Gentle People:

 We need to strengthen the United Nations and allow that organization to create a world wide peace force. Such a force, when created, must be deployed quickly to stop cruel dictators and blood thirsty anarchists from murdering innocent human beings. A world peace force based on protecting human rights and the environment and comprised of peace keepers from every nation on earth. They would not only be trained for fighting but they would also have medical training and would be utilized for emergency disaster relief anywhere on the planet.
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Dear Mr. Nelson Raglione

We have received your request for media accreditation and have provided you with ID Number 35329. 

Please retain the ID Number for your records as it will be required to check on the status of your accreditation and to complete the accreditation process.

If you have not already done so, please forward your duly signed letter of assignment by fax to 1-212-963-4642 or as a scanned document in jpeg format or as a PDF to malu@un.org.

You will be notified by email of your accreditation status as soon as possible.

You can check your accreditation status online, or review or modify the information you provided in the online registration form. Go to Url www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/form/renewal.shtml#login), where you can log in to your personal accreditation account. To log in, please enter the e-mail address you gave us and the password you selected.

Kind regards,
The Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit team
United Nations Headquarters
Room S-250
New York, NY 10017

 

Greenpeace Activists Are Refusing To Leave Oil Rig Headed For The Arctic, Despite Legal Threats

BY NATASHA GEILING POSTED ON APRIL 8, 2015 AT 12:38 PM

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"Greenpeace Activists Are Refusing To Leave Oil Rig Headed For The Arctic, Despite Legal Threats"

 

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Greenpeace activists hold a banner that reads ‘The People vs. Shell’ as they scaled the Polar Pioneer drill rig in the Pacific Ocean.

CREDIT: VINCENZO FLORAMO / GREENPEACE

On Monday, some 750 miles northwest of Hawaii, six Greenpeace activists boarded a Shell oil rig en route from Malaysia to the Port of Seattle in protest of the oil company’s plans for drilling in the Arctic. A mere 24 hours later, Shell filed a lawsuit in federal court, hoping to kick the activists off of the rig.

“These acts are far from peaceful demonstration,” Shell said in a press release following the injunction, which it filed in federal court in Alaska. “Boarding a moving vessel on the high seas is extremely dangerous and jeopardizes the safety of all concerned, including both the people working aboard and the protestors themselves.”

The protesters, who had been following the rig’s trans-Pacific journey on a Greenpeace ship named the Esperanza, used inflatable boats and climbing gear to approach the vessel carrying the rig — called the Blue Marlin — and scale the rig. The Esperanza, which has several other Greenpeace members on board, is continuing to follow the Blue Marlin, bringing protesters food and supplies as needed.

The 400-foot-tall rig, dubbed the Polar Pioneer, is intended to be staged for Arctic drillingonce it reaches Seattle. It is one of two rigs eventually bound for the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska, an area that Shell — pending federal permits — intends to develop for offshore drilling.

“We are certainly prepared to stay here as long as it takes to get out message out loud and clear that Arctic drilling is unacceptable,” Aliyah Field, environmental activist and one of the protesters currently on the rig told ThinkProgress.

Field said that, despite wind and cold, “everyone is feeling pretty good.” The protesters haven’t had direct contact with the Blue Marlin’s crew, and Field said that the crew hasn’t displayed any clear hostility toward them.

Field had not heard about Shell’s lawsuit, but in an e-mailed statement, Greenpeace USA’s Executive Director Annie Leonard called the injunction “Shell’s latest attempt to keep people from standing up for the Arctic.”

“Shell wants activists off its rig,” Leonard said. “We want Shell out of the Arctic.”

The protest comes a week after the Obama administration reaffirmed Shell’s 2008 lease in the Chukchi Sea, essentially giving the company the green light to begin preparations for drilling in the Arctic as early as this summer. Shell has reportedly spent $4 billion in its effort to drill in the Arctic, but hasn’t been allowed to drill there since 2012, when a key piece of safety equipment used in cleaning up oil spills failed.

Environmentalists worry that, given the Artcic’s remoteness and extreme weather, an oil spill would be a near-certainty. An Environmental Impact Report released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) — part of the Department of the Interior, which gave last week’s go-ahead — found that, under the current plan for drilling in the Chukchi Sea, there is a 75 percent chance of a major oil spill in the Arctic.

This isn’t the first time that Greenpeace has boarded vessels in an attempt to stop Shell from drilling in the Arctic. In February of 2012, actress Lucy Lawless and seven other activists boarded an Arctic-bound drilling ship while it was in port in New Zealand. A month later, in March of 2012, activists boarded two ice-breakers leased by Shell as they were preparing to sail from Helsikni, Finland to the Arctic.

Following those protests, Shell won a federal court injunction that required Greenpeace USA to stay away from any of their Arctic-bound drill rigs until October of 2012.

Tags:

 

• Arctic Drilling
• Greenpeace
• Royal Dutch Shell

Why Photography unites and languages divide.

Vocal sounds existed long before cultural icons. Today we can hear Birds and Monkeys and Dogs create sounds of warning. When our cave ancestors created pictures on walls, those pictures became the first creative cultural and silent means of communication away from their vocal sounds. Over centuries wall Art pictures became smaller and smaller until they changed into tiny symbolic icons. Today, sounds silently represented by icons are different for each culture. For example I am writing the phonetic English alphabet where each icon, (or small letter) has two distinct sounds understood by English people. First, a child learns the English sounds created by his parents and friends and then he or she is taught how a small letter represents each sound he has learned. The letters are then combined into words and those words are associated with objects and people and places within the child's environment. When enough words are placed together they create larger communication letters and books.

 Children are taught to link small letters together to create words. The letters (or icons) are handed down through the centuries. When small English letters are combined they create a word which is understood by English people. When a Chinese person creates a large letter written with Chinese symbols, it is seldom understood by English people.  The same goes for Russian letters and for Greek letters and for every other different culture and nationality. Unless we all learn to use the same language, communication is difficult and without communication, we develop social problems. It becomes difficult to warn each other when there is an impending natural or social disaster!

   All cultures and nationalities live within the same reality on this planet, however, we utilize so many different sounds and letters to describe that reality, we isolate ourselves!  When small iconic symbols are placed 
together to create words, the words are often associated with a specific culture. Chinese people have different sounds for the same reality and so do Russians and Greeks and every other nationality. All human beings who live on this Earth use different sounds to describe our Planet. It is only in the realm of Photography where we can all unite to see the same beautiful wonders this Planet holds for all of us and then we can describe those wonders in what ever language we choose. In other words Photography is helping us return to creating beautiful wall Art and it can also warn us of impending dangers.

The Arctic is melting!

acquired March 14, 1983

View Image Comparison

The sea ice cap atop the Arctic Ocean appeared to reach its annual maximum extent on February 25, 2015, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) announced in their latest analysis. At 14.54 million square kilometers (5.61 million square miles), this year’s maximum extent was the smallest in four decades of satellite records. It was also one of the earliest maxima.

Arctic sea ice—frozen seawater floating on top of the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas—is constantly changing. It grows in the fall and winter, reaching its maximum between late February and early April. It shrinks in the spring and summer until it reaches its minimum extent in September. The past three decades have seen a downward trend in sea ice extent during both the growing and melting season, though the decline has been steeper in the melting season.

This year’s maximum was reached 15 days earlier than the 1981 to 2010 average date of March 12. Ice conditions have been below average everywhere except in the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait. A late spurt of ice growth is possible, but it is unlikely now that spring sunlight is arriving in the Arctic Circle. If the maximum remains at 14.54 million km2, it would be about 130,000 km2 below the previous lowest peak (set in 2011).

The maps above show Arctic sea ice extent on February 25, 2015 (top) and March 14, 1983 (bottom). Extent is defined as the total area in which the ice concentration is at least 15 percent. According to NSIDC, the average maximum extent for 1979–2000 was 15.46 million square kilometers (5.96 million square miles). The 1983 maximum covered roughly that extent, so a comparison between 2015 and 1983 gives an idea of how conditions this year strayed from the long-term average. Turn on the image-comparison tool to see the differences.

The biggest variable in the wintertime maximum tends to be the seasonal ice at the edges of the ice pack. On the maps above, this is most obvious along the Pacific coasts of Russia and Alaska, and around Greenland and Labrador. The ice in these regions is thin and at the mercy of the winds. Winds from the south can drive ice northward while bringing warm air and water that makes the ice melt; cold winds out of the north allow more sea ice to form and spread toward lower latitudes.

A record low sea ice maximum extent does not necessarily lead to a record low summertime minimum extent. “The winter maximum gives you a head start, but the minimum is so much more dependent on what happens in the summer,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Scientifically, the yearly maximum is not as interesting as the minimum because it is highly influenced by weather. We’re looking at the loss of thin, seasonal ice that is going to melt in the summer anyway, and it won’t become part of the permanent ice cover. With the summertime minimum, when the extent decreases, it’s because we’re losing the thick ice component, and that is a better indicator of warming temperatures.”

The 2015 map was compiled from observations by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR-2) sensor on the Global Change Observation Mission 1st–Water (“Shizuku”) satellite, operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The 1983 image was made from observations by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer) on the Nimbus-7 satellite. The white circle over the pole is a data gap caused by how satellites fly close to but not directly over the poles. Wider coverage by AMSR-2 has shrunk the size of this gap. The area within the circle is ice-covered—an assumption confirmed by many surface expeditions—but researchers use an average of the ice just outside the gap to estimate the extent within.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR-2) sensor on the Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water (GCOM-W1) satellite and the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on the Nimbus-7 satellite. Caption by Maria-Jose Viñas, NASA Earth Science News Team.

Instrument(s): 

DMSP - SSM/I

GCOM-W1 - AMSR-2

Gentle readers, clean air without gas pollution is almost here!

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Elon Musk hires an F1 expert to revolutionize Tesla's battery swap stations

+Elon Musk's new battery swap stations can already refresh a Tesla Model S and put it back on the road in under three minutes, but now he has help in cutting that time to something even shorter. +http://goo.gl/MzLQzP

Today Elon Musk announced Tesla has hired from Formula 1 chief mechanic +Kenny Handkammer to "revolutionize servicing mainstream cars." +http://goo.gl/E9L3Py

Handkammer won championships with both +Michael Shumacher and +Sebastian Vettel during his 25 years in racing, and was the chief mechanic of the Red Bull F1 team when it set a world record in 2013 with a pit stop that took just 1.9 seconds.

Learn more
+http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/06/elon-musk-hires-an-f1-expert-to-revolutionize-teslas-pit-stops/

#teslamotors #elonmusk #batteryswapstations#teslamodels #models #battery #electriccar #ev#electricvehicel 

Picture credit: Getty Images]

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Hello gentle readers:

 John Baird is leaving the Canadian Federal government. I personally will not miss him because there are too many unanswered questions regarding his tenure in office? For example did John Baird deliberately sacrifice Canada's  environment in order to push the Federal Conservative's economic agenda?

  Baird was a Federal Minister of the Environment and during that  time why did he not stop the Athabasca Tar Sands project from becoming one of the most polluting projects on the face of the Earth? The project can be seen from outer space and has threatened the health and safety of Native people living in the area!

John Baird will now be working for Mr. Li who presently controls Husky Energy. Husky is one of the largest Oil conglomerates involved in the Canadian Tar Sands project.

  When did John Baird meet the Li family and how much influence did the  Li's  exert on Baird while Baird was in government? The Li's have Canadian citizenship. Did John Baird convince the Li's to invest in the Tar Sands?  Mr. Li's Father is an Asian Billionaire. Did John Baird meet Mr. Li while acting as Minister of Foreign Affairs or when he was Minister of the Environment?

A few more questions.  How much influence did the Li family exert on the Canadian Federal government to create Oil pipelines and Oil shipping ports where Bitumen Oil from the Tar Sands project would be loaded on ships heading for Asia? Did John Baird deliberately sacrifice Canada's  environment in order to push the Federal Conservative's economic agenda?

Thanks for reading!

A message from the president of the United States.

Gentle People, the closer we get to complete nuclear disarmament the safer we become! The following is a message from the president of the United States.

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Today, the United States, together with our allies and partners, reached a historic understanding with Iran.

If fully implemented, this framework will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, making our nation, our allies, and our world safer.

For decades, Iran has been advancing its nuclear program. When I took office, Iran was operating thousands of centrifuges -- which can produce the materials for a nuclear bomb -- and was concealing a secret nuclear facility. I made it clear that the United States was prepared to find a diplomatic resolution, if Iran came to the table in a serious way.

But that didn't happen.

So we rallied the world to impose the toughest sanctions in history, profoundly impacting Iran's economy. Sanctions couldn't stop Iran's nuclear program on their own, but they helped bring Iran to the negotiating table.

And after many months of tough and principled diplomacy, the United States -- joined by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union -- achieved the framework for a deal that will cut off every pathway Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon.

I want you to understand exactly what this deal entails:

First, it stops Iran from pursuing a bomb using plutonium, because Iran will not develop weapons-grade plutonium. The core of its reactor at Arak will be dismantled and replaced. The spent fuel from that facility will be shipped out of Iran for the life of the reactor. Iran will not build a new heavy-water reactor. And Iran will never reprocess fuel from its existing reactors.

Second, it shuts down Iran's path to a bomb using enriched uranium.Iran has agreed to reduce its installed centrifuges by two-thirds. It will no longer enrich uranium at its Fordow facility, and it will not enrich uranium with its advanced centrifuges for at least the next 10 years. And the vast majority of its stockpile of enriched uranium will be neutralized.

Third, it provides the best possible defense against Iran's ability to pursue a nuclear weapon in secret. Iran has agreed to the most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any nuclear program in history. International inspectors will have unprecedented access not only to Iranian nuclear facilities, but to the entire supply chain that supports Iran's nuclear program -- from uranium mills that provide the raw materials, to the centrifuge production and storage facilities that support the program.

If Iran cheats, the world will know.

In return for Iran's actions, the international community has agreed to provide Iran with relief from certain sanctions -- our own sanctions, and international sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. This relief will be tied to the steps Iran takes to adhere to the deal. And if Iran violates the deal, sanctions can be snapped back into place. Meanwhile, other American sanctions on Iran -- for its support of terrorism, its human rights abuses, and its ballistic missile program -- will be fully enforced.

Now, our work is not yet done. Negotiators will continue to work through the details of how this framework will be fully implemented, and those details matter. And let me be clear: If Iran backslides, and the verification and inspection mechanisms don't meet the specifications of our nuclear and security experts, there will be no deal.

But if we can get this done, and Iran follows through on the framework that our negotiators agreed to, we will be able to peacefully resolve one of the gravest threats to the security of our nation, our allies, and the world.

Learn more about today's historic deal and how it will make the United States, our allies, and our world safer:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/Iran-deal

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

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