I Wish for You

ChrisBowers's picture
onesong's picture

yesterday i sat with kindergartners and tied pieces of fleece into blankets that their classroom will donate to the linus project. eager to help, not knowing why at first, i explained to them that we wouldn't be keeping them. we would be giving them away to children we don't know that don't have enough.    amidst their why's and wriggly attempts at cutting and tying, we talked about whether they had a favorite blanket and the comfort something so simple can bring us.                                                     

i told them about my grandmother and her grandmother and how as a little girl i remember being covered in quilts made by their hands. i had one favorite quilt that got old and tattered as i grew up that was almost in pieces. my aunt took one still intact square, put it in a frame and many years later gave me that little piece of my history knowing how much i had loved my grandmother. now it survives as a legacy of love and memories hanging on my bedroom wall.       

these children, all our children - listen intently and recognize love instantly when you share something of yourself with them. as adults, we learn to guard our 'selves' and sometimes we lose alot in so doing. remember when you trusted in others like a small child? or if your experience was less than this, how much it has impacted every relationship you've ever had??

this video reminds me again, just how much our words, our lessons, simple acts of kindness in our lives impact the world we will leave behind.

one little boy looked very intently at me and said "you are a very good grandmother" (i think i blushed) and my reply to him was genuine. "i just try to be a good person and that is something you can do too." he looked surprised but then became very thoughtful.

show a child you care today. smile. talk with them. let them know they are worthwhile and truly hear their voices. they have so much to say and so much to share.  they are hearing you, whatever you say and unlike gramas that forget what we went in the next room for, those children remember every single word. make your words kind ones.  with love we change the world like nothing else can.  i love you!

 

fredburks's picture

Such a beautiful and inspiring story, Kristyne! Thanks so much for sharing that!!!

esrw02's picture

Beautiful  stories for sure !!!

 

thanks for sharing them both !!!!!

 

 

E

Eyejay's picture

What beautiful stories thank you for starting this NOA Cool

 

Noa's picture

If we only have 9 years left before the earth reaches 2 degrees centigrade, causing irreversible catastophic changes, why are we still fracking, drilling, and promoting global trade?  Why are nations doing nothing to stop the demise of our own existence?  The answer is that the multi-national corporate machine is legislating the globe into unilateral trade agreements so they can suck every last dollar out of us before the world ends.  Insane!!  

Yesterday, I asked my teenage students what they thought our city would be like in 20 years.  Almost all of them said it would be more polluted.  When I asked them if there was a solution, most said that people just don't care enough to do anything about it.  I think they're right.

All of us are approaching the midnight hour on our beautiful planet and we can no longer afford to look the other way or not care. One solution could be for people to protest en masse against the global corporate takeover, but I don't really see that happening soon enough to save us.   We are in dire need of a global awakening.

Here's a video and a podcast on the subject:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/decade-zero-1/

https://www.mixcloud.com/kcsfradio/cause-and-effect-show-episode-10-decade-zero-and-climate-change-part-i-patrick-fitzgerald/

 

 

esrw02's picture

My grandparents were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they had met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word "SHMILY" in a surprise place for the other to find.
     They took turns leaving "SHMILY" around the house, and as soon as one of them discovered it, it was their turn to hide it once more. They dragged "SHMILY" with their fingers through the sugar and flour containers to await whoever was preparing the next meal. They smeared it in the dew on the windows overlooking the patio where my grandma always fed us warm, homemade pudding with blue food coloring. "SHMILY" was written in the steam left on the mirror after a hot shower, where it would reappear bath after bath.
     At one point, my grandmother even unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper to leave "SHMILY" on the very last sheet. There was no end to the places "SHMILY" would pop up. Little notes with "SHMILY" scribbled hurriedly were found on dashboards and car seats, or taped to steering wheels. The notes were stuffed inside shoes and left under pillows. "SHMILY" was written in the dust upon the mantel and traced in the ashes of the fireplace.
     This mysterious word was as much a part of my grandparents' house as the furniture. It took me a long time before I was able to fully appreciate my grandparent's game. Skepticism has kept me from believing in true love - one that is pure and enduring. However, I never doubted my grandparents' relationship. They had love down pat. It was more than their flirtatious little games; it was a way of life.
     Their relationship was based on a devotion and passionate affection which not everyone is lucky enough to experience. Grandma and Grandpa held hands every chance they could. They stole kisses as they bumped into each other in their tiny kitchen. They finished each other's sentences and shared the daily crossword puzzle and word jumble. My grandma whispered to me about how cute my grandpa was, how handsome an old man he had grown to be. She claimed that she really knew "how to pick 'em." Before every meal they bowed heads and gave thanks, marveling at their blessings: a wonderful family, good fortune, and each other.
     But there was a dark cloud in my grandparents' life: my grandmother had breast cancer. The disease had first appeared 10 years earlier. As always, Grandpa was with her every step of the way. He comforted her in their yellow room, painted that color so she could always be surrounded by sunshine, even when she was too sick to go outside. Now the cancer was once again attacking her body. With the help of a cane and my grandfather's steady hand, they still went to church every Sunday morning. But my grandmother grew steadily weaker until, finally, she could not leave the house anymore.
     For a while, Grandpa would go to church alone, praying to God to watch over his wife. Then one day, what we all dreaded finally happened. Grandma was gone. "SHMILY." It was scrawled in yellow on the pink ribbons of my grandmother's funeral bouquet.
     As the crowd thinned and the last mourners turned to leave, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members came forward and gathered around Grandma one last time. Grandpa stepped up to my grandmother's casket and, taking a shaky breath, he began to sing to her. Through his tears and grief, the song came, a deep and throaty lullaby. Shaking with my own sorrow, I will never forget that moment. For I knew then that, although I couldn't begin to fathom the depth of their love, I had been privileged to witness its unmatched beauty. S-H-M-I-L-Y: See How Much I Love You.
by Laura Hammond

Noa's picture

I thought the main idea of this video wasn't about grandparents, rather it's about the world we're leaving our grandchildren.

onesong's picture

The post begins with a grandfathers wish for his grandchild. That is what prompted my reply. If we don't listen to our children or each other in the first place nothing else we do is really going to change anything in the future. 

I have not discounted the merit of the film, nor do I disagree with a need to care for the planet. However if we humans as the group that should be the stewards of the planet cannot even care for and nurture the same desire in our offspring-well like I said-nothing is really going to change.

So I do the work in my own backyard. Growing as much of our own food as we can, teaching our grandson to garden as well, discussing why we don't kill (or genetically modify) every pest we don't like, conserving water and re-using rainwater, composting...the list goes on.

The main idea is that from each post here, a thought springs from somewhere/someone else. Maybe not always what we expected, but what we get.  Is that a bad thing?

Noa's picture

No, Kristyne, you did nothing wrong.  I waited a week for someone to comment on the seriousness of the subject I posted, but none came -- even after I pointed out the bleak, 10-year forecast of Decade Zero.  I tried to keep this post on topic without success.  I think many people would rather cushion themselves in feel-good memories and hopeful fantasies instead of facing hard facts.  The world is at the brink of irreversible destruction, and no one seems to care.  I'm disappointed by the reaction (or the lack of it), that's all.  It's no one's fault... except maybe my own for caring too much.

I didn't mean to offend anyone with my comment, rather it was meant to be a gentle reminder of what this topic is really about.

onesong's picture

I feel the need to explain that I don't take the state of the world lightly and I certainly want many of the same changes in our world as Noa does. I've spent most of my adult life looking both within and outside myself to answers to big questions as I expect (and know) many of the readers here have. I guess my approach as I have gotten older is less revolutionary and more evolutionary - as in we all evolve. We can't stop that and what we evolve into is bigger than our ability to control or engineer any of it either.

Whether we like it or not our world is changing-the direction it takes imo is up to a higher power than ours because we simply cannot see all things from all levels and often as we try to 'do what we think is right' we muck it up even more.  Take the current zika issue for example.  How do we (scientists) think creating a GMO mosquito or any other insect is going to solve a problem (that we most likely created in a lab via our own stupidity) better than nature could have in the first place? We sit by as our food supply is destroyed, our planet is stripped of natural resources, our water and air becomes more of a toxic mix...Yes, I swear I am just as or more concerned than anyone else rightly should be and I do get the reason for Noa's expectation that more would be (or might have been) said in response to the video above. Maybe that hasn't happened because when it comes to all of this, we don't have alot of answers only alot of fears and that's not all that productive.

For me, when we talk about where we might be in nine years, I have to say I'm more concerned with where we are right now, because right now is what we really have. I can't go backward and can't go forward.  Living in this spacetime that we all are, only now is truly relative and really relevant. So I do what I can today.  Tomorrow will work itself out in ways that I can't anticipate or control.  If by Grace I am here to see it, I will do my best to live in ways that support the highest good of all of us here and with the best of intentions. As a girl scout many moons ago, one of the lessons that stuck with me is 'leave the place better than you found it' and I do attempt that in all areas of my life.

The first 'mind bending' book I ever read was Be Here Now, when I was barely 16. Be-ing here now, is the best way that I can contribute to the state of the world. Present and respectful in all things, of all viewpoints and hopeful that we are all learning the lessons that we came here to learn.  In that way, the world is evolving exactly as it should whether I understand it or not.  Bright blessings and hope for many better days.   kristyne

 

 

ChrisBowers's picture

This may seem a bit negative and resigned fatalistically to what simply are the facts at this point, but I just don't see any way out of this mess without a major dieoff and then maybe a good long 1000 year ice age to give Mother Earth some time to rest and cleanse the water and air.

It took eons of time for the human species to get to where it is now, and it could take decades or possibly 100's of years more to achieve what so many of us impatiently and frustratingly want right now for ourselves and all life on this planet, and that is in the context of a more optimistic and hopeful scenario of humans actually surviving our collective stupidity, greed and unwillingness as an allegedly intelligent humanoid species!

And that scenario doesn't even give much consideration to all the other just-as-deserving animal and plant and insect species that have died off already, or are in the process of dieing off right now!  Even if all fossil fuel use ended today, it would still take a very long time for the air and water and topsoil to be cleansed.

My own personal take on all of this is that we all may have to go through some grim and possibly deadly episode for the sake of ALL life on this beautiful planet, and I personally would rather we just get it over with sooner than later.

So, short of some unforeseen amazing miraculous worldwide event/phenomenon that brings balance to the planet's ecosystem in record time and enlightening wisdom and sufficient human will power to our homocidal and somewhat suicidal species, I say bring it on and let's gidder done!

That said, I completely agree with Kristyne.  We can do what we can personally to leave the planet better off than we found it, and teach those around us by simply living the example in a "bloom where you're planted" idealistic mindset.  Realistically, that may be all we have at this point in this Titanic-esque moment in time...

And I loved the video!  And the song I posted, Love Song to the Earth.

esrw02's picture

    If all you think is negative than thats what will come to light . If know in your heart that good is coming it will come to light  ,if you have strong  faith in what you are trying to will than thats it . It will become reality . 

   E                                fear =low vibes

 

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5eKjiYtEes

ChrisBowers's picture

Eric, here's what you yourself say in your latest response on your "Gold Backed Currency" forum post.

"No, the impacts on the world will be worse in some places than others . To heal is to hurt , so no I do not see this as negative as some might ,we need change and if a collapse is the way to do it then so be it . The way I understand it America will definitely be the hardest hit . A lot of that has to do with our living standard . I think some here are already suffering in that way"

By your own personal IYO account, you were not being negative, just realistic.  You were just facing the very real possibility that that's the way it all might have to go down to get back to something better, and we should all prepare ourselves for these possible outcomes.

Another point I am trying to make is that we humans are not necessarily necessary for a good and healthy outcome for Mother Earth and the rest of her inhabitants that surely deserve the gift of life as much as humans do.  It would be IMO a good thing for us self-involved beings to ponder that very valid notion.

Much like what Spock said in the Wrath of Khan about the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few.  Especially when it is THE FEW that are the direct cause of the current problems and dangers!

Another intriguing thing to consider is the famous Maharishi Effect experiments. They were not a matter of collective and focused "positive thought", but were actually a clearing of the mind(s) and having the collective discipline to hold for a period of time in calm meditation no thought at all.

Just a calm peaceful clearing of the individual and collective mind of the experienced yogis.  This gives me some insight and solace because this is something we can all attempt to do whenever we want to no matter what is happening in this very illusory and transient 3D phenomenon.

The Needs of the Many Outweigh The Needs of the Few - YouTube

Spock's Death - Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan - YouTube

Bill Hicks - It's Just A Ride - YouTube

tscout's picture

 

Amazing Discovery: Plant Blood Enables Your Cells To Capture Sunlight Energy

Posted on:

Tuesday, May 12th 2015 at 7:00 pm

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2015
Visit our Re-post guidelines

Chlorophyll Enables Your Cells To Capture/Use Sunlight Energy: A Copernican Revolution In Biology, Medicine & Nutrition

What if conventional wisdom regarding our most fundamental energy requirements has been wrong all along and we can directly harness the energy of the Sun when we consume 'plant blood'?

Plants are amazing, aren't they? They have no need to roam about hunting other creatures for food, because they figured out a way to capture the energy of the Sun directly through these little light-harvesting molecules known as chlorophyll; a molecule, incidentally, which bears uncanny resemblance to human blood because it is structurally identical to hemoglobin, other than it has a magnesium atom at its core and not iron as in red blooded animals.

The energy autonomy of plants makes them, of course, relatively peaceful and low maintenance when compared to animal life, the latter of which is always busying itself with acquiring its next meal, sometimes through violent and sometimes through more passive means. In fact, so different are these two classes of creatures that the first, plants, are known as autotrophs, i.e. they produce their own food, and the animals are heterotrophs, i.e. they depend on other creatures for food.

autotroph and heterotroph

While generally these two zoological classifications are considered non-overlapping, important exceptions have been acknowledged. For instance, photoheterotrophs -- a sort of hybrid between the autotroph and heterotroph -- can use light for energy, but cannot use carbon dioxide like plants do as their sole carbon source, i.e. they have to 'eat' other things. Some classical examples of photoheterotrophs include green and purple non-sulfur bacteria, heliobacteria, and here's where it gets interesting, a special kind of aphid that borrowed genes from fungi[1] to produce it's own plant-like carotenoids which it uses to harness light energy to supplement its energy needs!

To learn more about this amazing creature read the study published in 2012 in Scientific Reports titled, "Light- induced electron transfer and ATP synthesis in a carotene synthesizing insect."

Aphid

A green carotenoid tinted aphid that is capable of capturing sunlight to produce energy. Interesting right?  But we need not look for exotic bacteria or insects for examples of photoheterotrophy. It turns out that animals, including worms, rodents and pigs (one of the closest animals to humans physiologically), have recently been found to be capable of taking up chlorophyll metabolites into their mitochondria, enabling them to use sunlight energy to 'super-charge' the rate (up to 35% faster) and quantity (up to 16-fold increases) of ATP produced within their mitochondria. In other words, a good portion of the animal kingdom is capable of 'feeding off of light,' and should be reclassified as photoheterotrophic!

The truly groundbreaking discovery referred to above was published last year in the Journal of Cell Science in a study titled, "Light-harvesting chlorophyll pigments enable mammalian mitochondria to capture photonic energy and produce ATP", [contact me for the full version: [email protected]] which I reported on recently, and which completely overturns the classical definition of animals and humans as solely heterotrophic.

Light-harvesting chlorophyll pigments enable mammalian mitochondria to capture photonic energy and produce ATP

Animals are Not Just Glucose-Burning Biomachines, But Are Light-Harvesting Hybrids

For at least half a century it has been widely believed among the scientific community that humans are simply glucose-dependent biomachines that can not utilize the virtually limitless source of energy available through sunlight to supplement our energy needs. And yet, wouldn't it make sense that within the extremely intelligent and infinitely complex design of life, a way to utilize such an obviously abundant energy source as sunlight would have been evolved, even if only for the clear survival advantage it confers and not some ethical imperative (which is a possibility worth considering ... vegans/Jainists, are you listening?).

As the philosopher of science Karl Popper stated, a theory can only be called scientific if it is falsifiable. And indeed, the scientific theory that humans are solely heterotrophic has just been overturned in light of empirical evidence demonstrating that mammals can extract energy directly from sunlight.

Deeper Implications of the New Study

First, let's start by reading the study abstract, as it succinctly summarizes what may be of the most amazing discoveries of our time:                                                                                                                          

Sunlight is the most abundant energy source on this planet. However, the ability to convert sunlight into biological energy in the form of adenosine-59-triphosphate (ATP) is thought to be limited to chlorophyll-containing chloroplasts in photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that mammalian mitochondria can also capture light and synthesize ATP when mixed with a light-capturing metabolite of chlorophyll. The same metabolite fed to the worm Caenorhabditis elegans [roundworm] leads to increase in ATP synthesis upon light exposure, along with an increase in life span. We further demonstrate the same potential to convert light into energy exists in mammals, as chlorophyll metabolites accumulate in mice, rats and swine when fed a chlorophyll-rich diet. Results suggest chlorophyll type molecules modulate mitochondrial ATP by catalyzing the reduction of coenzyme Q, a slow step in mitochondrial ATP synthesis. We propose that through consumption of plant chlorophyll pigments, animals, too, are able to derive energy directly from sunlight."

And so, to review, the new study found that animal life (including us, mammals) are capable of borrowing the light-harvesting capabilities of 'plant blood,' i.e. chlorophyll and its metabolites, and utilize it to photo-energize mitochondrial ATP production. This not only helps to improve energy output, but the research found several other important things:

  • Despite the increased output, the expected increase in Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that normally attends increased mitochondrial function was not observed; in fact, a slight decrease was observed. This is a highly significant finding, because simply increasing mitochondrial activity and ATP output, while good from the perspective of energy, may accelerate aging and other oxidative stress (ROS) related adverse cellular and physiological effects. Chlorophyll, therefore, appeared to make animal mitochondria function in a healthier way.
  • In support of the above finding, worms administered an optimal range of chlorophyll were found to have significant extended life span. This is in accordance with well-known mechanisms linked to improved mitochondria function (in the absence of increased ROS) that increases cell longevity.   

The last point in the abstract above is especially interesting to me. As a fan of coenzyme q10 supplementation for sometime, I have noticed profound differences qualitatively between ubiquinone (the oxidized form) and ubiquinol (the reduced, electron rich form), the latter of which has lead me to experience far greater states of energy and well-being than the former, even at far lower quantities (the molecular weight of a USP isolate does not reveal its bioavailability nor biological activity). The study, however, indicates that one may not need to take supplemental coenzyme Q10, even in its reduced form as ubiquinol, because chlorophyll-mediated sunlight capture and subsequent photo-energization of the electron transport chain will naturally 'reduce' (i.e. donate electrons) ubiquinone converting it into ubiquinol, which will result in increased ATP production and efficiency. This may also explain how they observed no increase in ROS (reactive oxygen species) while increasing ATP production: coenzyme q10 in reduced form as ubiquinol is a potent antioxidant, capable of donating an electron to quench/neutralize free radicals. This would be a biological win-win: increased oxidative phosphyloration-mediated energy output without increased oxidative damage.

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Sayer Ji

Sayer Ji is founder of Greenmedinfo.com, on the Board of Governors for the National Health Federation, and Fearless Parent, Steering Committee Member of the Global GMO Free Coalition (GGFC), a reviewer at the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine.

Amazing Discovery: Plant Blood Enables Your Cells To Capture Sunlight Energy - Page 2

Posted on:

Tuesday, May 12th 2015 at 7:00 pm

Written By:

Sayer Ji, Founder

This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2015
Visit our Re-post guidelines

Chlorophyll Enables Your Cells To Capture/Use Sunlight Energy: A Copernican Revolution In Biology, Medicine & Nutrition

Finally, in order to grasp the full significance of the study, one must read the authors' conclusion: 

 

Both increased sun exposure (Dhar and Lambert, 2013; John et al., 2004; Kent et al., 2013a; Kent et al., 2013b; Levandovski et al., 2013) and the consumption of green vegetables (Block et al., 1992; Ferruzzi and Blakeslee, 2007; van't Veer et al., 2000) are correlated with better overall health outcomes in a variety of diseases of aging. These benefits are commonly attributed to an increase in vitamin D from sunlight exposure and consumption of antioxidants from green vegetables. Our work suggests these explanations might be incomplete. Sunlight is the most abundant energy source on this planet. Throughout mammalian evolution, the internal organs of most animals, including humans, have been bathed in photonic energy from the sun. Do animals have metabolic pathways that enable them to take greater advantage of this abundant energy source? The demonstration that: (1) light-sensitive chlorophyll-type molecules are sequestered into animal tissues; (2) in the presence of the chlorophyll metabolite P-a, there is an increase in ATP in isolated animal mitochondria, tissue homogenates and in C. elegans, upon exposure to light of wavelengths absorbed by P-a; and (3) in the presence of P-a, light alters fundamental biology resulting in up to a 17% extension of life span in C. elegans suggests that, similarly to plants and photosynthetic organisms, animals also possess metabolic pathways to derive energy directly from sunlight. Additional studies should confirm these conclusions.                                  

I think it is obvious that there are a wide range of implications this discovery holds for the fields of nutrition, medicine, and cell and evolutionary biology, to name but a few disciplines that will inevitably be profoundly affected, if not entirely transformed.

For example, as far as implications to the hotly debated field of ascertaining the ideal, ancestrally-based human diet, if animal cells evolved to be able to harness the energy of sunlight through the help of the 'blood' of our plant allies, then isn't it reasonable to believe that in order to optimize our biological potential nutritionally we require a certain amount of chlorophyll to take advantage of sunlight for our energy needs and perhaps evade sole reliance on the glucose-dependent energy pathways of the body whose overexpression and carbohydrate-rich dietary correlate are linked to conditions like cancer, obesity and cardiovascular disease? When one considers the potential of sunlight (a regular, daily, guaranteed source of energy) to contribute to our daily metabolic energy needs (and therefore the survival advantage conferred by regular consumption of chlorophyll-rich plant material), shouldn't the Paleo community, which is highly fixated on animal tissue consumption, now be compelled towards putting chlorophyll on a higher level of importance versus conventional 'Paleo'/heterotrophic sources of sustenance, e.g. forged/hunted food?

Also, what are the implications for the increasing ambivalence within public awareness concerning sunlight exposure, where on the one hand it is viewed as a vital, if not life-saving source of vitamin D, while on the other hand a vector of lethality in skin cancer causation, against which especially pigment deficient races slather on various petrochemical preparations to defend themselves against? What if sunlight (as was evidenced in the roundworm model) is toxic when no chlorophyll is present in our diet and tissues, but promotes both increased ATP and longevity when found there in optimal doses?  These are just a few of the questions that are now on the table, following these recent discoveries. 

Of course, there are many other implications of the study, and likely far more questions than answers now that should be investigated further. I hope you the reader will help provide additional insight and share it below or in follow up articles that you are welcome to submit for publication by emailing us here.  

How to Put The Research Into Practical Application? 

How do we translate this study into real life application? This has been a common question for those loyal followers of Greenmedinfo.com: "I love the research, but what do I do with it?"

 

First, green vegetables and their juices should no longer viewed simply as sources of antioxidants, alphabetic vitamins, nutrients, minerals etc., but carriers of essential mitochondrial cofactors without which our body can not optimally and efficiently produce ATP, and without which our body can not realize its biological potential for maximal longevity. Of course, if you have been long time followers , you know we also look at ancestral foods (i.e. those which have been in the human diet for over 10,000 years) as highly dense and vitally important sources of biologically useful information which have become indispensable regulators of gene expression.  This means that when you are consuming a glass of green vegetable juice, for instance, it is likely the most precious health promoting elixir on the planet and should be considered something of a nutritional 'bridge' we, heterotrophs, can cross to become photoheterophic or light-capturing organisms, if we choose to be.  (Interested further in the human relationship to light? Read: Biophotons: The Human Body Emits, Communicates with, and is Made from Light).

Here is my suggestion. On top of increasing the consumption of green foods and/or vegetable juices, add in a liquid or encapsulated supplement that provides at least 200mg of additional chlorophyll daily. In combination, make sure to get additional sunlight and engage in energy intensive, outdoor activities simultaneously. If you like, visualize sunlight entering into the tissues of your body reaching deep down into your chlorophyll-metabolite saturated mitochondria. Then observe and assess how you feel energetically following this exercise. Do you feel more energy? Less exhausted afterwards? Please report back your experiences in the comments below so we can compare notes and continue to explore how to apply this finding to our daily lives in a useful way.

This study, along with several others more recent papers, represent a Copernican-type revolution in cellular bioenergetics. What if chlorophyll, water, and our body's own melanin produced were capable of producing most of our body's energy needs? Stay tuned for further reporting on this topic, including guest posts by noted scientists and clinicians who are also aware of the importance of this research and wish to help flesh out the theoretical implications and real world applications to human health. 

 

References

[1] Moran, N. A. & Jarvik, T. Lateral transfer of genes from fungi underlies carotenoid production in aphidsScience (New York, NY) 328, 624–627 (2010).

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ChrisBowers's picture

IMHO, If Humanity survives long enough to get there, and as we become more light being than physical being, there will be less and less consuming of animal flesh and more efficient intake of light and nutrient-rich vegetable matter.  That is my personal hunch about human evolution.

Right now we are in the process of cutting down the lungs of our planet, the CO2-scrubbing oxygen-generating Amazon Rain Forest to make way for feeding cattle (a primary source of methane gas release today) to feed a world more and more bent on consuming animal flesh.  This also requires a lot of fossil fuel and we now use approx. one half our available fresh water source for factory farming.

We are at a "perfect storm" place right now in human history as we collectively proceed with reckless abandon into a future that looks very grim when one does the simple math.  Something's gonna give.

One of the most positive things anyone can do right now is become vegetarian.  Who's willing to live right now like light beings of the future by ending their consumption of animal products?  What do you think the chances are that the majority of humans on this planet would be willing to do that to help save the planet?

How about your students Noa?  They spoke of others not willing to change.  What are they willing to do?  It's their world too and this is something they can do that really counts for something.  Mathematically it is one of the most dynamic ways to change the destructive direction we are going.

I went vegetarian in 1989.  I have cheated on that diet a few times since then for old times sake.  I don't anymore because I have become so accustomed to not eating meat that it's just not something I even enjoy anymore.

Point being that it is possible to kick the enticing meat habit and really help save the planet.  And maybe...  just maybe, help speed up human evolution in the process, a form of time travel so to speak.  A way to bend time around a not-so-attractive near-future period of time...

Most people feel powerless to stop the runaway train that is global corporate greed/control, but choosing to be vegetarian, that they cannot take away from you.

It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons. You save more water by not eating a pound of meat than you do by not showering for six months!

Now, I’m not saying that you’re to blame for climate change because you enjoy hamburgers. But if you’re really trying to live a low-impact life, eating less meat (and ensuring that the meat you do eat is raised by responsible farmers and ranchers) could help you shrink your carbon footprint a lot faster than buying a hybrid or skipping showers.

Veganism by the numbers.

ChrisBowers's picture

Awesome article Todd!!!!  You are without a doubt my favorite human encyclopedia!!!

And thanks for that delicious-sounding smoothie recipe Eric!!!

It's so nice and such a relief to discuss real viable solutions to the ongoing somewhat depressing dilemma of human existence in this day and age....

ChrisBowers's picture

“If a man earnestly seeks a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from animal food.”

- Leo Tolstoy


Intellectually, most of us agree that inflicting unnecessary harm is unjustified – whether the victims are human or not. Yet somehow, most of the same people who subscribe to this belief are willing to turn a blind eye to such harm when they themselves receive some kind of advantage from it – whether the benefits are in the form of food, possessions, vanity, or amusement.

Sadly, because widespread violence against animals in the form of ‘agriculture’, ‘research’ and even ‘entertainment’, is sanctioned by mainstream society and its legal systems, the majority of people tend to be unwilling to see this brutality for what it is, and to step outside of the pervasive conditioning that makes such atrocities possible.

It’s true that more and more people are beginning to speak out about the many abhorrent abuses that occur within the animal industry, and the movement to ‘improve conditions’ for these animals continues to gain popularity. And yet, each one of the awful practices that animal advocates protest passionately against – intensive confinement, enforced insemination, separation of mother and child, castration, de-horning, tail docking, de-beaking, mulesing, de-toeing, live scalding, force molting – all of these horrific procedures, and many more, exist because an ever-growing number of human consumers continue to create demand for animal products. To an industry that views sentient beings as economic units – money-making machines – it is unavoidable that such violence will be viewed as an acceptable means to the end of delivering products that turn a profit.

In any case, even if every one of the aforementioned practices were abolished, it would still be immoral and inexcusable to use other sentient beings as resources. In today’s world, vegan alternatives are available for every single significant purpose for which we currently use animals*. Increasing numbers of people are embracing veganism as the solution to the problems we experience as individuals and as a society – from our many health crises, to our environmental emergency, to the issue of escalating violence – all of which have us living in some degree of fear for the future.

As this movement for animal emancipation grows in size and strength, a powerful example is being set by the individuals who refuse to take any part in the brutal oppression of innocents that we call ‘the animal industry’. Men and women all over the globe –simply by living as vegans – are demonstrating that there is no moral justification for the harm we inflict on animals.

Love This? Never Miss Another Story.

*NB: Although animal products are used in certain items for which there currently are no consumer alternatives – such as computers and car tires – there are alternatives that could easily be used in their manufacturing.

Some people might attempt to justify consumption of animal products for reasons of health. And yet, an increasing number of medical professionals are beginning to realize that not only are plant-based diets nutritionally complete, but they are actually more nourishing and far less toxic than their animal-based counterparts. In addition, the public is beginning to realize that many of the major dangers associated with diet – heart disease, cancer, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and many, many more – are exacerbated by the consumption of animal products, and can actually be avoided by adopting a vegan diet.

According to the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, the American Dietetic Association (“the ADA”):

“…Appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases… Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”

In other words, the official position of the – very mainstream – ADA is that including animal products in one’s diet is not only unnecessary, but can actually be harmful to our health.

What about our other uses of animals? Leather, wool, silk, down, fur, toiletries, cosmetics, entertainment, sport, the vast majority of our experimentation – all of these are also clearly unnecessary under any coherent concept of the word “necessary”, as there are vegan alternatives available for them all.

Veganism is not a fringe philosophy – it is a moral baseline that is consistent with beliefs that most of us already hold. Veganism is a simple matter of refraining from participating in unnecessary and harmful use of sentient beings. As most people are naturally opposed to unnecessary violence, becoming and staying vegan is not a matter of changing any of our basic moral beliefs. It simply requires us to be willing to change the habits we have developed that prevent us from living according to our principles.

Every one of us has been conditioned by the propaganda of a highly speciesist society – a worldwide culture that is extremely prejudiced against the interests of those animals who did not have the good fortune to be born onto this planet in human form. And yet, every one of us has the power to break free from this indoctrination. Becoming vegan is simply recognizing and admitting who we really are – it is the opportunity to become who we would be if no one had ever taught us that it’s okay to turn our backs on the needs and rights of our fellow animals, that it’s okay to ignore their pain if it leads to our pleasure.

Is veganism a sacrifice? Not at all. On the contrary, it is every non-vegan choice that sacrifices our own inherent goodness. Once you make the decision to live consistently with your values, the rewards – in the form of a healthier body, clearer mind, and more peaceful conscience – will be both profoundly apparent and a source of continuing joy.

But even if veganism does require us to give up some of our favorite foods, beloved items of clothing, and cherished habits, does that question really matter? The institution of slavery and the treatment of sentient beings as ‘things’ – whether human or nonhuman – are inherently and gravely unjust.  The changes that veganism requires of us, and the rewards that veganism brings, are irrelevant to the true moral question:

Is the taste of a particular food, or the way you feel in your favorite pair of shoes or your winter coat, more important than the life and freedom of another living, feeling being?

 

with Dan Cudahy

 

Angel Flinn is Director of Outreach for Gentle World – a non-profit educational organization whose core purpose is to help build a more peaceful society, by educating the public about the reasons for being vegan, the benefits of vegan living, and how to go about making the transition.

Dan Cudahy is author of Unpopular Vegan Essays: Unpopular Essays Concerning Popular Violence Inflicted On The Innocent.

Noa's picture

You raise a good point, Chris, about methane gas.  It's a lot more toxic to life and contributes way more to global warming than does CO2 (which plants need to breathe in order to survive), yet the establishment talking heads aren't urging us to give up meat nor are they cracking down on Agro-business.  It just goes to show where their priorities lie. 

Carbon tax?  How about a methane tax instead?

esrw02's picture

Right on been back and fourth myself .

 

Reminds me of Who killed the electric car only food . wow

 

 

  Indeed it is

 

that article is awesome

 E

esrw02's picture

  There are no negatives , because the negative we learn from and make a positive brotha . Bill Hicks it just a ride in the illusion brotha, Right on  .Love it !!

    I do believe Napolean is correct, as well . We are way to 5 sense oriented .

              Amazing  !!!!!!!!!

 

 

   E

    I love plants my smoothie recipe collard greens , Italian kale , spinach , almond milk , water , blueberry ,strawberry , avacado, bananna , pineapple, mango , peaches, make sure and cut the stems out of the greens , except spinach . 1 ban,half an ava,   most of my fruit is frozen if it is fresh use ice mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm good

tscout's picture

    But when you realize what they're saying, it's sooo cool. We are like superman! We can harvest energy from the sun,,all we need to do is add more chlorophyll to our bodies. There is a cancer clinic in America now that kills tumors with chlorophyll. They give the patient a dose of chlorophyll. For some reason, the cancer cells hoard it, the same way they hoard processed sugars. They wait 24 - 48 hours,,,then they use light to activate the chlorophyll in the body, or sound with the matching frequency if the tumors are real deep in an organ. The chlorophyll,,now in the heart of the tumor, converts to oxygen and,,,,,kills the tumor from the inside out...it's brilliant! and very expensive,ha! so us poor folks can't afford it...

     But,,,just the thought of being able to eat less and less food, evolving a true "light body" is so exciting! I think it's true,,we can fly!  So i leave you with this,,,it's a fake,,,but the kid is great in it!   https://youtu.be/NOFk0Tu4Y0w?list=FLaac2yfdtuVIUD1hYnRctKQ

    Oh,,and the author,,,Sayer Ji,,is definitely changing the world,, greenmedinfo.com

fredburks's picture

Great stuff, Chris and Todd! Thanks so much for sharing that awesome information. I'll be diving deeper into it! With much love and gratitude, Fred

ChrisBowers's picture

The somewhat quiet remnant of brilliant evolving humanity is really on to something while we tend to get drowned in bullshit white noise from the human peanut gallery, HA  And the cool fake flying clip you posted reminded me of the movie Chronicle.

GreenMedInfo - The World's Natural Health Resource | GreenMedInfo

The Most Exhaustive Turmeric Research Archive on the Internet: GreenMedInfo.com - YouTube

Home - PubMed - NCBI

PubMed Health - National Library of Medicine

Yeah Noa, the methane and nitrus oxide, not discussed much in the mainstream, what a surprise...

Concentration on protecting the bottom line, that's pretty much all we can expect from the mainstream anything these days, ugh...

Thanks Fred, hoping the suggestion offers some hope and opportunity to people that feel they are powerless to do anything to fix this climate change dilemma and protect this beautiful planet...

Hey all,

I'll just add something to the carbon tax.....it is not carbon......carbon has become the unit of measure.....how it works is everything is graded back to carbon...so just say you polute 1 kilogam of  sulfur....that will earn you 2000 x carbon....so you are judged as 2000kgs of carbon......I can't remember the exact number but they convert all chemicals back to an equivalent carbon measure ...no one says it tho, they only talk and argue carbon....

ChrisBowers's picture

Here's a great re-source-full website called Deep Green Resistance.  Thought I'd post it on this forum post in the spirit of green revolution and planet protection...

Deep Green Resistance

and the secret of a successful revolution is featured in this Chris Hedges talk entitled Defining ‘The Moral Imperative of Revolt’:

Chris Hedges June 8, 2015 Town Hall Seattle - YouTube

and here is a very good book by Sheldon S. Wolin in PDF form, mentioned by Chris Hedges

Democracy-Inc.pdf

Here's a passage from the Preface of Democracy Inc:

With the outbreak of World War II,
the New Deal was superseded by the forced mobilization
and governmental control of the entire economy and the conscription
of much of the adult male population. For all practical purposes the
war marked the end of the first large-scale effort at establishing the
tentative beginnings of social democracy in this country, a union of
social programs benefiting the Many combined with a vigorous elec-
toral democracy and lively politicking by individuals and organizations
representative of the politically powerless.
At the same time that the war halted the momentum of political
and social democracy, it enlarged the scale of an increasingly open
cohabitation between the corporation and the state. That partnership
became ever closer during the era of the Cold War (1947–93). Corpo-
rate economic power became the basis of power on which the state
relied, as its own ambitions, like those of giant corporations, became
more expansive, more global, and, at intervals, more bellicose.
Together the state and corporation became the main sponsors and coordi-
nators of the powers represented by science and technology. The result
is an unprecedented combination of powers distinguished by their to-
talizing tendencies, powers that not only challenge established bound-
aries—political, moral, intellectual, and economic—but whose very
nature it is to challenge those boundaries continually, even to chal-
lenge the limits of the earth itself. Those powers are also the means of
inventing and disseminating a culture that taught consumers to wel-
come change and private pleasures while accepting political passivity.
A major consequence is the construction of a new “collective identity,”
imperial rather than republican (in the eighteenth-century sense), less democratic.
esrw02's picture

   Interesting to say the least (point of view ).

 

 

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Brian's picture

I believe these things just happened this way with the ebb and flow of humanity's growth. In the west, Government and corporations fed themselves and grew larger from the heaps of money thrown at the war and then the country was lulled into complacent  consumption...It's all just maladapted humanity stumbling drunkenly forward...ill-guided by poor parenting, lousy schools, broken religions, violence, and kept going by stubborn hope. Maybe we'll make it.

Noa's picture

Very compelling, Chris.  Thank you.

fredburks's picture

Yes, Brian. For me, it's all about accepting the personal and global challenges that come my way as potent teachers helping to remind me/us of the truly beautiful beings that we really are. I have no doubt that we'll make it. Even if we end up destroying our planet and humanity (which I highly doubt), we will make it. We can always find a way to start again and see if we can't do a better job of recognizing our divinity and that of all around us. I am sooooooo thankful for this gift of life!!!

esrw02's picture

    Freedom is beautiful in that way  . I think positive thinking can and will change it. The mind is way more powerful than that man . I respect and love you man , so I say we just have different eyes you have Bill Hicks eyes and I have Earl Nightingale eyes haha.   I can't and won't say I disagree because I want and try to be open to everyones ideas . I still love you man haha a little silliness goes a long way .

   thanks for sharing  man!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality. Earl Nightingale
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/earlnighti390812.html

      Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day  become a reality .

      Earl Nightingale

      E dubble u

Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality. Earl Nightingale
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/earlnighti390812.html
Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality. Earl Nightingale
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/earlnighti390812.html
ChrisBowers's picture

Here is Dr. Guy McPherson's latest on the subject of climate change and some positive ways for people to respond to the unavoidable truth of this present situation.  Love Life with Eyes Wide Open....

From Abrupt Climate Change to Climate Collapse * Guy McPherson Presentation CA 3 May 2016 - YouTube

ChrisBowers's picture

Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but real time data and historical data are clear on the matter of climate change.  We are locked into some alarming global conditions that positive thinking cannot be a remedy for.  I still think we all should be as positive & loving as humanly possible while being witness to the coming changes, but at the same time muster the courage to remain open-eyed realists.

We all have spoken much on the subject of geo-engineering, the chemtrails phenomenon.  I now believe that the Air Force/Military are simply responding to current conditions (for some time now) to buy time and are well aware of the pickle we are all in.  It is the height of insanity for nation states to be fighting over natural resources and fossil fuels right now, but here we are do just that.

We are in the perfect storm, so try to remain in the calm vortex and remember:

It's just a dream...

It's just a ride...

Physical bodies are an amazing experiential phenomenon...

The following talk is by Guy McPherson on the subject of climate change, well worth a listen...

Runaway Climate Change * The 2016 Overwhelming Science * Brace For Impact * Guy McPherson Webinar - YouTube

and this to make "light" of a desperate situation (150 to 200 species are going extinct every day in this present 6th mass extinction on planet Earth)

Its the end of the world by R.E.M lyrics - YouTube

"Make no mistake about it – enlightenment is a destructive process.  It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier.  Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth.  It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true."

-Adyashanti

Bob07's picture

With due respect and sincere appreciation for you insightful contributions over the years, Chris, I must say this:  Whenever someone talks about an "unavoidable truth" or makes an assertion like "the data are clear on the matter of climate change", what I hear is this: "You shouldn't use your mind, your critical thinking, on this subject." 

So, I guess I do mean to rain on the official "consensus" view that climate change (global warming in particular) is unquestionably man-made because it is the broad consensus of scientists worldwide.  Why?  For two reasons:  (1) Open questioning and free debate (public as well as private) are always in order in a free society of thinking people -- if they want to remain free and thinking.  (2) The consensus view on this subject is NOT a consensus at all, which I think the below material makes very clear.  But it  has apparently been made to seem like a consensus -- whether by distortion or selectivity of data (I leave this up to everyone to decide for themselves, hopefully after considering the alternative presentations of data) AND by the exclusion of opposing views from the public debate, which includes ridicule and intimidation.  [A little deja-vu: We had another "consensus" view in our recent history: the official view of 911.]

I watched some of McPherson's talk and will view the rest of it when I get a chance this week, but I feel compelled to put this out today.  Now, I agree that he has much of value to say.  And I agree that we need to clean up our act here on this earth, environmentally and socially.  But as we think about how we will do this, let's make sure that we're looking at the issue clearly (which also means openly).  And to do that, we need to be willing to actually look -- at ALL the presentations of data in this case, and at the larger political/social context in which this whole issue is occurring (this last point may explain a lot about why this issue is going down the way it has been). 

So, for anyone here who wants to take an unvarnished look at the global-warming/ climate change issue as a human-caused (or not) phenomenon, here are a few presentations that I viewed and think are worthwhile, both because of the credentials of many of the scientists and because of the broad scope of the treatment of the subject (especially in the documentary and in Lindzen's article). (Sorry for the bolding on some of this; it copied that way.)

More Than 1000 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims (article): http://www.globalresearch.ca/more-than-1000-international-scientists-dissent-over-man-made-global-warming-claims/5403284

The Great Global Warming Swindle (documentary - science and politics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-m09lKtYT4 

Richard Lindzen, professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at MIT (article):   http://www.newsmax.com/US/climate-change-global-warming-MIT-Richard-Lindzen/2015/03/05/id/628562/

 Prof. Emeritus Don Eastbrook (geology) testimony before Congress:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LkMweOVOOI

So, bottom line for me:  The data is NOT in (the public debate).  There are many dissenting views that are mostlyunheard.  And it is at least credible that there is an unscientific, political agenda driving the "consensus" view.  It all needs to be looked at straight-on and openly.

esrw02's picture

Its a game to keep us  debating eachother.

         divide and conquer

 

         E dubble u

 

  

      mind  the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and connects to infinite intelligence through the imagination workshop and creates  and connects to the oversoul or your dimensional spiritual self through rythmic dance , meditation , and several other means !   Very powerful indeed !!!!!

tscout's picture

    I know there have been posts here in the past about how any scientist debunking the climate change theory has been, ridiculed, fired, or worse. That lends a lot of suspicion, right off the bat, to the "mainstream story". So does the whole carbon tax program that has been evolving. It will do nothing about the problem, it just steals more wealth from people who have been deprived of clean technology for at least the last 70 years. I am sure that this free energy has been developed for use in the over 130 underground bunkers and cities that are in this country alone, but the problem doesn't seem serious enough to release this tech to the public.

  I would be the last one to say it's ok to use fossil fuels. I have wondered, since I was a teenager, how we could take trillions, maybe zillions of gallons of crude from the ground, and turn it into gas in the atmosphere without repercussions. Never mind all the horrible plastics,synthetic drugs,fertilizers, etc.,,,or all the other things we have mined from the gut of this amazing spaceship we live on,polluting the water as well. Still, there is just as much science that shows that Earth is heating up from the inside out. If that is a fact, and who knows for sure?, but if it is, along with all the other planets in our solar system, the implications are just as serious. Could it be that our solar system,which travels billions of miles a year through our galaxy, is now in an area of space that effects the planets differently? They have found that we are in an area, and will be for the next couple of thousand years, where the photon rate is far denser than the previous century on record, and is still increasing. This is said to be the cause for the "awakening" that we  are all going through, as more photons activates more DNA. This has been proven in labs time and time again! But maybe that's not it. Our magnetosphere, right now, has a hole in it almost as big as the diameter of the Earth. We are wide open to the sun's activity right now, and the uv's are off the charts this year. You can watch the charts daily on SO news, the guys who monitor the sun daily. If you work in the sun everyday, you have felt it firsthand this year. The other possibility is good old Nibiru! ha! I am as tired of hearing about that one as anyone here. You know, I have been so busy the last couple of weeks, I haven't been able to post something I found about a week and a half ago. I favorited it,,and a couple of days later, youtube has pulled it. It was an interview with a forensic investigator for the government. It was the guy who was assigned to investigate the 2.something trillion that rummy announced was missing from  the pentagon budget the day before 911. Well, his investigation,,tracking the money, led him to the black budget. He said the money went to complete more of the below ground bunkers, but the overall numbers they have spent were much higher. So, he spent the last 5 or 6 years trying to find out why they were building them, and that led him to good old Nibiru. So the guy goes all the way back, and realized, the US publicly announced finding Nibiru, calling it planet X, in the early 80's. I remember that. He posted all the articles, newsweek, wash post, nytimes, everyone had it, it was an open topic then, but no one was connecting it to all the ancient records regarding it, so the doomsday scenario didn't come up. There is a famous interview with Robert Harrington and Stitchin, discussing where they were looking for it. Then,in 83 I think, they sent out the probe, the first infrared probe, and claimed to have found it,,,after that, it went hush hush...Not an article since. Nasa even posted an article retracting everything they had found out about it, saying it was a problem with their big telescope,ha! You know, they discovered Uranus because saturns' orbit was disrupted. Then they found Neptune because Uranus had a glitch in it's orbit. Then they went looking for planet X because Neptune had a glitch,,,something pulling on it's orbit. They found Pluto,,but Pluto is less than half the size of our moon,,,,no way Pluto was pulling on Neptune. As a matter of fact, Pluto was probably a moon around Neptune or Uranus, and was knocked out of it's orbit...So,,that's why they kept on looking. There is another great vid called "nibiru, connect the dots" that also follows this story, and posts all the articles printed. Then there's the records in almost every ancient culture about it. So, whether it is a widowmaker or not, there is more evidence backing that than the co2 numbers I see on these vids about fossil fuels heating the Earth. Most of the increases are based on theoretical numbers, guesses about what the levels were millions of years ago. There is another documentary showing the huge differences in numbers based on what type of chart, or scale they use to display findings. Who knows? We have seen the carbon dating methods they have based the ages of everything on shot down in the last few years.  Graham Hancock did a great talk on that. Oh,,,this guy,the forensic investigator, also ran hundreds of photos, I'm sure you have seen in the last year,,,of Nibiru. He has access to hi tech equipment, and debunked hundreds, but there are many that are authentic,mostly from the Southern Hemisphere. The live cam on the volcano in Costa Rica was getting great shots, but now that volcano, along with 40 others in the ring of fire is erupting! A  planetary body 5 times the size of Earth would be, and could be causing most of the changes we are seeing, and, despite all the garbage about it on youtube, there is a lot of evidence,that was presented in the mainstream for many years, that lends creedence to this theory. Once again,,,who knows? Did anyone here see the film, "What a way to go,Life at the end of an Empire"? I have all the interviews from it popping up now, and have watched two so far. They have all the statistics on Global warming,among other things. I found the one on farming being impossible without destroying the ecosystem offensive, as the man (expert) based it all on Monofarming,,,when there are great people changing that out there,,,and it's spreading fast. Independence from govt. subsidies and Monsanto, and no more destroying the soil, actually rebuilding the soil...It's working,,,right now! So I don't see the tide as unturnable, no matter what these guys say.

   You see? I could go in circles about it for days! So,,maybe we should heed them all! Unfortunately, the twisted economy we know is based on trade agreements which need huge amounts of fossil fuel to sustain themselves, so any  glitch in that flow of energy and people start to starve. The air  won't get any cleaner as long as the global system is in place...

   As the SO news guy says,,keep your eyes open,,no fear! All scenarios are possible, and none look pretty until we peek out the other side! Peace you guys!

 

Noa's picture

Manmade or not, I think it's clear to most of us that the weather across the planet has been more extreme in recent years.  It's adversely affecting people, plants, and animals.  I hope that McPherson's predictions about the irreversibility of the situation is incorrect; he doesn't leave room for more than certain doom.  On the other hand, I think we've ignored the devastation for far too long and who really knows how much damage life as we know it can handle?

I don't know if DGR is the answer, but I think they're worth a listen to find out.

ChrisBowers's picture

I couldn't care less about any debate about whether or not the present condition is manmade.  If you listen to Guy McPherson's talks you won't hear him addressing that debate much either (Bob, you'll love what he says about "being" in the now in the last 5 minutes of his Chico, CA talk).  That's like a building on fire and people standing around debating the cause of the fire.

"The building's on fire!"  should be sufficient info IMO, regardless of cause.

But since we're on the subject, tell me, who is it cutting down the Amazon Rain Forest at such an alarming rate to grow food and raise cattle for who?  What species is it that is living so recklessly, so far beyond what the habitat can afford, displacing so many other species that have just as much right to be here, insane enough to put even their own survival in jeopardy?  What species is it that's trashing and over-fishing the oceans?

Who is it that's turning this whole planet into one big Easter Island Project? (but I digress)

What I get out of these sobering talks by Guy is that we are headed for extinction and are presently in the 6th mass extinction The Extinction Crisis .  I also view this as a natural phenomenon since this planet has gone through this kind of extinction event 5 times prior to now.

It's damn amazing that this much life has been able to flourish, to grow and develop in such a healthy and vigorous way in the first place.  We humans tend to use hyperbole to describe what ends up being quite natural, as devastating as it feels to more complex organisms like ourselves, no surprise there.  That seems to be a somewhat natural and understandable tendency too for higher brain functioning sentient beings.

I posted these talks because they fit here in Noa's initial intent for this forum and I truly believe it is a good idea to be well aware of the reality of our current situation if indeed it truly is what the data tells us it is, regardless of how dire it may seem.  To know that it all might come crashing down around us in the very near future, and yet still go on with our lives with love and caring, with the six heart virtues so to speak if you know what I mean.

Another thing to consider is the concept of being mentally and emotionally prepared because there will be so many people that will be so shocked by the disruption of their comfortable existence, so much dispair.  They will feel as though they were being unduly punished.  They will not be mentally and emotionally prepared because they were living with their heads in the proverbial sand of willful ignorance, bread and circus, sensational-ism.

And I don't talk too much about this subject outside of this community.  There's not much point to it.  People don't like their world view shaken or stirred.  Even this site is a bit of a ghost town after 2012 and the number of hits on those posted vids are tragically low.  The bizarre nature of so many things right now is so fitting for the seemingly perfect shit storm we are entering, presently in...


"You see my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad
It's been sure nice talking to you"

We can be those who have grown used to thinking outside the box and prepared themselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually for such contingencies.

 

con·tin·gen·cy
kənˈtinjənsē/
noun
plural noun: contingencies
a future event or circumstance that is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.


"a detailed contract that attempts to provide for all possible contingencies"

synonyms:eventuality, (chance) event, incident, happening, occurrence, juncture, possibility, fortuity, accident, chance, emergency

"we've tried to imagine and provide for all possible contingencies"

a provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance.
oh, and I agree Todd.  I believe there are those that are planning for such contingencies and spending a lot of money to prepare, building underground cities for their own survival while anticipating a huge ELE die off...
Noa's picture

Bruce Lipton is more hopeful about our chances of survival:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywciYdrBI6Q

ChrisBowers's picture

Getting back to your original "Decade Zero" central theme of this forum post Noa, I take a quote from Bruce Lipton's video you posted above:

"If you're compatible with the environment you get supported.  But an organism that is outside compatibility, challenges the system, challenges the life community, that Nature View is, well, you guys are like a virus on the system and you're destroying my Garden!"

"Nature has inevitably over history removed any life form that has come in to the Garden and destroyed the harmony!"

So, if Bruce does offer the listening audience a "more hopeful view about our chances of survival", that offering surely requires that the noncompatible organism/virus choose to become compatible, cooperative, compliant.

Given that our past collective uncompatible behavior has brought the collective us to this very much locked in dire situation decade zero countdown, what do you think the chances are that this uncooperative organism sees the light and gets right with The Garden in time to save itself?

My reasonable hope for humanity resides in and with the indigenous peoples of this planet that have been practicing cooperation, compatibility and compliance as a cultural way of Life.  That said, I do so enjoy Lipton's enthusiastic brilliance!

Biology of Belief interior 10th anniv.indd - biology_of_belief_cover_1st_chap.pdf

ANONYMOUS Revolution 2016 New Message What we are capable of! - YouTube

ChrisBowers's picture

Methane in the atmosphere and the recent Helium spikes.

Manmade and Cosmosmade perfect storm.

Pay no mind to the dramatic hyperbole in the title.  It's the data that's interesting..

Scientist Freak Out Over Latest Climate Data! You Should Too! - YouTube

Arctic Methane Emergency Group - AMEG - Arctic Sea Ice - Methane Release - Planetary Emergency

Arctic Methane: Why The Sea Ice Matters - YouTube

GLOBAL DIMMING | Lisa's leaks - 'Madness in the Magnolias'

Arctic News: The need for geo-engineering

Leading wave energy pioneer Prof Stephen Salter | The Engineer

ameg-strategic-plan.pdf

Governments must get a grip on a situation which IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has ignored.  A strategy of mitigation and adaptation is doomed to fail.  It will be impossible to adapt to the worst consequences of global warming, as IPCC suggests.  

 

The Arctic must be cooled, ASAP, to prevent the sea ice disappearing with disastrous global consequences.   Rapid warming in the Arctic, as sea ice retreats, has already disrupted the jet stream.  The resulting escalation in weather extremes is causing a food crisis which must be addressed before the existing conflicts in Asia and Africa spread more widely.

 

Dangerous global warming and ocean acidification must be prevented by reducing the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, especially by improved agricultural practice, thereby addressing the food crisis at the same time.

 

This is an unprecedented opportunity for international collaboration for common purpose.

 

 

1.   The Arctic is rapidly heading for meltdown.  As snow and sea ice retreat, exposing land and sea with lower albedo (i.e. less reflectiveness), more solar energy is absorbed, thus leading to further melting and retreat in a vicious cycle.  This cycle has been self-sustaining for many years – we are well past the tipping point.  There is no sign of any natural process to break the cycle.

 

2.   As the extent of snow and sea ice has been plummeting, even while global warming has stalled, Arctic albedo loss has rapidly overtaken CO2 as the main driver of climate change in the Northern Hemisphere, as witness the escalation of weather extremes.  The Arctic has warmed well above global average, resulting in a reduction of the temperature gradient between tropics and pole, this in turn reducing the strength of the polar jet stream, with increased meandering and a tendency to get stuck in blocking patterns.  This explains the recent escalation of weather extremes in the form of long periods of weather of one kind such as the months of high rain the UK has experienced this past winter 2013-14, and the protracted extreme cold in the US over the same period, crop failures and an upward trend in the world food price index.

3.   While land and subsea permafrost thaws ever faster, methane could become the dominant climate forcing agent. 
Emissions threaten to break through the gigaton-per-year level within twenty years.  AMEG has been continuing its research into the situation.  A recent paper, co-authored by Peter Wadhams, a founder member of AMEG, has used the Stern Review economic model to show that the economic cost of a 50 megaton release of methane from the Arctic Ocean seabed will cost $60 trillion.  Research in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf has suggested that such a vast release of methane was possible, and continued exponential increase of methane could, within 20 years, reach a level where methane dominated over CO2 in global warming.  Some researchers warn of a 50 gigaton burst being possible “at any time”.

 

4.  Therefore, urgent and strenuous efforts are needed ASAP to cool the Arctic, halt snow and sea ice decline, and suppress methane.  

 

5.  Techniques exist for cooling on the necessary scale.  Both the brightening of low-level clouds and the production of a reflective haze in the stratosphere are techniques based on natural phenomena which have been studied extensively.  Various methane suppression techniques have been proposed.  However, all these techniques require technology development and testing before deployment.


6.  Ocean acidification threatens to devastate the marine food chain. 
Atmospheric CO2 must be reduced to a safe level within twenty years or less.

 

7.  Therefore, CO2 must be removed from the atmosphere faster than it is put in.   The rate of removal should be increased until it is around double the rate of emissions and the CO2 level has fallen sufficiently to avoid dangerous ocean acidification. Funds could be raised by having a levy on carbon taken out of the ground, specifically to fund the return of carbon to the ground.

 

8.  CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere utilising the photosynthesis of plants and certain algae to produce biomass.  The carbon of this biomass must then be kept from returning to the atmosphere, e.g. by pyrolytic conversion to biochar.   This process of capture and sequestration has to be massively scaled in order for the CO2 removal rate to exceed CO2 emission rate. 

 

9. The profound economic, social, security and political impacts of the abrupt climate change, being witnessed as an escalation of climate extremes and crop failures, must be addressed.  The underlying price of food as indicated by the food price index is already above the crisis level, leading to the food riots we have observed in several countries where income is insufficient to buy daily needs.


These are unprecedented opportunities for international collaboration in the interests of every country, every section of the community, rich and poor alike. 
The necessary actions of cooling the Arctic, suppressing methane and CO2 removal present enormous engineering and logistical challenges.   The objectives should be achievable without any revolution or radical change in the way we live.   In fact the solutions to the challenges are not only affordable but can be of great economic benefit in the long run.

 

There is no excuse for procrastination. We must see action now

Historic records

Ice cores reveal that temperatures and levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere fluctuate in parallel in a sawtooth pattern, increasing sharply to decrease only gradually, and moving inside a band with a well-defined range of temperatures (+2 and -9 degrees Celsius) and levels of carbon dioxide (280 and 190 ppm) and methane (0.78 and 0.32 ppm).

The cycles are a result of the way Earth moves around the Sun. The sawtooth pattern is due to the long time it takes nature to absorb carbon dioxide through weathering and vegetation. As Professor Tim Lenton recently said: "Although plants are still cooling the Earth’s climate by reducing atmospheric carbon levels, they cannot keep up with the speed of today’s human-induced climate change. In fact, it would take millions of years for plants to remove current carbon emissions from the atmosphere.”

Increases, on the other hand, can take place much faster; forests and peatlands can burn within days, releasing not only carbon dioxide, but also aerosols that can further amplify warming and settle down on ice, resulting in accelerated melting. Feedback effects that amplify warming include:

  • release of greenhouse gases and aerosols from land and oceans
  • warmer oceans evaporize more water, which ends up in the atmosphere and acts as a greenhouse gas
  • disappearing sea ice causes more and more sunlight to be absorbed, and less sunlight to be reflected back into space and less sunlight to produce hydroxyl (which breaks down methane)

What should we aim for? And how can we reach such a target?

In 2011carbon dioxide reached a level of 394.97 ppm at Mauna Loa  — 41% above the 280ppm it had been for thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution started. 

Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber said, in a 2009 radio interview, that a carbon dioxide level of 280ppm, the pre-Industrial level, is the safe upper limit. "If you look back at paleo-climatic dynamics and also how our biosphere has evolved, it is clear that the Earth was in a sort of, self organised, dynamical equilibrium of many, many hundred thousands of years, and we shouldn't touch upon that equilibrium, which is precisely what we are doing now."

Professor Schellnhuber: "I think the best and the most simple principle is to bring the atmosphere back where it used to work and operate in a very stable equilibrium, that used to be before the Industrial revolution. We have to find ways, if you like, to come to 'negative emissions'. So, that’s the 'beyond zero' thing that means to extract CO2 again from the atmosphere somehow, and we can talk of course now about possible ways."

Question: By what sort of time frame should we get back to 280ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Professor Schellnhuber: "We have to first bend the global emissions curve down around (the year) 2020, 2025 at the latest, because otherwise the reduction gradient becomes simply too steep; no economy could deliver that. Then we need to reduce emissions at least, at the very least, by 50% globally by 2050, which means by the way for industrialised countries like Australia a reduction of 80-90, maybe even 95%, then as I said a complete phasing out of CO2 by the end of the century. And if you take into account the effect of the past emissions, which is currently still masked by aerosols, we will have to do even better than a 50% reduction by 2050. Starting from 2030-2040, I guess, we need to start developing large scale carbon extraction methods, i.e. geo-engineering."

Will aiming for 280ppm be enough?

The question is whether the above is enough. As mentioned before, feedbacks can sharply accelerate temperature rises. The image below, from the Copenhagen Report, shows temperatures over the past 2000 years.

Bob07's picture

I found these to be refreshing in getting more perspective on the subject:

A. More of a look at the woods and less at the trees...
"On the Credibility of Climate Research, Part II: Towards Rebuilding Trust" by Judith Curry, PhD
(Subheadings: "The Changing Nature of Skepticism about Global Warming" and "Climate Auditors and the Blogosphere"):
http://curry.eas.gatech.edu/climate/towards_rebuilding_trust.html

B. A very close look at one of the trees...
"The surprisingly weak case for global warming" by Matt Asher, data scientist, statistician
(This at the very least shows how data -- in this case the NASA data -- can be construed in all kinds of ways. If you don't like math and statistics, you may want to skip this blog. But just note the import of the article.): http://www.statisticsblog.com/2012/12/the-surprisingly-weak-case-for-glo...

A last note: I have no sense that either of these people has any axe to grind or that they are anything but intellectually honest.

Bob07's picture

Is our own experience valid? Mine is that we've had two colder than usual winters and a cold spring-early summer as well (overall). There are reports of a cold summer so far in Europe, and a dusting of snow on Mauna Kea (volcano) in Hawaii. Friends of mine in the Bahamas say there has been no rise in the sea level over the years. Anyone else have personal experience? ... So what is going on?

Noa's picture

I think the term, "Climate Change" is a more accurate description of what is happening than "Global Warming."

Bob07's picture

Very likely, and I think that term has been used more, since "global warming" has had some bad press. Storms are supposed to be part of climate change, and they can be very destructive, but they're local. The heart of it all is supposed to be the warming and release of CO2 and methane from frozen ground and sea beds, which further warms the earth. So what's our direct experience of temperature change?

A thought: Much is said about the melting of the icecap in the Arctic, but not much about the increase of the icecap in the Antarctic (which I have read is a fact). Could it be that the earth is keeping itself in balance so that the overall temperature and sea levels are relatively stable? Just a question -- posed as devil's advocate (what a misnomer!). And make no mistake; I agree that we definitely need to clean up our act on this planet. The issue is, what's actually happening and what/who is causing what? The questions can't be pondered rationally in an atmosphere of fright and no-unorthodox-queries-allowed. And that's the atmosphere we're in.

Noa's picture

If you've ever lived on the coast, you may have noticed how the sea eats away the sand from some beaches and deposits the sand in other places, thereby creating new islands and land masses. Could it be that the ice caps are similarly eroded and re-deposited?

Bob07's picture

Hmm. I guess that's basically what is happening when ice is turned to water in one place and frozen back into ice somewhere else. Except that the ice (glaciers) are formed from snowfall (fresh water), and they melt and become sea water. So there's the whole evaporation and precipitation cycle that's part of it. Still, I like your image.

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