built roads. They are today's old roads where grass, shrubs and heather widen the cracks. I always wondered, where did those people go? Why were their houses and castle walls jagged skletons on the landscape? What kind of people were they? Will this world follow the same fate as their world, and will a child one day in the future wander among the ruins of the 20th Century, wondering what kind of people lived in the broken ruins lying like dinosaur skeletons swallowed by the earth?

The decline of the 20th Century is as inevitable as the fall of Rome. The people who have built the world we live in today, may still think like the Romans, but their buildings will one day disappear as the earth and nature re-inherits the space. Nothing we build lasts forever, and most probably our grandchildren's children will not want to live the way we do now.

I say this, because over the past few months I see many comments from politicians and Governments calling for more building programmes, and re-population projects to reverse the natural decline in many communities. I wonder to myself, have politicians never wandered in the ruins of a previous civilisation, and wondered about those people's lives? Perhaps realised that decline is an important part of growth and renewal?

When it comes to moving indigenous people out the way in order to access a vital resource for the gobble (global) community, then there is little thought about empty skelton houses and long silent tracks that once were roads... But our modern towns, cities and empires must not be moved aside, fall into ruin, undergo change. Even though our way of life is dirty, polluting the environment, committed to endless expansion and is not sustainable. No culture in the universe could sustain these levels of growth and resource consumption and survive.

Many high level people with global public profiles are fighting to make sure that our world will continue to grow, multiply, increase, become richer, develop and feed itself. I wonder if this is reality or a slogan for endless political campaigns? Because in their world nothing is to die, nothing is to get smaller... it all has to increase.

(image: Jerry Mitrovica, Toronto University)
This climate map is one example of unregulated expansion and increase. It is a graphic map of increases in sea level due to the melting of ice at either of the earth's polar caps.

In the event of ice sheet melts near the Northern or Southern poles. The blue colors show a drop in sea level while the red and orange colors show a rise. Global Warming

That is what I mean by unregulated growth and expansion. It can lead to flooding. We have recently enjoyed relatively stable climates around the world since the Little Ice Age. Which, at that time, effected settlements in European and North America probably from the late 15th Century until the 18th Century. Western Europe experienced a general cooling of the climate between the years 1150 and 1460 and a very cold climate between 1560 and 1850 that brought dire consequences to its peoples. The colder weather impacted agriculture, health, economics, social strife, emigration, and even art and literature. Increased glaciation and storms also had a devastating affect on those that lived near glaciers and the sea.

Can fluctuations in the earth's climate bring down Empires? I would imagine that you can create an Empire during times of plenty, that is difficult to maintain in times of climatic changes that challenge your bumper harvests and growing economy.

Are We on the Brink of a 'New Little Ice Age?' Thinking is centered around slow changes to our climate and how they will affect humans and the habitability of our planet. Yet this thinking is flawed: It ignores the well-established fact that Earth’s climate has changed rapidly in the past and could change rapidly in the future. The issue centers around the paradox that global warming could instigate a new Little Ice Age in the northern hemisphere. Global & Climate Change Insitute

Climate Changes: 535 AD
Lydus wrote that, "The sun became dim ... for nearly the whole year ... so that the fruits were killed at an unseasonable time."

Michael the Syrian commented that, "the sun became dark and its darkness lasted for eighteen months. Each day it shone for about four hours, and still this light was only a feeble shadow ... the fruits did not ripen and the wine tasted like sour grapes."

In many ways I feel that it is irresponsible and short sighted to lead people to think that they can continue to expand, that communities can endlessly increase, get richer, exploit more resources faster. This form of thinking is not in touch with reality. For example, if you endless expand any substance on earth, you drown in it.

Everyone wants gold. What was the story of king Midas? Just imagine everyone wakens up tomorrow and everything is made of gold. What do you eat? Sure, let's double the world's population in one year and we can all be immortal... The earth is going to be a bit crowded. Our thinking is wrong and our thinking effects the world we live in on a daily basis.

Just to think that we can have more, faster, and tomrorrow we then have to have more than more to increase on what we had yesterday, is a recipe for disaster. When the child in the future walks on the broken bones of our civilisation and wonders where those people are and how they lived? That child may see that we drowned in a global Tsunami of materialism. I would imagine the people who survived to study the broken skeleton jutting out of the earth, are the ones who learned to live in balance and harmony.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Fueling Extinction


How many times can you cut down a tree?

The next insanity of the industrial human race is the development of technology to transform forestry resources into bio-fuel. The developers of the industry are looking for efficient ways to process wood chippings into ethanol. The industrial definition of efficiency is monetary, it has to be economically efficient. This means the industry will process wood, corn, wheat or sugarcane into bio-fuels if it is financially profitable to do so: What you pay for the bio-fuel has to generate a profit for the industry and investors. So, the price for creating the supply of ethanol have to be lower than the price of petrol, and the production costs have to be efficient enough to leave the industry with a substantial profit.

The cost of habitat destruction to the earth, and to the human beings on the earth will be the price paid by the next generations. Not the price you pay for your gas when you fill the tank, but the price your grandchildren pay in terms of higher populations and rapidly decreasing resources to feed and sustain those populations. Industry in non-economic terms is the development of extraction of resources multiplied by the current world population at any time in human history.

In those simplistic terms industry is the organisation of human populations to extract and utilise resources, currently for economic gain. The way human populations organise the utilisation of resources can either harm the local and planetary environment, or it can harmonise with the environment. At this point in time we harm the natural environment, unfortunately to the point that we are literally fuelling extinction.

The key words are bio-fuels, habitat, petrolium, population growth, industrial expansion, mono-culture, rapid growth, extinction. The current marketing technique being used to increase consumer interest in the expanding production of ethanol is: bio-fuels. In the future the bio-fuel industry is know as the extinction-fuel industry, but as we are talking about market economics the word extinction is not a good marketing symbol for a rapidly expanding market. The first rule of marketing is to give your product a good image. What better propaganda than: You buy this product and you are going to save the planet.

All across the earth the industrialised world banks, the European Union and now Asian banks are financing extinction through a massive funding of economic production in ways that create local environmental loss of habitat, or an unnatural extraction of resources in excess of normal standards. For example, the funding and subsidies given to the vaccum-fishing industry. The funding of mono-plantations, the extraction of planetary resources and the industrial process required to convert those resources into energy or consumer products.

More than half Portugal's wildlife has come under threat of extinction since the country joined the European Union 20 years ago - and massive redevelopment made possible by EU cash is at least partly to blame. The Portuguese Institute of Nature Conservation's list of all the species either in grave danger or on the brink of extinction amounts to nearly half of the country's wildlife. And environmentalists say that the threat has come from the impact of years of intensive development, funded by grants from the European Union. BBC News

Eucalyptus as Far as the Eye Can See Native to Australia, the eucalyptus is ideal for pulpwood production: It grows quickly and is accomplished at scavenging large amounts of water at the expense of other plants. Foreign-owned large-scale plantations of the fragrant trees now occupy more than 700,000 hectares (2,700 square miles) in Uruguay, estimates María Selva Ortiz of the REDES- member of the Friends of the Earth non-governmental environmental network.

Botnia of Finland has planted trees on 60,000 hectares (232 square miles) of prime land, while ENCE of Spain already owns 50,000 hectares (183 square miles) and plans to purchase even more, according to Ricardo Carrere, spokesperson for local environmental group Guayabira.

The plantations and mills, meanwhile, enjoy powerful and richly funded backers. Large-scale eucalyptus plantations were introduced in Uruguay in 1988, promoted mainly by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with the active participation of forestry companies.


Our current levels of greed are exceeding the planets ability to provide us with resources. The emphasis is on fast growing trees, cows have to produce twice as much milk, bees have to produce more honey and pollinate faster before they are moved to the next location, apples have to be bigger, wheat crops have to produce more grains per head, Europe needs more births (fast), fishing vessels target fish stocks faster using sonar and modern satellite technology. Species all over the earth are reaching extinction faster than we can count them out.

Could it all be done differently? Of course it could all be done differently. Those who control the financing control the development. Today rich institutions are financing habitat extinction industries and projects according to their methods of expanding the supply and demand based on their technologies. Those institutions are the catalyst behind the financing of and therefore the rapid spread of mono-culture plantations to meet the increased demands for certain industrial resources, and for the financing of bio-fuel technologies and extraction of resources to fire those technologies: Palm Oil Industry Fuels Extinction of Orang Utans
Biodevastation Fuelling Deforestation - Why Save Trees?

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Nepal Buddha Boy Goes Underground

Ram Bahadur Bomjon begins meditating again in Nepal in an underground bunker. His associates claim he will meditate for three years, without food, sleep or drinks.

Buddha boy before meditating
After his second disappearance in March 2007, Bomjan was seen wandering in the jungle, where he met a villager and asked him to construct a bunker for him. The villager contacted the Committee and Raju Shah who started organizing this new bunker from which Bomjan has started meditating (March 27). Shah said Bomjon has started meditating in the bunker on Monday and will continue on for the next three years. He will not eat, sleep or take any water. The cement walled bunker is about seven feet (2.1 meters) deep and is located in the jungle 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, capital city of Nepal.

- photo by Lhuboom/RFA -

United We Blog -- 28 March: Ram Bahadur Bomjon, popularly known as the “Buddha Boy”, who stole the limelight after spending months in meditation, reportedly without food and water, has been found again, meditating inside a pit dug underground at Ratanpuri recently. Bomjon, who had started meditation under a Pipal tree in the village, had gone missing since March 11, 2006, and again reappeared on December 25 the same year. According to Inspector Rameshwor Yadav of the Area Police Post Nijgadh, Bomjon was inside the bunker-like square ditch of seven feet.

“We call it bunker,” he said, adding, “Although it’s seven feet deep, there is no lack of oxygen inside,” said Yadav, who claimed to have seen him going inside it from close range Monday (Mar 26). A police team, under the command of Yadav, had gone to the place after word of Bomjon being on underground meditation spread in the area. “His face was clean and hair was combed well,” Yadav said.

According to him, “the bunker” has been cemented from all sides with roof of tiles. Even as frequent “hide and seek” were continuing, some locals recently spotted him in the local forest on 9th March. After his mysterious disappearance last year, his “disciples” had claimed that he had gone in search of a peaceful place for the purpose, as thousands of curious people began visiting him daily.

Indra Lama, a local, who has been deployed as caretaker for him since he began meditation, said the “bunker” was prepared as per Bomjon’s order. “After granting audience a week ago, he expressed his desire to meditate inside the ground; so we built it,” he said.By Upendra Lamichhane

Palden Dorje Bio It is said that in ancient times, Tamangs used to fly in the air, meditated without taking foods, talked with trees and used to sit still for a long time. One of the ancestors of Palden Dorje was known in Lalitpur as flying Lama. Palden Dorje learnt chhyogi (Tamang's sacred book) from Som Bahadur Lama for two years. He was sent to a cave for a month. Bomjan now plans to begin 'patal samadhi' (underground meditation).

The Tamang are one of the several ethnic groups living in Nepal descended from Tibeto-Burman origins. Living mainly north and east of the Newars in the Kathmandu Valley, they constitute 5.6% of Nepal's population, which places their population at 1,280,000, slightly higher than the Newars. Due to their geographical location, their language is vaguely intelligible with Newari but closely related to both Tibetan and Sherpa. The Tamang clans are also known as Bhotiya and are the member of the tibetian races of people who entered nepal about 1000 years ago.

Lama Thangka Painting Center. Tamang Shamans are traditionally mystics and healers. They also carry on a high tradition of Tibetan Buddhist and Nepal Art. Visit the Cooperative of Tibetan, Sherpa & Tamang Thangka artists in Nepal.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

White Dove Ibis Full Moon

A white dove flew out of the West, circled once in a cloudless blue sky, flashing bright sunlight from the afternoon sun's wings. The dove landed on a rooftop exactly where the bright full moon would later rise in the East, into a cloudless night sky. Before the white dove flew back into the West a low flying heron appeared out of the West, flying East and the heron's flight was so perfect that it flew directly over the doves head. All of this on the day of the first full moon after the March Vernal Equinox.

I am not making this up. The white dove did appear in a bright flash of sunlight, the heron (ibis) did fly over the dove and the full moon did rise at the point where the heron and the dove crossed under the light of the sun. That is nature for you, that is the world we live in, and that is the real world. As Jiddu Krishnamurti said: "Truth is a pathless land."

Having seen this, I began to do some research. I know about the things I see with my own eyes, but I know nothing about secret knowledge and the Christian faith. The fact is this is not just about Christian symbolism, the Christians were the last group to come upon this sacred and now secret knowledge. The Buddhists know it, the Hindu's know of this, so do the Native Americans, the Egyptians, the Mayans, The Celts, the Arabs, the Hebrews, all ancient high cultures had this knowledge.

What I have discovered is it is the same knowledge shared by all people. The knowledge is like sunlight. It exists and it shines on all people of the world. One group cannot take this sunlight (knowledge) and say that it belongs only to them, just as one group cannot take the sun and say it belongs only to them. Therefore, I am going to go through this and share what I have found.

During my search I found this image together with information about:The Gnosis of Easter. So, there it is from ancient times, the sun, the moon and the dove. It would seem that the Christ principle is a universal principle, just like the sun and the moon.

Different cultures speaking different languages give the sun names in their own langauge: Sun, sol, Sonne, le soleil, sole, Солнце, الشمس. Obviously no one culture owns the sun. It is clear that the ancient world shared (or drank from) the same source of knowledge. That source is cosmos, the stars, the sun and the moon.

But it goes a lot deeper than that, because what is above is below and what is without is within. Therefore, the same underlying principles governing the workings of the universe govern man. So you have the principles of the sun and moon, the dove and the ibis within man, within the human consciousness.

Thoth (Ibis) was the Egyptian moon God. The dove is the feminine, beauty and peace, transformation, light. In terms of Alchemy, not only is the earth moving around the sun, but there is a deeper spiritual process at work. Duality, spirit and matter united as one.

The actual Alchemical process also takes place inside the mind of man. This process is the same for all human beings. It follows the same laws. The white dove full moon shows there are real archetypal principles governing our state of mind and our state of being. These are universal principles. It is not a closed system, it is an Open Source system.

In Open Source it is down to the individual creativity of the person contributing to or sharing the system that makes it work. People take what exists and they develop it further. No one owns the source code, and no one contributing is any more important than all the other people involved. With Open Source Software the contributors, the developers and the people using the system are all equal and valid parts of the tapestry. In Internet language this is the world wide web, and the key to Open Source is sharing.

Once you close the system, and you say to people they have to pay you, and there is an entrance fee, and the sytem and developments belong to you. You become obsessed about who is going to steal it from you. Eventually you close the system down to the point where even you cannot get in.

Moving beyond this there is a language common to all mankind, and that is the language of art, petroglyphs. If you go into an ancient cave where 30,000 years ago people whose language you would not understand drew images onto the rock. You can understand the language of art. In a way this is the basis for Open Source communications.

I cannot speak Arabic, Chinese, Hindi nor Tibetan languages, but there is one language we all speak and understand painted on rock walls all over the earth. Obviously there is another sacred language that is largely forgotten. This langauge is almost archetypal in its design. We see it in nature, in the weather patterns and in our interactions with the natural world. No matter what age you live in or where you live, these archetypal symbols also speak a universal language.

This is obviously something our ancestors understood. For them the archetypal is as real as the physical-material. It appears that the physical world is a reflection of the archetypal source-code. I would imagine that Alchemy is the root operating system open to the developers. Some people use that code to destroy the system and others use the code to develop.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands

"There was 10ft of water rushing through town."
A tsunami has swept ashore in the Solomon Islands after a strong undersea earthquake in the South Pacific. Initial reports from outlying, remote areas say at least eight people have been killed, but local officials fear the death toll could rise further.

The National Disaster Council chairman told reporters that some villages had been "completely wiped out". Tsunami warnings have also been issued for Papua New Guinea, north-east Australia, and other nearby islands. The quake measured 8.0 and hit at 0740 local time on Monday (2040 GMT Sunday).

It struck 345km (215 miles) north-west of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara, north-east of Australia, the US Geological Survey said, at a depth of 10km (six miles) below the surface. BBC News

02Apr2007 05:33:35.8 7.3S 155.3E 10 M =5.6 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS
01Apr2007 22:57:23.4 7.3S 156.0E 10 M =5.8 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS
01Apr2007 21:43:16.1 7.7S 155.6E 10 M =5.5 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS
01Apr2007 21:26:27.2 7.3S 155.4E 10 M =5.6 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS
01Apr2007 21:11:33.9 7.4S 155.8E 10 M =6.4 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS
01Apr2007 20:47:31.6 7.1S 155.7E 10 M =6.7 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS
01Apr2007 20:39:56.3 8.5S 157.0E 10 M =8.0 M*NEI SOLOMON ISLANDS

Once again a Tsunami strikes around Full Moon...
Monday April 2, 2007 - Full Moon
Research indicates full moon link to tsunami disaster NorthHampton University
23 October 2006

A full moon may have helped trigger the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004, which caused a tsunami leading to the deaths of an estimated 300,000 people, according to a new study from The University of Northampton.

Robin Crockett, a senior lecturer in mathematics at the University's School of Applied Sciences and colleagues monitored tremors between October 2004 and August 2005, collecting tidal data along the Java/Sumatra trench.

They found that major quakes were 86 per cent more likely around new and full moons, when tides are at their greatest. "At new and full moons the biggest mass of water is being loaded and unloaded at the plate boundary," Robin explained. "That might be the final push that initiates a quake."

Alaska's Good Friday earthquake, March 27, 1964
The Good Friday Earthquake, also called the Great Alaska Earthquake of Friday, March 27, 1964 (Good Friday, a Christian holy day associated with an earthquake), 5:36 P.M. AST (03:36 3/28 UTC) was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the third most powerful ever measured by seismograph.

A Lost Ancient Science: To understand what is going on, and what is being hidden from you, one has to understand that the science of the sun, the moon and the stars is today worshipped as a religion. The problem today is that people no longer understand the actual science behind the movement of the cosmos.

Our ancient ancestors did not worship the moon and the stars, they studied their movements. "The Celtic Cross is a reflection of the wheels and cycles of Nature and the Heavens with which our ancestors once kept Time and invented the zodiacs. Time keeping and prediction resulted from its use and a deep understanding of spiritual values forgotten in our modern world." The Working Celtic Cross

In terms of Archaeoastronomy the mythology associated with certain moons at certain times of the year are linked to a scientific observations of the behaviour of the earth. This knowledge was later personified with human attributes, but the actual ancient knowledge is a sacred science. It is sacred, because there was once a time on earth where spiritual awareness was not divided from mathematics and Alchemy, the science of cosmos. In this case it is the first full moon after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox (20/21 March).