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)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Coal Rush Ravages Indonesian Borneo

Jakarta Globe – AFP, By Angela Dewan, December 4, 2013

A barge on the river of Mahakam to load coal from the mining area in Samarinda,
 East Kalimantan, is shown in this photo taken on Nov. 10, 2013. (AFP Photo/
Bay Ismoyo)

Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Barges loaded with mountains of coal glide down the polluted Mahakam River on Indonesian Borneo every few minutes. Viewed from above, they form a dotted black line as far as the eye can see, destined for power stations in China and India.

A coal rush that has drawn international miners to East Kalimantan province has ravaged the capital, Samarinda, which risks being swallowed up by mining if the exploitation of its deposits expands any further.

Mines occupy more than 70 percent of Samarinda, government data show, forcing entire villages and schools to move away from toxic mudslides and contaminated water sources.

The destruction of forest around the city to make way for mines has also removed a natural buffer against floods, leading to frequent waist-high deluges during the six-month rainy season.

And despite the 200 million tones of coal dug and shipped out of East Kalimantan each year, its capital is crippled by frequent hours-long blackouts as the city’s aging power plant suffers constant problems.

Farmer Komari, who goes by one name, has lived in a corner of Samarinda half an hour from the city center since 1985 and used to get by growing small amounts of rice and breeding fish.

But the mines have poisoned the water used in his fields and small ponds, he says.

“The rice is basically grown in poisonous water,” said the 70-year-old, standing among his paddies, ankle-deep in brown sludge near the bare, one-room wooden shack where he lives with his wife.

“We still eat it but I think it’s pretty bad for us,” he says, adding that the water makes his skin itch.

Along with 18 other farmers, Komari has filed a civil suit against government officials, blaming them for contaminating their water sources and allowing rampant mining.

They are not seeking compensation, instead asking the government to oblige a coal company next to their homes to decontaminate the water and provide health services.

‘Cronies have done this to Samarinda’

Udin, who owns and drives a rental car and was born in Samarinda 30 years ago, said the city today has been transformed.

“When I was kid, my home was a jungle with orangutans and so many different colorful birds. But now it is bleak,” he said.

According to Jatam, a group representing communities affected by mining across Indonesia, the root of the problem is obvious — local officials have been lining their pockets with bribes from companies in exchange for granting them permits to mine.

“A bunch of cronies have done this to Samarinda. We call them the mining mafia,” said Merah Johansyah from the group’s Samarinda branch.

A general view of a coal mining area in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
(AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Jatam and Indonesian Corruption Watch recently reported a case to the country’s anti-graft agency, alleging an Indonesian company, Graha Benua Etam, in 2009 bribed Samarinda’s former energy and mining department chief in exchange for a permit.

They say at least four billion rupiah ($340,000) was handed out in corrupt payments, and that some of the money flowed to a former mayor for a political campaign.

The company could not be contacted for comment.

Bribes are being paid for more than just permits, Johansyah said.

He said they also help companies mine in areas they are not supposed to and avoid obligations such as consulting communities and carrying out environmental impact assessments.

Law enforcement, often a problem across the sprawling archipelago of more 17,000 islands where power is heavily decentralized, is also lax.

Campaigners say that companies have ignored their legal obligation to fill abandoned deep pits once their activities are complete. More than 10 people, including seven children, died between 2011 and 2012 from falling into these holes, according to local media reports.

Coal mine destruction spreading

This grim picture of Samarinda is a far cry from what it once was — a lush jungle with orangutans and exotic birds, many native to Borneo.

It is a common story across the world’s third-largest island, which was once almost entirely covered in trees but has now lost around half of its forest, according to the WWF.

Like in the Amazon, the rainforest on Borneo acts like a sponge, soaking up climate change-inducing carbon from the atmosphere.

A recent report from NGO the World Development Movement warned the coal rush is spreading to better conserved parts of Borneo, such as Central Kalimantan.

The forest in that province is currently almost untouched but companies such as Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton have plans to begin mining for coal.

BHP said that any development it carries out in Kalimantan “will be subject to detailed environmental and social impact assessments”.

Despite the destruction, Borneo continues to attract nature lovers from around the world to see the oldest known rainforests on the planet and its more than 1,400 animal species and 15,000 types of plants.

But environmentalists warn there might not be much left to see if the environmental devastation continues at the current pace.

Agence France-Presse


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