Robber fly - Nature photographer Thomas Shahan specializes in amazing portraits of tiny insects. It isn't easy. Shahan says that this Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca), for instance, is "skittish" and doesn't like its picture taken.

Nature by Numbers (Video)

"The Greater Akashic System" – July 15, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Lightworkers, Intent, To meet God, Past lives, Universe/Galaxy, Earth, Pleiadians, Souls Reincarnate, Invention: Measure Quantum state in 3D, Recalibrates, Multi-Dimensional/Divine, Akashic System to change to new system, Before religion changed the system, DNA, Old system react to Karma, New system react to intent now for next life, Animals (around humans) reincarnate again, This Animal want to come back to the same human, Akashic Inheritance, Reincarnate as Family, Other Planets, Global Unity … etc.)

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle
American zoologist played by Sigourney Weaver in the film Gorillas in the Mist would have been 82 on Thursday (16 January 2014)

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Govt policy on CPO sales ineffective, say analysts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's moves to up the export duty on palm oil, and to encourage producers to sell part of their production on the domestic market so as to bring down cooking oil prices are short-sighted and will ultimately prove ineffective, senior economists say.

Faisal Basri, a noted economist at the University of Indonesia, said Friday that such solutions would not only fail to curb surging prices, but could in fact be counterproductive.

He said that fiscal policy would be effective only if the proceeds were used to finance market interventions in order to bring down prices.

"Asking CPO producers to voluntarily set aside part of their production for the domestic market will be ineffective and is not strict enough," he said. "The requirement should be made mandatory, not voluntary," he added.

According to Faisal, it is the government that should play the major role in the price stabilization efforts, rather than the producers.

"The government is acting more like a mediator instead of a stabilizer in handling the price increases."

The price of cooking oil has surged to Rp 9,000 from Rp 6,500 (72 U.S cents) per liter in Jakarta, and as much as Rp 10,000 in some areas outside Java, due to a 30 percent increase in the international price of CPO amid surging demand from China and India. The international price is currently hovering at between US$650 and $772 per metric ton.

As part of the price stabilization program, the government has asked the country's major CPO producers to voluntarily commit to selling part of their production on the domestic market.

In addition, the government has also threatened to increase the export duty on CPO from 1.5 percent at present to 6.5 percent if the price of cooking oil fails to soon return to around Rp 7,500 per kg.

For those who fail to divert the envisaged quantities to the domestic market, the government will even them to pay export duty at the higher rate of 11.5 percent.

Like Faisal Basri, another noted economist, Bustanul Arifin, said that the government's stabilization policy was not only ineffective, but also short-sighted.

"Instead of keeping the revenues from the export duty, the government should use them to subsidize cooking oil for lower-income people, who are badly affected by the soaring prices," he said.

The revenue, he added, could also be used to provide incentives to improve the upstream and downstream sectors of the CPO industry by, for instance, expanding plantations in the upstream sector and developing more products in the downstream sector. "Those could be long-term solutions," he said.

Derom Bangun, chairman of the association of CPO producers (GAPKI), expressed a similar view, saying that the government should contribute more to the scheme by disbursing funds to help low-income people cope with the price increase.

"Actually, the government can use the export duties it has collected in previous months to subsidize cooking oil for low-income people," he said.

Faisal also said that it would be better if the revenues from the export duty were not paid directly into the state coffers, but rather kept in a special account.

"With such a mechanism, it would be easier to use the money for price stabilization purposes," he said.

The government could use a separate bank account managed by the Indonesian CPO committee (Dewan Minyak Sawit Indonesia), whose members were stakeholders in the CPO industry, he suggested.

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