Category: John James Newsletter

The John James Newsletter 41
17 January 2015

I do not blame those who are resolved to rule, only those who are ready to submit
Thucydides

Edge of Extinction
Guy McPherson is convinced that humanity will be extinct within 20 years from a chain of events that would be triggered by the next Global Financial Crisis. Here is his sequence and its consequences.
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/edge-of-extinction.html
and
http://truth-out.org/news/item/28490-the-methane-monster-roars
The global financial system is artificial and mired in debt.
Were it to fail, as many predict could happen this year, then trade and industry would decline sharply and rapidly.
Less power would be used and less pollution would continue to enter the atmosphere.
Up to now this has created an aerosol layer of smog that has masked warming by more than 1 degree.
In addition, this year or next we should see an ice-free Arctic for the first time.
Complete loss of Arctic ice could double the current rate of warming.
Together these two events will cause rapid global heat-rise, really rapid!
As it gets too hot to keep nuclear power plants cool there would be massive fires that create more heat.
Few forests could avoid destruction from catastrophic wildfires, all adding to the temperature.
The accelerated temperature increase speeds up the loss of Arctic and Antarctic ice that will raise sea levels
This further reduces trade and industry as docks and infrastructure is flooded
That leads to even more loss of aerosol cover
Leading to more temperature rise.
Together these would bring global temperature to beyond 2.4 degrees, and possibly double in the interior of large continents and result in widespread crop failure and loss of habitat.
At that heat a massive explosion of methane from the Arctic Sea is highly probable.
This would rapidly increase temperature by a further 1.2 degrees.
In addition there are more than twenty feed-back loops waiting to accelerate this process.
Governments will be overwhelmed and find it more and more difficult to operate
Populations have nowhere to go.
Nuclear war is almost inevitable.
Civilisation fails.
Events are now moving so rapidly this scenario is likely to commence very soon
It would unfold over the next twenty years or less
By then the earth will be 5-6 degrees hotter.
George Monbiot
There has not been one proposal, debate or even position paper on limiting fossil fuel production put forward at international climate negotiations. Almost all governments are pursuing the same policy of maximising the production of fossil fuels while paying lip service to the need to minimise emissions.
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/01/09/produce-more-consume-less/

The bear is back: A cautionary tale from Gerard Minack
Fiscal policy is very unlikely to be effective in the next downturn due to congressional gridlock in the US, and lack of centralised fiscal authority in Europe. So you’re left response-less when you enter the next downturn, with monetary policy that is ineffectual, unconventional and just embroidery.What we have are fully invested bears.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-bear-is-back-a-cautionary-tale-of-global-gloom-20150112-12mahk.html

A science experiment landed this little girl in handcuffs
Kiera is just one of over 260,000 students that were reported to law enforcement by their schools in 2012, the most-recent available data. By criminalizing every activity under the sun for both adults and children, the government is using the threat of violence (or sometimes actual violence) to create a docile, obedient, and subservient population.
http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/unbelievable-a-science-experiment-landed-this-little-girl-in-handcuffs-15884/

In an ‘Epic’ Chase, Sea Shepherd Vows to Pursue Poachers to ‘Ends of the Earth’
The dramatic chase, which has gone on for 22 days, is thought to be the world’s longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/09/epic-chase-sea-shepherd-vows-pursue-poachers-ends-earth

What Do the World Bank and IMF Have to Do With the Ukraine Conflict?
The East-West competition over Ukraine is about the control of natural resources, including uranium and other minerals Ukraine’s vast agricultural sector is the world’s third largest exporter of corn and fifth largest exporter of wheat. Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe.

What Do the World Bank and IMF Have to Do With the Ukraine Conflict?

Is War in the Cards for 2015?
Either Obama and Putin enter negotiations over Ukraine or the war in Ukraine, with 4,700 dead since April, gets bigger and wider.
http://www.creators.com/conservative/pat-buchanan/is-war-in-the-cards-for-2015.html
and
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/appease-putin-and-avert-a-second-cold-war-20150112-12mc0c.html

What Hebdo execution video really shows
It seems impossible that an AK-47 bullet fired from close range would not have had a dramatic impact on that policeman’s head. The video shows nothing significant happened to his head when the bullet was fired.

and among the comments
http://chuckmanotherchoiceofwords.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/je-ne-suis-pas-charlie-extremely-dark.html

Complaint of war crimes against John Howard sent to the International Criminal Court

Complaint against John Howard to the International Criminal Court

China and Russia to launch new credit rating agency in 2015
The new agency will be based in Hong Kong, and provide a check on the ‘Big Three’, which have not always provided an accurate reading of economic situations.
http://rt.com/business/222175-russia-china-rating-agency/

What 2,000 Calories Looks Like
A healthy adult should be consuming around 2,000 calories a day, according to the US Department of Health. This photo series reveals just what 2,000 calories looks like at some of the UK’s favourite fast food chains — and it’s often a lot smaller than you might think.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/22/upshot/what-2000-calories-looks-like.html?_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1

The Rock of our Existence
The Zionist claim to Palestine was solely based on the Biblical history of the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the kingdoms of Saul, David and Solomon and the events of those times. Four generations of devoted archeologists, with a burning conviction and huge resources, produced not a single indication that any of these happened. On the Egyptian side thousands of  documents have been deciphered from 1730 BC onwards that show that Egyptian spies, traders and soldiers reported in great detail on events in every town of Canaan. Not a single item has been found that tells anything remotely resembling Biblical events.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1420212779

How the West was stolen
Scale of Native American dispossession revealed in a time-lapse video. Between 1776 and 1887, white conquerors razed across 1.5 billion acres of Indian-occupied land, claiming it for their own.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2902380/Story-Native-American-dispossession-told-unforgettable-new-visualizations.html

The John James Newsletter 25
3 November 2014.

IPCC: rapid carbon emission cuts vital to stop severe impact of climate change
Climate change is set to inflict “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts” on people and the natural world unless carbon emissions are cut sharply and rapidly, according to the most important assessment of global warming yet published. The stark report states that climate change has already increased the risk of severe heatwaves and other extreme weather and warns of worse to come, including food shortages and violent conflicts. Carbon emissions will have to fall to zero to avoid catastrophic climate change.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/02/rapid-carbon-emission-cuts-severe-impact-climate-change-ipcc-report?CMP=ema_565

Climate conference end acrimoniously
Behind the scenes particular countries had insisted on the removal of sentences, paragraphs and diagrams from the report’s summary that didn’t suit their perceived national interest.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/climate-conference-analysis-a-new-urgency-appears-20141102-11fmn7.html

Climate report huge omission obscures the real danger – methane
Rapid warming in the Arctic – where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the global rate – is thawing an incomprehensibly vast stockpile of nature’s own carbon which has been trapped in ice for millennia. The scale of this threat is mind-boggling. There is over three times more heating power stored in this “permafrost” than that which has been caused by human greenhouse gas emissions since the beginning of the industrial age – and this refers only to that located on land (as opposed to the coastal seabeds).
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/climate-reports-huge-omission-obscures-full-danger.html

IPCC significantly under-state the rate extent of impending change
At the heart is the omission of major feedback effects from the climate-models. The entire suite of the climate-change projections for the next 100 years come from models that omit significant ‘positive feedback’ effects thatt are already starting to become major sources.
http://www.gci.org.uk/Documents/IPCC_AR5_Underestimates_Climate_Change.pdf

9 significant scientific findings too recent to be included in the new IPCC report
The IPCC reports, released roughly every six years, are the most comprehensive, authoritative consensus on climate change among scientific experts. However, the cut-off date for literature for each Assessment Report was in 2013 , so it’s worth taking stock of recent scientific advancements and climate-related events that have occurred since then. We discuss research highlights around four areas: sea level rise, extreme weather and climate events, ecosystems, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and temperature.
http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/10/9-significant-scientific-findings-too-recent-be-included-new-ipcc-report

The Last Hours
The threat is described in a new mini-documentary
http://lasthours.org/

And the talk I gave in Katoomba in June last year.

The John James Newsletter 42
24 January 2015

The best scientists in the world are telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.
President Obama’s State of the Union address

Trolling Russia
Israel Shamir is a Russian-born Jew and Israeli citizen. This is a tantalising analysis.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40751.htm

Russia signs military cooperation deal with Iran
Defence minister Hossein Dehqan states that Iran and Russia had a “shared analysis of US global strategy, its interference in regional and international affairs and the need to cooperate in the struggle against the interference of foreign forces in the region.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Russia-signs-military-cooperation-deal-with-Iran/articleshow/45954724.cms

QE warfare is pushing world financial system out of control
Since the GFC of 2008 the world’s combined public-private debt has increased by 20 per cent, and most governments have been engaged in competitive currency devaluations. The world is dangerously unanchored with true currency wars. The central banks may have bought exactly what they most feared by trying to keep growth buoyant at all costs with so much created debt they may have turned a good deflation into a really bad one.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11358316/Central-bank-prophet-fears-QE-warfare-pushing-world-financial-system-out-of-control.html

The coming era of unlimited — and free — clean energy
In Germany, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and the Southwest United States, residential-scale solar production has already reached “grid parity”, so it costs no more in the long term to install solar panels than to buy electricity from utility companies. The prices of solar panels have fallen 75 percent in the past five years and will fall further so within at decade, it will cost a fraction of fossil fuel-based alternatives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/09/19/the-coming-era-of-unlimited-and-free-clean-energy

Is Barack Obama Actually Trying To Help ISIS Take Over Syria?
That headline sounds crazy, right?  It must be untrue, right?  Well, read on, because you might be absolutely shocked by what you learn.  The Obama administration has used al-Qaeda fighters and other radical Islamic groups to topple governments such as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/is-barack-obama-actually-trying-to-help-isis-take-over-syria Coalition For A Democratic Syria

A Small and Shuffling Life
George Monbiot’s passionate evocation of our past – a beautiful read.
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/01/19/a-small-and-shuffling-life/

GM crops to be fast-tracked in UK
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/13/gm-crops-to-be-fast-tracked-in-uk-following-eu-vote?CMP=EMCENVEML1631

Humans Have Brought World’s Oceans to the Brink
We have profoundly decreased the abundance of both large (e.g., whales) and small (e.g., anchovies) marine fauna. Such declines can generate waves of ecological change that can alter entire ocean ecosystem. There are factory farms in the sea and cattle-ranch-style feed lots for tuna; Shrimp farms are eating up mangroves. Stakes for seafloor mining claims are being pursued with gold-rush-like fervor, and 300-ton ocean mining machines and 750-foot fishing boats are now rolling off the assembly line.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/16/humans-have-brought-worlds-oceans-brink-major-extinction-event

Nice and dirty – the importance of soil
As much as 95 percent of our food comes from the soil, but 33 percent of global soils are degraded, and we may only have 60 years of nutrient-rich top soil left – it is not a renewable resource. Africa is especially hard hit.
http://worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=101019
and
http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/Perspectives/Why-Africa-s-degraded-soils-will-cost-the-continent-dearly

Formation-flying satellites link up to create giant virtual telescope in orbit
The European Space Agency project depends on a level of precision never before achieved in orbit. By flying small satellites in formation, virtual telescopes of incredible power and sensitivity will help astronomers to observe the sun. One of the satellites will point its instruments towards the Sun while the second will place itself between the first craft and the sun with a disc to occlude it for a long-lasting total solar eclipse.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/17/formation-flying-satellites-space-telescopes-esa-proba-3?CMP=ema_565

Saudis to build world’s first large scale solar powered desalination plant
The plant, to supply Al Khafji City in the north-east of the country, will produce 60,000 cubic metres of water a day. It is due to be commissioned in 2017. Desalination is a costly, energy intensive process that is usually powered by fossil fuel baseload plant
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/saudis-build-worlds-first-large-scale-solar-powered-desalination-plant-82903

Drone Strikes Killed at Least 874 People in Hunt for 24 Terrorists
Drone strikes in Pakistan killed as many as 221 people, including 103 children, in the hunt for just four men. Obama’s secret Kill List selects individual targets for assassination and requires no public presentation of evidence or judicial oversight.
http://us.sputniknews.com/us/20150120/1013514542.html

Off the Charts
2014 is the 38th consecutive year with above average global temperatures.
http://www.climatecouncil.org.au/2014-hottest-year-on-record-globally

3 Minutes to Midnight
Experts on the board said they felt a sense of urgency this year because of the world’s ongoing addiction to fossil fuels, procrastination with enacting laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow efforts to get rid of nuclear weapons
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/22/doomsday-clock-ticks-forward-climate-change-nuclear-weapons-push-humanity-closer

How Whales Change Climate
The astonishing story of how whales keep the oceans alive – and alter the composition of the atmosphere.
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/01/10/how-whales-change-climate/

Yemen: understanding Houthi motives is complicated
Yemen is a cornerstone of the US counterterrorism program. The Houthi group claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings. For most Yemenis the group is capable of reshaping the complex political landscape of the poorest country in the Arab world. Since September they have occupied some of the country’s most important infrastructure, including the presidential palace and sea ports.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/19/understanding-houthi-motives-complicated-essential-yemen-future
It is considered to be al Qaeda’s deadliest branch with the greatest global reach.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/rebels-battle-soldiers-near-yemens-presidential-palace-1421650439

Saudi Arabia declares all atheists are terrorists
A series of new laws define atheists as terrorists, in order to clamp down on all forms of political dissent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html

The John James Newsletter 26
6 November 2014.

Hope is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for whosoever hopes has within him the gift of miracles. – Samuel Smiles

UN panel warns opportunity to stop climate change fading fast
This requires “substantial” cuts to greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades, and “near zero” emissions by the end of the century.Two degrees warming is considered a threshold beyond which the impacts of climate change become much worse. On current emission trends, the world would warm by 4 degrees by 2100 – and keep getting warmer thereafter.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/un-panel-warns-opportunity-to-stop-climate-change-fading-fast-20141102-11fmmq.html

A Gunpowder Plot Against Democracy
This bill of rights for corporations will blow up the sovereignty of parliaments. The TTIP treaty would allow corporations to sue governments before an arbitration panel composed of corporate lawyers, at which other people have no representation, and which is not subject to judicial review. So outrageous is this arrangement that even the Economist, usually the champion of corporate power and trade treaties, has now come out against it as “a way to let multinational companies get rich at the expense of ordinary people”.
http://www.monbiot.com/2014/11/04/a-gunpowder-plot-against-democracy/

AND WHAT ABOUT THE PACIFIC VERSION?

Climate Depression Is For Real. Just Ask A Scientist
It’s only natural then that many climate scientists and activists often feel an extreme pressure to keep their emotions in check. Part of being on the front line means being outspoken and passionate about the cause, the personal toll of the work goes largely undiscussed. “You don’t just start talking about unbelievably fast sea-level rise at a cocktail party at a friend’s house. So having to deny the emotional need to talk about what’s on your mind is a burden. Nobody talks about how it makes them feel personally.”
http://www.countercurrents.org/thomas041114.htm

Gaza isn’t just a physical wreck: the psychological damage is worse.
Gaza feels like the Day of Judgement. Houses are as squashed and scattered as paper cups. A water tower is torn up close to the ground like a stalk of corn. Mosques, schools and factories are blasted, useless shells. Olive trees that were almost ready to yield their fruit are reduced to kindling. It goes on, block after block. Altogether 20,000 homes are destroyed and uninhabitable, 39,000 people are still living in UN shelters, and perhaps 100,000 more are homeless, crowded in with relatives. Building materials promised by the UN and international donors are stalled or unavailable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/03/gaza-isnt-just-a-physical-wreck-the-psychological-damage-is-even-worse/

Gaza cut off: Israel closes border crossings indefinitely
Israel has said it’s shutting the only two operating Gaza border crossings indefinitely. This comes a day after a projectile hit Israel from the strip, with no damage. Border closures have now isolated Gaza completely.
http://rt.com/news/201579-israel-gaza-border-crossing/

CEFC in discussions on 30 new projects worth $3bn
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation shows no sign of packing its bags as the Abbott government would wish. The Corporation reports “active discussions” with developers of more than 30 new projects with a total value of more than $3 billion. This is on top of the $931 million it has already invested in projects worth a total of $3.2 billion.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/cefc-says-discussions-30-new-projects-3-bln-77144

Opioid wars
The US consumes more than 80 percent of the global supply of opioids, and overdoses from prescription opioid drugs kill nearly 17,000 Americans every year, which is one overdose death every 30 minutes.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2014/10/opioid-wars-20141027122237180634.html

Entire villages disappeared: Ebola deaths in Sierra Leone ‘underreported’
Ebola’s toll on Sierra Leone is much greater than previously thought, with entire villages killed off by the virus. This means up to 20,000 people could have succumbed to the disease by now.
http://rt.com/news/201567-ebola-sierra-leone-toll-underreported/

Fracking Wells Abandoned in Boom/Bust Cycle. Who Will Pay to Cap Them?
The companies that once operated the wells have all but vanished into the prairie, many seeking bankruptcy protection and unable to pay the cost of reclaiming the land they leased.
http://climatecrocks.com/2014/01/04/fracking-wells-abandoned-in-boombust-cycle-who-will-pay-to-cap-them/

Renewable Energy Can Cost 70% Less Than Diesel Power At Mining Sites
Electricity from solar and wind power can cost up to 70% less than when it is generated by diesel power at mining sites, especially for sites that are located remotely.
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/11/01/renewable-energy-can-cost-70-less-diesel-power-mining-sites/

Government-controlled Syria defiant amid war
Rebels hold some suburbs in the countryside around Damascus and parts of the northwest. The extremist Islamic State group has imposed its rule over territory encompassing a third of both Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
http://www.cp24.com/world/government-controlled-syria-defiant-amid-war-1.2083213

The John James Newsletter 27
8 November 2014.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter — Sir Winston Churchill

Big Coal takes control of the US Congress
Just like Australia, sadly. The closer we get to Armageddon the more selfishness and blind stupidity there is. Its like the rush of the lemmings over the cliff – save this is no myth, but mass denial being acted out on the public stage.
http://www.texasenvironmentalnews.com/big-coal-takes-control-of-the-us-congress/

Use of Palestinian Civillians as Human Shields
Documented cases of Palestinian civilians used as human shields by Israeli military forces during the conflict in the Gaza Strip, 8 July-26 August, 2014.
http://www.euromid.org/en/article/626/Israeli-Matrix-of-Control:-Use-of-Palestinian-Civillians-as-Human-Shields
And Israel Committed War Crimes In Gaza: Amnesty Report
http://amnesty.org/en/news/israeli-forces-displayed-callous-indifference-deadly-attacks-family-homes-gaza-2014-11-05

Islamic State Born of Deteriorating Economic Conditions in Iraq
Poverty and inequality created by the plunder of Iraq’s wealth by elites and multinational corporations after the US occupation of Iraq were a great recruiting tool for ISIS.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40135.htm

Solar costs to halve by 2025
World leading researcher Martin Green says cost of solar technology will halve in the next decade, meaning solar – not coal – will become dominant energy source.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/martin-green-father-of-pv-says-solar-costs-to-halve-by-2025-79017

The next step in the anti-dollar war
Russia may ban circulation of US dollar. The State Duma has already been submitted a bill banning and terminating the circulation of USD in Russia.
http://en.apa.az/xeber_russia_may_ban_circulation_of_us_dollar_218603.html

This Just Happened to Solar
The chart shows how far solar will come out ahead in the US in 2016, the anticipated cost of solar energy minus average electricity prices, and the savings for every kilowatt hour of electricity. Grid parity in 36 states by then.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-29/while-you-were-getting-worked-up-over-oil-prices-this-just-happened-to-solar.html

Liberia’s coffin makers suffer in Ebola outbreak
Before the outbreak of Ebola, Mr Mulbah said business was good with funeral services all over the city, especially at weekends. For the last two months it has been difficult to sell even one casket a day.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29755102

Subprime Loans and Auto Sales
Soaring auto sales are not so much a sign of a strong economy as they are an indication of financial hanky-panky (as with houses in 2008). The bigtime money guys are at it again, writing up auto loans for anyone who can sit upright in a chair and scribble an “X” on the dotted line. As a result, car sales have surged to over 16 million for the last 6 months. The finance gurus are packaging these sketchy subprimes into bonds, offloading them on eager investors, and recycling the profits into more crappy loans. It’s a perfect circle and it won’t end until the loans start blowing up, jittery investors head for the exits,  and Uncle Sugar rides to the rescue with more bailouts.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40148.htm

The John James Newsletter 28
10 November 2014.

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? — Abraham Lincoln

Ring The Bell: This Is Our Future – John James
I have been asked to describe the world under 2,3 or 4 degrees and what it would be like in our lifetimes and those of our children? This is my answer, based on what most of us are likely to experience during the next few decades……. unless!
http://www.countercurrents.org/james071114.htm

Methane Erupting From East Siberian Arctic Shelf
Nations are ignoring this growing danger. As the oceans keep warming, the Gulf Stream will keep moving ocean heat into the Arctic, triggering increased methane eruptions from the seafloor that threatens to further accelerate warming in the Arctic, resulting in ever more methane being released .. ad infinitum.
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/methane-erupting-from-east-siberian-arctic-shelf.html

California County Makes History By Passing Self-Governance Law
Over the past century, both corporations and state governments have restricted the authority of municipal corporations so the people have very few rights. Your right to govern your own county has been canceled out by the “rights” of corporations, and the authority of the State to preempt your lawmaking. This measure, though “illegal”, is about changing the law by challenging the law. Openly, frontally, and directly. The current system of law does not allow you to say “no” to fracking within the County. You therefore have a choice – you can either accept that current status of the law, or you can challenge what the law “is” and adopt a new system of law which enables you to control what happens in the County.
http://www.zengardner.com/california-county-makes-history-passes-self-governance-law/

Sao Paulo running out of water as rain-making Amazon vanishes
São Paulo with 20 million people is suffering its worst drought in at least 80 years, with key reservoirs that supply the city dried up. Humidity from the Amazon has dropped dramatically, are all because of deforestation. That is altering the climate in the region by drastically reducing the release of billions of liters of water by rainforest trees. It is a collapse like we have never seen before. The severity of the situation in recent weeks has led government leaders to finally admit Brazil’s financial powerhouse is on the brink of a catastrophe.
http://www.trust.org/item/20141024121030-es9ea/?source=hpMostPopular

The collapse of the Amazon is one of the anticipated tipping points. Its massive rain forests have been soaking up enormous quantities of carbon, as well as keeping the planet’s weather equitable. Neither of these benign effects can be expected in the future. John

Abdul Kareem: a seed sent from heaven.
Almost 40 years ago, Abdul Kareem bought five acres of land in what was then a sparsely inhabited area in northern Kerala. Shortly after, he bought some more land, and in just a few years, his 32 acres were transformed into a thick, vibrant forest, making Abdul Kareem one of the few people in India to have actually created a forest—and that too almost single-handedly.
http://www.goodnewsindia.com/Pages/content/inspirational/abdulKareem.html