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)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Indonesian Firm Accused of Clearing Rain Forests

The New York Times, By AUBREY BELFORD, July 5, 2010

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The environmental group Greenpeace has accused one of the world’s largest pulp, paper and palm oil companies of aggressively clearing Indonesian rain forests and throwing into doubt a landmark billion-dollar deal that aims to fight climate change by curbing deforestation.

In a report released Monday, Greenpeace accused a subsidiary of the Indonesian family conglomerate Sinar Mas of secretly planning a massive expansion of pulp mills and cutting down essential forests, including habitats for endangered tigers.

An executive with the subsidiary, Asia Pulp and Paper, denied the charges.

The Greenpeace report says that an internal 2007 document shows that Asia Pulp drew up plans to significantly increase its pulp mill capacity to 17.5 million tons a year from 2.6 million tons.

The report also said that Asia Pulp had sought more than a million hectares in new concessions to meet this demand. In the Sumatran provinces of Riau and Jambi alone, the company sought 900,000 hectares, or 2.2 million acres, more than half of which was granted, Greenpeace says.

“What is actually happening in the field is they keep expanding because their timber concessions are not enough to supply their mills,” said Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace’s lead forest campaigner in Indonesia.

Asia Pulp’s sustainability chief, Aida Greenbury, denied that the company had confidentially made any such expansion plans.

“To support production of 15 million tons of pulp a year is just impossible,” Mrs. Greenbury said, because the company would not be able to harvest enough wood to feed the mills. “I don’t know how they came up with 15 million tons.”

She added, “It’s impossible to plan expansion of pulp mills secretly because we need to get approval from the local government, the central government, everything else.”

Greenpeace also charges that much of the land set aside and cleared overlaps with endangered-species habitats.

Mrs. Greenbury said that Asia Pulp did not use wood from forests it deemed to be of “high conservation value,” which included deep peat and major endangered-species habitats. The company takes around 85 percent of its wood from plantations, she said, with the rest coming from degraded land or lower-value forests.

Greenpeace also charges that Asia Pulp has cleared peatlands more than three meters, or about 10 feet, in depth. In Indonesia, the clearing of such deep peatland is illegal because the land, which is made up of semidecomposed vegetation, releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases when burned or drained.

Hadi Daryanto, the Forestry Ministry’s director general of forestry management, said he could not comment on the report because he had not yet seen a copy of it. He added that he had heard no reports of Asia Pulp clearing peatland more than three meters deep.

The Greenpeace report also criticizes several multinational companies, including Wal-Mart, Hewlett Packard, Carrefour and KFC, for buying from Sinar Mas and urges them to suspend dealings with the company.

The accusations of wrongdoing are particularly sensitive in Indonesia because President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has staked much of his global prestige on acting against climate change. Large-scale deforestation has made the country the world’s third-largest emitter of climate-change-causing gases, behind China and the United States, according to some estimates.

The country signed a $1 billion deal with Norway in May that imposes a two-year moratorium on new permits to clear virgin forest and peatland.

The deal is part of an approach to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which is widely seen as one of the few areas of progress that came out of the collapsed climate change talks in Copenhagen last year.

But Greenpeace’s accusations — and Sinar Mas’s denials — hint at what critics say are major hurdles in the plan. Bureaucratic dysfunction, corruption and Indonesia’s sheer size create confusion over what is happening in the field. At the same time, environmentalists, companies and governments frequently disagree on what constitutes environmentally sensitive land and what does not.

“This is a big question mark for the government of what forest protection will look like,” Mr. Maitar of Greenpeace said. “If the big companies like A.P.P. or Sinar Mas as a group are still doing business as usual, still doing forest clearing, so what’s the meaning of the moratorium?”


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