Every person or organization in search of a business card design looks out for one that is different and catchy. Since the business card is a prima facie introduction into the basic details of the person or the company, utmost care is taken to make it presentable. Well, the information to be printed is not such a cause of worry but the design and color is. Color acquires more importance because it forms the whole backdrop of the card itself. The backdrop i.e. the color must be pleasing and suit the image of the individual or group in question.
One of the most preferred color choices is the blue. It goes well with the corporate culture and is highly regarded as the official color of the business world. Therefore, blue business cards are quite popular in the corporate world. Blue and its various shades are basically associated with calmness and friendliness. Being a natural color it has universal acceptance. If you are looking for a business card design we would suggest a blue business card. In order to substantiate our claims here we have created a collection of thirty blue business cards with beautiful and creative designs. Have a look and decide for yourself.
Rectangle card with embroidered backdrop and a white bird logo mixed with diagonal corners.
Simple and sober card with the company name in bold, big, red letters.
Animated card with a cute logo and name of the company and services rendered printed in bold.
Information in white and blue with a word balloon having the punch line.
Decent and informative, the card mentions the details and its attributes in a simple manner.
Cute, dainty business card with cloud images and basic information.
The white and blue combination teamed up with a trendy logo and company name.
The company name embossed in a diagonal fashion on the center in bold white letters.
Personalised business card of an individual has warmth and sincerity.
Individual business card with name and designation in center within a box.
Contact information and name printed in brown and white with the logo on right hand side corner.
Try out these understated themes where less is more.
Sky blue strip on a black background bearing the company name and website.
Simple and sober individual business card with details in white properly spaced.
Cool background with light slanting strips and contact information in a white box.
Company initials in bold small letters and the punchline below in capital letters.
Black clover shapes on a blue backdrop aligned neatly with the company name in corner.
Designer card with a tricolor logo and facebook, twitter page address.
Person's name colored in white capital letters with contact information inked in horizontal fashion.
Blue paint blots dripping on a white surface with contact information printed on top left hand side.
Plastic business card with a dialog bubble and faded squares in background.
Plain individual card with name and profession in middle at the top.
Card with Japanese symbols on right side flanked by a white strip.
White outline and a greenish blue backdrop with white wings convey the doctor's details.
Company name in green on front at the center and rest of the information at back.
Logo and information on a horizontal black strip in center with the person's name printed above it..
Royal blue in light shade is perfect for real estate business as it has a regal touch.
Simple business card with name, designation and qualification on top left hand side.
Vibrant business card with information in bold, capital, black and white letters.
This business card with flashing white strips looks glossy.


In addition to well-known extra-articular manifestations, ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has been reported to be associated with a number of cardiovascular diseases, including aortitis, aortic valve disease, conduction disturbances, cardiomyopathy, and ischemic heart disease.
Cardiac issues are found in an estimated two to 10 percent of people with AS. In the 1930s, a study found aortitis (inflammation of the aorta) in a group of patients with AS. Since then, a number of cardiovascular diseases have been linked to AS, many of which begin prior to the onset of clinical symptoms.
Aortitis is the inflammation of the aorta, the large artery that takes blood from the heart and distributes it to the rest of the body. Aortitis can result in aortic insufficiency, or the inability of the aorta to carry sufficient amounts of blood to the body, and hypertension (high blood pressure). A number of people with AS have chronic inflammation at the base of the heart, around the aortic valve, and at the origin of the aorta. Years of chronic inflammation can lead to valve leakage, which sometimes requires surgical intervention. Management of aortitis includes controlling the inflammation with medications, treating complications, and preventing its recurrence. Aortic valve disease – a condition in which the valve between the heart's main pumping chamber (left ventricle) and the aorta does not work properly. There are two main types of aortic valve disease – aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve opening) and aortic regurgitation, in which the aortic valve does not close properly, causing blood to flow backward into the left ventricle. This condition, which can cause shortness of breath, chest pain (angina), and dizziness, is often treated with surgery to repair or replace the faulty valve.
Conduction disturbances are arrhythmias that cause the heart to beat too fast (tachycardia) or too slow (bradycardia), and to pump blood less efficiently. The disturbances are caused either by a disruption of the heart's normal electrical conduction system or by heart disease. People with conduction disturbances often feel a palpitation or skipped heart beat and a fluttering sensation the chest and neck, as well as fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, and chest pain. In extreme cases, conduction disturbances can cause sudden cardiac arrest. Arrhythmias are treated with medication, ablation (radiofrequency energy delivered at the site of the electrical disturbance), defibrillation (an electronic shock to the heart), or with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (a pacemaker-like device that delivers a shock to the heart to restore normal rhythm).
Cardiomyopathy is a disease that enlarges and weakens the heart muscle, making it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body. Left untreated, cardiomyopathy can lead to heart failure, blood clots, valve problems, and cardiac arrest. The symptoms of cardiomyopathy include shortness of breath with exertion or even at rest, swelling of the legs, ankles and feet, abdominal bloating, fatigue, and an irregular heartbeat. Most often, cardiomyopathy is treated by managing symptoms, preventing the condition from worsening, and reducing the risk for complications. Medications like ACE inhibitors (a type of blood pressure medication) can help improve the heart's pumping capabilities, and beta blockers can help improve heart function, as well. Some patients receive a pacemaker to coordinate contractions between the left and right ventricles or a ventricular assist device to keep blood circulating through the heart.
Ischemic hearts disease is characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart muscle, usually due to coronary artery disease. People with ischemic heart disease, also called atherosclerosis, often have angina, chest pressure, decreased tolerance for exercise, and difficulty breathing; many people mistake these symptoms for heartburn. Treatment includes anti-angina medications (nitroglycerin), medications to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol, angioplasty with stent placement, and coronary bypass surgery.
Many people with AS also suffer from a condition called costochondritis, which can mimic the chest pain cause by an acute heart attack. Costochondritis is a benign inflammation of the cartilage connecting the ribs to the breastbone. The pain can often be excruciating, especially after exercise or coughing. The pain usually goes away on its own; however, in certain cases, it can last for several months or longer. Treatment focuses on pain relief, with prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen or naproxen or narcotics (Vicodin, Percocet) if the pain is severe. In addition, antidepressants (amitriptyline) and the epilepsy drug gabapentin (Neurontin) have proven successful in treating chronic pain. Stretching exercises, nerve stimulation, and injections of numbing medications can also help control the pain of costochondritis.
In 2011, Canadian researchers found that AS increases the risk of heart disease and stroke by as much as 25 percent to 60 percent. The increase was greatest for people with AS between the ages of 20 and 39. Compared to the non-AS population, the study found that AS patients had a 58 percent higher risk of valvular heart disease, a 37 percent higher risk of ischemic heart disease, and a 25 percent higher risk of stroke. The researchers say the link between AS and heart disease exists for a number of reasons, including the chronic inflammation associated with AS, the use of NSAIDs, and a tendency to exercise less than the general population due to pain.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the most commonly used class of medications to treat the pain and stiffness associated with spondylitis. Sometimes, higher doses of NSAIDs are needed to maintain relief from spondylitis symptoms. This can pose a problem because long-term NSAID use can cause significant side effects, especially in the gastrointestinal tract. A different class of NSAIDs, known as Cox-2 inhibitors (or Coxibs), allegedly reduce the risk of gastrointestinal complications associated with traditional NSAID therapy.
But now, research is showing that prescription-strength NSAIDs also carry significant risks of cardiovascular events. In a study published in the British Medical Journal in 2011, researchers found that NSAIDs significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events in people who take these medications on a regular basis. In fact, long-term users of prescription NSAIDs have a two-fold to four-fold increase in the risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death. The researchers looked at 31 studies with more than 116,000 patients who took prescription-strength NSAIDs and compared the NSAIDs with other NSAIDS or a placebo. They found that ibuprofen (Advil) carries the highest risk of stroke, etoricoxib (which is not sold in the U.S.) carries the highest risk of cardiovascular death, and rofecoxib (Vioxx, which was withdrawn from the market) has the highest risk of heart attack. They found that naproxen (Aleve) is the safest of the NSAIDs, but that it still carries some cardiovascular risk.
For years, doctors have exercised caution when prescribing NSAIDs for chronic pain relief because of their well-known risk for causing ulcers and serious bleeding in the stomach and GI tract. After a study found that Vioxx, a Cox-2 inhibitor, carried a significant increase in the risk of heart attack and stroke, doctors began to wonder if other pain-relieving medications had heart risks, as well. By the time Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in September 2004, the drug had caused a reported 60,000 deaths worldwide. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2010 found that people taking opioid drugs, which have long been used to treat pain, also have an elevated risk of heart attack compared to NSAIDs. Many clinicians, however, think that NSAID gels and patches may relieve pain without the adverse abdominal and heart effects that pills cause. Others say to simply use NSAIDs judiciously.
So what is a patient, who relies on NSAIDs for symptom relief, to do? The best advice is to talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of NSAIDs and to disclose any pre-existing heart conditions or risks.
Studies show that nearly everyone—including people with spondylitis—can become more heart healthy by following a few key steps such as eating a healthful diet, exercising regularly, quitting smoking, and maintaining a healthy body weight. The National Institutes of Health says you should also know your blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, and keep them under control. Making healthy choices and managing any medical conditions, including spondylitis, can help keep your heart healthy.
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors are biologic medications that have shown great promise in treating spondylitis. A 2009 study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism discovered a side benefit of TNF-α inhibitors. Etanercept (Enbrel) improves the lipid profile (cholesterol and triglycerides) in AS patients and, therefore, may protect against atherosclerosis. Other studies have shown that TNF-α inhibitors can improve the aortic stiffness that people with spondylitis can suffer.
Spondylitis patients should be screened with a physical exam, and an echocardiogram (a diagnostic test that may show abnormalities such as valve dysfunction or damage to heart tissue) annually to rule out any issues affecting the heart. If problems aren't detected, they can't be treated.
When it comes to spondylitis and cardiovascular disease, the bottom-line is simple: Take care of yourself, pay attention to your symptoms and manage them accordingly, and speak with a healthcare professional if you have questions or concerns about your condition or your treatment, or your risk for cardiovascular disease.
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The goal of this study is to identify proteins and mechanisms that regulate filamentous growth and pathogenesis in the oral microbe Candida albicans, the primary pathogen causing oral candidiasis. One of the major regulators of filamentous growth in Candida and other fungal species are signal transduction pathways. The signaling pathway on which the proposal is focused is the Cek1 MAPK pathway, which plays a critical role in hyphal invasive growth. We will investigate the cell-surface signaling mucin Msb2 that regulates this pathway to determine how Msb2 is activated in C. albicans, what proteins regulate Msb2 function, what Msb2 is sensing at the cell surface, and what roles it might play in regulating filamentous growth, biofilm formation, and immune system interactions. We will test quorum-sensing molecules and expression of Sap proteases for Msb2-dependent Cek1 activation. We will also test whether the extracellular glycodomain of Msb2, which we show is released from cells, plays a role in biofilm/mat formation and cell-surface architecture. Signaling mucins such as Msb2 are an evolutionary conserved class of cell-surface glycoproteins that have only recently been studied in microbial species. Signaling pathways sense changes in the extracellular environment and relay those changes to the inside of the cell. Because signaling pathways exert global control over cellular behaviors, they represent attractive targets to shut down or inhibit cellular differentiation programs or target genes. Given the serious threat of this fungal pathogen to human health, and given that current strategies to treat Candidal infections are in many cases ineffectual, our long-term goal is a deeper understanding of the pathogenic response in this microbe in order to identify a new class of drug targets.


text:
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Tag: multicultural
Erotic Expressions, Madly In Lust With You, Mechanical Men, RomCom, SciFi Romance, Spotlights
Mechanical Men Do It Better #InLust #Scifi #IRromance
March 25, 2017 Siren Allen
The Madly In Lust event continues with a seductive scene from my Mechanical Men series. Kiss Me, Keep Me is book 2 of the series. I had such fun writing Zain and Gemini's story. Enjoy this steamy excerpt! Warning: naughtiness ahead. Proceed with caution. 🙂
Mechanical men may not have real hearts, but they also can't break yours. The only thing you have to worry about them breaking is your headboard. But who needs a headboard anyway?
-Hudson Innovations – Making your life better, one machine at a time.
She's not looking for love. She's looking for lust.
The headboard breaking kind of lust.
Gemini Prescott has been burned by love too many times. There's no way she's going back down that road again. When she learns of mechanical men, she believes she's found the perfect antidote to her problems. Mechanical men can't break your heart. Mechanical men can't cheat on you with your best friend. A mechanical man is exactly what she needs.
But something seems to be wrong with her personal robot. He doesn't follow orders like he's supposed to. Instead, he has demands of his own. Demands that leave her begging for more. She would return him to the manufacturer, but there's this thing he does with his tongue that makes him a keeper.
He's not looking for love or lust. He's looking for a way off this planet.
Zain only has one goal: to return to his home-world. Though most of his brethren are enjoying their new life on Earth, Zain has no desire to follow their lead. He doesn't want to be a pleasure-robot, a slave to whoever purchases him. He plans to leave Earth behind and he'll destroy anyone who stands in his way.
Then he meets Gemini.
And everything changes.
"I like this," he told her. "This feels good."
She grinned, but remained silent. The fun part hadn't started yet. Still rubbing his thighs, she leaned forward and blew her breath against his length. A hiss escaped his lips, but he didn't break the chains.
Good cyborg.
She blew against him again and felt him shiver. Gem moved closer to his cock. Eyes on him, she licked the tip of him then pulled back. She watched him bite into his lower lip. Poor baby, he was trying his best not to break this pair of cuffs.
Was it bad that she wanted him to break them? That she wanted to push him to his limit? She wanted to see what he could do. Gem leaned forward once more and wrapped her lips around the tip of him.
"Shit," he groaned, as his cock filled her mouth.
She gripped the base with one hand, then proceeded to bob her head up and down on his length, going down as far as she could. He groaned her name.
She tightened her lips around him. His hips raised from the bed as he pushed deeper into his mouth. She placed one hand on his stomach, holding him down, trying to somewhat control his movements.
As he rose up, she moved down. His cock pulsed as he pushed in and out of her mouth. He tasted salty. Not like a human male. But not like she'd thought a robot would. She liked it.
The texture of his skin was different than that of a man's. It was harder. She grazed her teeth across his skin, a big no-no for regular men. Her cyborg loved it. His cock went from pulsing to actually vibrating against her tongue.
"I don't know what is happening?" He groaned. "I cannot stop it."
She didn't want it to stop. He was vibrating the way her toys did, just faster. Gemini raised her head and stared down at his cock. Yep, he was vibrating like her dildos.
"I think, I think I am malfunctioning. We should…"
"Or perhaps you're programed to do this."
"I do not know. I should've paid attention during training."
"I like that we're learning this together," she told him before trailing her tongue over his tip.
"You like torturing me," he groaned.
"Is that what I'm doing?" She sucked him into her mouth again.
"Yes, but it's the sweetest torture."
It was the sweetest torture for her also. The more she touched him, the more aroused she became. Soon, she would be begging him to fill her with his cock. But, he wasn't ready for that part yet.
And she didn't want to rush him. So, she took her time, licking up and down his length as he vibrated in her palm. His body jerked. He hissed her name as his heels dug into the mattress.
Her gaze drifted to the handcuffs as she gripped him tighter and sucked him into her mouth, only to release him and suck him in again. She found him rubbing his head against his shoulder until the blindfold pushed past his eyes and over his head.
"I wanted to watch," he told her.
Mouth full, all she could do was wink. She grazed her teeth along his skin again.
"Stars, Gemini." His eyes snapped shut and he clenched his teeth.
So much for him wanting to watch. Though his eyes were closed and hands were clenched into fist, the cuffs were still in place. Good cyborg. But she was tired of him being good.
She wanted him to be bad.
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Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MYF23LX/
View seductive scenes from other authors in the Madly In Lust Blog Event: https://sirenallen.com/featured-blogs/
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CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY.
I also have a headtalker campaign going for my upcoming release, Claimed By The Succubus. Any support is welcomed! Thanks in advance!
Link: https://headtalker.com/campaigns/claimed-by-the-succubus/
Last but not least, author sign up is available for next month's blog event. You can find the information here: https://sirenallen.com/2017/03/19/foolinlove/
Tagged Comedy, Erotic Romance, Fantasy, Giveaway, multicultural, romance, Sci-FiLeave a comment
Beasts From Beyond, Girl Talk Saturday, SciFi Romance, Spotlights
Let's Play #ThisorThat with Lark and Raynor From #HerAlienProtector #Scifi
July 9, 2016 Siren Allen
Welcome to This or That Saturday!
Today I'm asking the duo from my Sci-Fi novel, Her Alien Protector, three This or That questions. Their answers may surprise you… then again, if you've read the book, maybe they won't. 🙂
Things are about to get a little steamy, so be sure to turn your fans on. Enjoy!
This or That #1: Let's start with something simple. Coffee or tea?
Lark: Coffee.
Raynor: I don't know what those are.
Lark: They're beverages imported from Earth. Tea is soothing. But I enjoy coffee.
Raynor: Why? What does it do for you?
Lark: It keeps me sane.
Raynor: Then I don't need coffee.
Lark: Why not? It's not like you're Mr. Sanity. Sometimes you lose it and when you do, things get chaotic. Coffee would help keep you sane.
Raynor: That is why I have you. You keep me sane.
Lark: Oh. Ahh, that's so sweet babe.
This or That #2: Moving on to number two. Boxers or Briefs?
Lark: I'll let him answer first.
Raynor: I know what those are. I choose neither. They are too constricting. Lark purchased me a few of the boxers. I ripped them all in half.
Lark: It was an accident. He didn't mean to.
Raynor: I did mean to. You were naked and they were a barrier…
Lark: What he means to say is that sometimes, when things get heated, he gets a little wild.
Raynor: No, I was saying I wanted to be inside of you and the boxers were in the way.
Lark: Let's go with my reason, babe. We don't want to frighten the readers. Okay?
Raynor: The readers understand that when it comes to sex between mates, there must be no barriers.
Lark: Let's move on to the last question. Please.
This or That #3: Shower or bath?
Lark: Shower. Definitely shower.
Raynor: Shower. It's more logical. Why would anyone want to sit in their own filth? Plus, I like to watch Lark's body while we are in the shower together.
Lark: Babe, you don't have to explain why you like showers.
Raynor: I was simply explaining that I love watching the water roll off your breasts and…
Lark: But that wasn't part of the question.
Raynor: Understood. But is it wrong that I enjoy making love to you from behind while the water rains down on us?
Lark: Okay, I think we're done here. My mate and I both have to get back to work.
Raynor: Or perhaps we could go take a shower.
Lark: One shower, then it's back to work for us.
I hope you enjoyed This or That with Lark and Raynor. I know I did. Return next Saturday to see who else joins us to answer three random questions. Until then, be safe, be happy and read past your bedtime.
Falling in love with a prisoner was against the rules.
So why was Lark allowing herself to get close to Raynor? He was domineering, cocky and much too handsome for his own good. Though her mind found him unbearable, her body was ready to endure anything he could deliver. However, inside of him lived a darkness unlike anything she'd ever witnessed. If the rumors were true, that darkness would consume any and everyone in its path. Lark was going to try her best to stay out of his way.
They called him The Destroyer.
Raynor Batiste was many things: a monster, a killer, one of the most feared creatures in the galaxy. He was a beast whose name sent shudders through his enemies. However, a prisoner he was not. He'd only allowed himself to be captured so he could get close to his mate, Lark Valdese.
That task was proving harder than he'd anticipated. Lark is afraid of what lives inside of him, and she should be. Yet, when her planet comes under attack, the evil lurking within him may be the only thing that can save her and her people. He's willing to protect her planet, but his aid comes at a price, a price only Lark can pay.
Will Beauty give in to the Beast in order to save her world?
Or is he a greater threat than her enemies?
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G3S6SEY
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01G3S6SEY
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01G3S6SEY
**Novella coming soon: Silver – Bk 1 of the Beastly Bites mini series. You'll get to meet Lark's shy cousin, Malia. You'll also meet Malia's sexy Time-Dweller mate, Silver.**
Tagged BWWM, Her Alien Protector, multicultural, Paranormal, SciFi Romance, Vampires4 Comments
Beasts From Beyond, Girl Talk Saturday, Spotlights
Feisty Females in Romance Part 3: Lark from Her Alien Protector
June 18, 2016 Siren Allen
Happy Sexy Saturday!
Welcome to part three of the Feisty Females Spotlight. Today I'm applauding my character, Lark Valdese, for being a feisty heroine. Lark is the leading lady in my Sci-Fi romance, Her Alien Protector. She's definitely a force to be reckoned with. Though she has a vulnerable side, she doesn't like letting it show. She's been there, done that and has the scars to prove it.
She's determined to prove she's just as tough as the boys. Truth is, she's tougher than some of them, which is one of the reasons why some of them hate her. Having dealt with males like that all of her life makes it hard for her to accept her mate, Raynor Batiste. Oh, and there are a couple of other secrets that make her mating to Raynor a bit challenging.
He flinched as if she'd struck him.
She felt Ana's hand on her shoulder. "Lark, be careful."
"Yes, Lark," Raynor stepped closer to her. "Be careful. Your next words could get your ex lover killed."
How dare he? "Is that a threat?"
"No, sweet Lark. That's a fact."
"Well let me give you some facts. I was warming to the idea of you and I. I wasn't totally on board with it, but I was closer than when I first laid eyes on you. But now I see you're just like all the other males I've met. How dare you threaten a female, someone weaker than you? After all we've been through this day, you should want to protect her. You know what my enemies are capable of. You've seen how they're willing to treat us females. Yet, you treat her no differently."
"There's a difference."
"No, there isn't." Lark stared over her shoulder at Ana. "Ana, grab the duffle bag. We're leaving."
"If you think I am going to let you leave with her, you're out of your mind."
Lark raised her gun, trained it on Raynor. "If you think I need your permission, you're out of your mind."
Before he could reach for her, she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through his chest. It wasn't wooden so it wouldn't kill him, but it would slow him down. Unfortunately all it did was cause him to stagger back.
"Don't do this mate."
"You're giving me no choice." Lark's voice shook with unshed tears. He took a step forward, hand clutching his wound. "Please stop, Raynor." Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"You're choosing another over me."
"I'm trying to help everyone. You're the one making me choose."
"I won't let you leave with her." He staggered in their direction. "She will die for the rift she's creating between us."
Lark shook her head. "Raynor, please."
"Aim for the head," Ana shouted as Raynor rushed in their direction.
He was getting closer. Lark didn't want to kill him. Yet, the look in his eyes screamed him or Ana. One of them had to go. Lark pulled the trigger. Raynor dropped to his knees. Blood pooled from his head wound then dripped down his face. She closed her eyes when he slumped to the floor. What had she just done?
"We need to leave," Ana yelled.
Lark opened her eyes to find Ana running toward the duffle bag. Her friend lifted the heavy bag and slung it over her shoulder like it weighed nothing. Lark stared down at Raynor. His eyes were closed, chest no longer rising and falling.
"He can't die from this, can he?"
"I don't think so." Ana grabbed her hand. "But he will be one pissed off vampire when he awakens. We need to go."
Ana tugged on her arm, pulling her from the room. Lark kept her eyes on Raynor. What the hell had she done? She'd shot her mate in the head. There could be no future for them now. Who was she kidding?
There had never been a future for them.
So why was Lark allowing herself to get close to Raynor? He was domineering, cocky and much too handsome for his own good. Though her mind found him unbearable, her body was ready to endure anything he could deliver. However, she wouldn't allow herself to fall for him, to trust him. Inside of him lived a darkness unlike anything she'd ever witnessed. If the rumors were true, that darkness would consume any and everyone in its path. Lark was going to try her best to stay out of his way.
Raynor Batiste was many things: a monster, a killer, one of the most feared creatures in the galaxy. He was a beast whose name sent shudders through his enemies. However, a prisoner he was not. The only reason he'd allowed himself to be captured was so he could claim his mate, Lark Valdese.
That task was proving harder than he'd anticipated. Lark is afraid of what lives inside of him, and she should be. Yet, when her planet comes under attack, the evil lurking inside of him may be the only thing that can save her and her people. He's willing to protect her planet, but his aid comes at a price, a price only Lark can pay.
Will Beauty give in to the Beast in order to save her world? Or is he a greater threat than her enemies?
Web: https://sirenallen.com/beastsfrombeyond/
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**Coming soon, Beastly Bites. Novellas based off characters from the Beasts From Beyond series. The first book will be available in September. I can't wait for you all to meet Lark's cousin, Malia and her mate Silver.***
Tagged BWWM, Feisty Females, Her Alien Protector, multicultural, Paranormal, romance, Sci-Fi, Supernatural2 Comments
Beasts From Beyond, Girl Talk Saturday
#SexySaturday with the Beasts From Beyond
May 7, 2016 May 7, 2016 Siren Allen
Welcome to Sexy Saturday! Every weekend this month I'll share a short sexy excerpt from my new sensual Sci-Fi romance, Her Alien Protector. The novel is scheduled to be released May 28th. If you love romances that are out of this world, then you will adore Raynor and Lark's story.
"Move away from me," she spoke slowly making sure her voice didn't betray her.
This creature was wreaking havoc on her mind and body. It had been two solar flares since she last had sex. Venusians were known for their sexual prowess and going that long without having someone touch her flesh was making her crazy. So crazy that even a vampire could arouse her.
"Answer the question," he whispered, staring down at her.
"Um, I." There it was again. The darkness in his eyes was swirling. Fascinating. She shook her head to clear it. "What was the question?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you smell divine?"
Of course not. No one flirted with her. "No, no one has ever told me that."
"Good," his wicked grin kicked her desire up a notch. "I get to be your first."
Her first, she wished. Wait, no she didn't. Her embarrassment caused her to revert back to her first line of defense, sarcasm. "Has anyone ever told you that you're an irritating pain in the ass?"
"And lived? No. I guess that makes you my first."
Oh my. The images his words caused her mind to create were illegal on at least three planets. She needed to get the hell away from him.
***Her Alien Protector will be available on Amazon May 28th. ***
Siren's Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Siren-Allen/e/B00ELF795O/
Tagged Fantasy, Interracial romance, multicultural, romance, SciFi Romance6 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Communities in Ecuador Fight Back Against Palm Oil
At UN Climate Conference U.S. Growers Defend Large-Scale Farming
Trump's EPA Re-Approves 'Cyanide Bombs' Deadly to Coyotes, Foxes and Feral Dogs, other Wildlife
Residents of La Chiquita say they don't have adequate access to safe drinking water. David Silva
By Alejandro Pérez, translated by Romina Castagnino
Fifteen years ago, Martha Valencia relied on the nearby river for water and for food. But then oil palm crops arrived in the area and polluted the river, say Martha and her neighbors. The community took the oil palm grower to court, which ultimately resulted in a ruling in their favor.

No Clean Water

The river and the community, both named La Chiquita, are located within the municipality of San Lorenzo in the Esmeraldas province of Ecuador. Logging and oil palm plantations, in addition to its proximity to the Colombian border where drug trafficking and armed conflict is rife, contribute to the area's dubious honor of having the highest levels of poverty and violence in the country.

Every eight to 15 days, the municipality sends a water truck to La Chiquita. The tank fills a 1,500-liter blue plastic tank "but not even that water is clean. We were told by the Municipality to put chlorine before drinking it," says Olga, another community member.

When a new truck does not arrive in town before their tank runs dry, residents say they can buy 20-liter water canisters in San Lorenzo, which last three or four days. However, this option often proves too expensive for community members who must subsist off meager profits from small farms. They say that in that case, they are forced to walk great distances to other rivers.

There's little in the way of alternatives for people living in the area. According to the National Statistical System and the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), 16% of San Lorenzo residents are illiterate, which is more than double the national rate of 6.8%. Almost half of its population is engaged in agriculture and fishing due to a lack of industrial development in the area.

Two years have passed since the Jan. 2017 ruling of Esmeraldas' Provincial Court of Justice, and those affected in La Chiquita are still waiting for the judge to order the provision of drinking water, among other compensations. The ruling also requires the construction of a health center and a school.

La Chiquita lies in the the Chocó-Darién, an ecosystem that extends from Panama to northwest Ecuador and is known for its unique forests and vast biological wealth – both of which are disappearing at a fast clip due to agribusiness and other human pressures.

Oil palm companies are required to have a buffer zone between planted fields and water sources. They must remove any crops that are located less than ten meters (33 feet) from community water sources and replace them with endemic species such as guadua bamboo. According to former environment ministers, a fine is applied "for obvious negligence in the performance of their duties."

"It is a historic ruling, although it has objections and inaccuracies that must be corrected in its execution," says Manolo Morales, a lawyer and representative of the Corporation of Management and Environmental Law (Ecolex) that sponsored the lawsuit.

Oil palm cultivation is one of the primary drivers of deforestation in the province of Esmeraldas. Eduardo Rebolledo

The ruling also calls for the Ministry of Environment, together with affected communities, to reforest 500 hectares of degraded land with native species. However, La Chiquita resident Isaha Ezequiel says this is absurd. "Companies are the ones that have polluted and killed the forest but they want us to reforest," he told Mongabay.

Violence is common in the region. The murder rate in San Lorenzo in 2018 was 96 per 100,000 inhabitants – almost ten times the national rate. The area gained further notoriety that year when a reporting team from the El Comercio newspaper was kidnapped and then killed by FARC dissident groups. The incident occurred in Mataje, a border town near Guadalito, Colombia.

Although four companies were referenced during the trial, two were included in the ruling: Palmera de los Andes and Palmar de los Esteros (Palesema). Only Palmera de los Andes agreed to comment for this story.

Never-Ending Battle

Oil palm plantations in Ecuador cover about 250,000 hectares (617,763 acres) and are distributed among several provinces. Due to its suitable growing conditions, Esmeraldas has the lion's share.

Palm oil companies arrived in San Lorenzo in the late 1990s and early 2000s, settling in an area of around 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres) that was later expanded to 50,000 (123,552 acres). The inhabitants of La Chiquita, who are mostly the descendants of enslaved people of African ancestry, say local children began to develop stomach diseases and that they noticed oil and pesticide residue in a river that was their primary water source.

When La Chiquita residents went into the forest to investigate the cause of this pollution, they discovered that one of the oil palm growers had installed a palm oil mill less than three kilometers upriver that was dumping liquid waste into the water. The same thing was reported by members of the Awá Guadalito indigenous community, who also joined the demand for change and reparations.

Aerial view of a young oil palm plantation in Esmeraldas. Eduardo Rebolledo

However, a representative of Palmera de los Andes contends claims of pollution.

"We have 11 processing pools with strict environmental controls," said Fabián Miño, a lawyer and director of the company's legal department. "It is false that we are the cause of any contamination." He explained that, after the palm oil refinement process, wastewater is treated in each pool until it is decontaminated. "To confirm that the liquid comes out clean from our building, in the last two pools we have fish and seaweed," he said.

Miño says communities have been manipulated by NGOs with ulterior motives. He claims Ecolex is an environmental organization that receives funds from abroad, and that the organization attacks oil palm growers to justify its activities and budget regardless of the employment and development opportunities plantations create.

Manolo Morales, of Ecolex, says Miño's accusations are absurd. He says the organization has worked in the area since 1998 helping local communities gain legal rights to their ancestral territories. He claims that in the intervening years the government promoted and encouraged the cultivation of oil palm and that many inhabitants were persuaded to sell their territories to agroindustry companies. He said he made the decision to advise La Chiquita and Guadalito when he learned of the problems they face.

In 2005, a water quality study by the Al Tropic environmental foundation detected the presence of endosulfan and terbufos in the tributaries that provide water for these two communities. Commonly used as pesticides, these compounds can cause severe illness and death in humans, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies both as Category 1 toxins – a designation reserved for the most dangerous substances. This information was included in a report from the Ministry of Environment (MAE) in 2009 and served as the basis for initiating the trial. However, subsequent water studies were not decisive enough to directly hold oil palm companies accountable. Therefore, the judge only partially accepted the claim, ordering the government to fulfill some of the requested reparations to affected communities.

Ecolex reported that oil palm grower companies were alerted by government authorities before officials went to take water samples looking for the presence of toxins. Meanwhile, Fabián Miño, from Palmera de los Andes, claims that the organization was trying to obtain samples of stagnant water.

"They went out of their way to find pollution," Miño said. "We have all the environmental certifications, national and international."

Satellite image of oil palm plantations in San Lorenzo. Rodrigo Sierra

Isaha Ezequiel and his neighbors say two years have passed and they have seen no progress towards court-mandated reparations. According to Nathalia Bonilla, an environmental engineer and coordinator with the NGO Ecological Action in Ecuador, this is because the judge did not report the verdict to the ministries responsible for carrying them out.

Because there is a mountain between the towns of Guadalito and La Chiquita, the judge ordered the building of a school in each. However, Bonilla says the Ministry of Education was also not made aware of this ruling.

Palmera de los Andes reports that it has already begun fulfilling the reparations required by the ruling. However, company representatives say it is doing so because such activities are within its environmental responsibilities and protocols, not because it considers the ruling to be right.

"We are reforesting as required by the ruling," says lawyer Fabián Miño. He adds that the company has a 1200-hectare (2,965-acre) forest reserve, which was not requested in the reparations, and that the company has an environmental license and provides upwards of 700 jobs to local residents. "They should applaud us and not judge us," he said.

A Refuge for Many Species

Deforestation in northern Esmeraldas began well before oil palm moved in. In the 1960s, the government implemented its Northwest Forestry Development project that established 14 forest concessions. According to project data, more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres) of dense forest was cleared between 1966 and 1975. Five more concessions were subsequently created.

"This is how the primary forests of Esmeraldas were cut down," says Walter Palacios, a forest engineer and associate researcher at the National Institute of Biodiversity (Inabio). He explains that the primary forests of northwestern Ecuador are home to around 4,000 species of plants, and says many may have disappeared due to habitat loss without biologists ever knowing them.

Oil palm plantations in San Lorenzo, Ecuador. Eduardo Rebolledo

The region's protected areas preserve what has been lost to agriculture elsewhere: reserves, rich in orchids and giant ferns, extend to the paramos of the Ecuadorian highlands, providing vital habitat for a multitude of species including jaguars and ocelots. A microcosm of the biodiversity of the Chocó-Darién can be seen in just one of its massive trees. A Sande tree, for example, can be covered by as many as 60 species of ferns, orchids and other plants, its fruit important food for birds and insects.

According to Walter Palacios, when the palm plantations first appeared in the area, the secondary forests that had regenerated after the mass clearing of the 1960s were cleared once again.

"A secondary forest no longer has the same species density, it has less wildlife," Palacios said. "However, it is better to preserve them than to turn them into monocultures."

Of the region's remaining primary forest, Palacios says he hopes that the government spares these areas from the expansion of the agricultural frontier.

Oil palm crops near the town of San Lorenzo. Eduardo Rebolledo

Residents say conversion of forest to plantations has affected their lives.

"I used to make with my mother wicker baskets out of Piquigua – an endemic plant," Martha Valencia said. "We used the baskets to transport fish, or the meat of guanta, deer and other animals that we hunted. The forest and the river gave us everything, now we have to go to San Lorenzo to buy the food that was taken from us."

Residents like Valencia say they know everything they had before will not return in their lifetimes, but that they should still be able to expect clean water. "That is why we need the reparations promised by the ruling," says Wilberto Valencia, another community member.

The current Minister of Environment in Ecuador is Raúl Ledesma, who assumed the position four months ago. In an appearance before the National Assembly, together with the affected community members, Ledesma offered to further investigate the situation in La Chiquita to verify the damage that Wilberto Valencia and others say is affecting their ability to live. At that same meeting, Ledesma said he was aware that Energy Palma is breaking environmental standards.

Inhabitants of La Chiquita are fighting against the pollution of their water sources. David Silva

What Does the Future Hold?

Large-scale plantations aren't the only places where oil palm is grown in Ecuador, and advocates of the crop say stricter regulations on its cultivation could hurt small farmers.

"If there are infractions, justice must act," says Wilfredo Acosta, executive director of the National Association of Palm Oil Growers (Ancupa). "But 89% are small producers and for us, it is an agricultural activity, like any other, that encourages the development of the country."

In recent years oil palm crops have been beset with "bud rot." As of October 2019, the fungal disease had wiped out 15,000 hectares (37,065 acres) of plantations, according to Acosta. His proposed solution: support farmers with credits and provide, through the Ministry of Agriculture, new seeds that are resistant to this disease.

Assemblyman Lenin Plaza, a native of Esmeraldas and president of the Committee on Food Sovereignty, together with Ancupa, is promoting a bill in the National Assembly, which has already passed the first debate. One of its objectives is to double palm oil yields for biofuel production, but Plaza says that does not necessarily mean expanding the agricultural frontier with new plantations. "This will depend on the country's demand," Plasa said. "The important thing now is to help the producers."

Assemblyman Lenin Plaza has proposed a law to increase palm oil production. He says it is necessary to help small producers. Cecilia Puebla

Acosta says oil palm expansion could take advantage of underutilized land once used for agriculture but which has since been abandoned.

"It's not necessary to expand, it's about optimizing crops," Acosta said. "With that, we take the pressure off the forests."

However, even if the majority of producers may be small, environmental organizations say large companies control around 80% of land used for oil palm cultivation.

"The big companies are the ones that benefit," said Nathalia Bonilla of Ecological Action. "What they say about small producers is just a story. [Oil] palm is an activity that uses chemicals that seep into the earth [and] needs large areas, and working conditions are precarious."

Reposted with permission from Mongabay.

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By Lauren Wolahan
For the first time ever, the UN is building out a roadmap for curbing carbon pollution from agriculture. To take part in that process, a coalition of U.S. farmers traveled to the UN climate conference in Madrid, Spain this month to make the case for the role that large-scale farming operations, long criticized for their outsized emissions, can play in addressing climate change.

Growers said they can mitigate the impact of large-scale farming by embracing practices such as no-till farming, which uses machines that don't tear up the earth, and so doesn't release the carbon stored in the soil. They have also called for planting cover crops — like oats, radishes and cereal rye — in between rows of corn or hay to cover any bare earth, keeping carbon trapped in the ground.

In addition to stemming pollution, these practices also help the soil hold more moisture, meaning it can absorb extra water during a heavy rainstorm, keeping farms healthy. In an industry increasingly threatened by extreme weather, this is good business, said Fred Yoder, an Ohio farmer and former head of the National Corn Growers Association. He said he thinks of his soil as a 401k, a long-term investment that will help him weather future difficulties.

Yoder and other growers want the UN to encourage member countries to incentivize climate-friendly farming practices. Cover crops, for example, are currently used on just 4 percent of Iowa farmland. Widespread adoption of cover crops could be key to curbing farming-related emissions.

Critics, however, say that even with smarter practices, large-scale farms will continue to be a significant source of pollution.

"Farming is more than just a collection of practices. It is a system within the local ecology," said Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. He said that carbon-smart farming can help curb pollution, but he believes that, ultimately, growers need to build farms that are more integrated with nature.

Many growers in Madrid, however, contended that large-scale farms could operate in harmony with nature, and they were eager to defend their environmental bona fides.

"The American farmer is the original environmentalist," said Ray Gaesser in a panel on agriculture and climate change. Gaesser has been farming soybeans in Iowa for 50 years and previously chaired the American Soybean Association. "Yes, I happen to be conservative," he added, "but that doesn't mean I am not seeing the impacts of our changing planet first hand."

Gaesser recalled a time 20 years ago when he watched, astonished, as four inches of rain fell on his farm in less than an hour. The deluge washed away much of his topsoil. Since then, he's seen such rainstorms like that one strike at least once a year.

Another way that farmers can combat climate change, panelists said, is by embracing renewable energy. In corn-rich Iowa, for instance, the landscape is dotted with wind turbines and barns with solar panels on their roofs. The revenue from clean energy on farmland helps insulate growers against increasingly volatile commodity prices as well as the severe weather that could stunt yields.

"Farmers are used to working with big equipment, and they don't tolerate equipment that doesn't work, and just like everyone else, they love making money. Solar works, and it makes them money," Tim Dwight, President of the Iowa Solar Energy Trade Association, said on the panel. "What's not to love?"

Dwight said that wind and solar have grown in Iowa with the support of the agricultural community, which looms large in the Hawkeye State. His colleagues underscored this point in their argument at the climate talks.

"Farmers have a tremendous opportunity to be part of the climate solution," said Ernie Shea, president of Solutions from the Land, a non-profit advocating for better farming practices to address climate change. "That's why so many of us are here."

 Reposted with permission from Nexus Media.

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Coyote pictured at Yellowstone National Park. Hanna May / Unsplash
Wildlife advocacy groups cheered when the Trump administration reversed its decision to approve the use of deadly predator traps known as "cyanide bombs" in August. But now the administration has reversed course again. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an interim decision Thursday and approved their use with added safety measures.

To appease worries about trap safety, the EPA is issuing new restrictions. These include:

Prohibiting the use of traps within 600 feet of a residence, except with the landowner's permission

Extending the buffer zone around public roads from 100 to 300 feet

Placing two elevated warning signs within 15 feet of the traps.

But wildlife advocates say the restrictions do not go far enough to protect humans or animals.

"Tightening up use restrictions is turning a blind eye to the reality of M-44s," Predator Defense Executive Director Brooks Fahy said in the press release. "In my 25 years working with M-44 victims, I've learned that Wildlife Services' agents frequently do not follow the use restrictions. And warning signs will not prevent more dogs, wild animals, and potentially children from being killed. They cannot read them. M-44s are a safety menace and must be banned."

The traps killed 6,579 animals in 2018 and at least 13,232 in 2017, according to Wildlife Services data. Two-hundred of the animals killed in 2017 did not belong to the species targeted by the traps, and included opossums, raccoons and one bear.

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How to Solve the Big Problems That Small Family Farms Are Facing
Earth | Food | Life
The prices farmers receive for crops do not cover all the costs of keeping farms viable, not to mention the extra costs of ecological or regenerative farming systems. The farm crisis is not over. Pixabay / Pexels
By Elizabeth Henderson
For almost five decades, organic farming associations like the Northeast Organic Farming Association, the Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association and others across the country have been dedicated to supporting and expanding the community of farmers, homesteaders and conscious eaters who build their lives and livelihoods through agroecology — growing and consuming food, forage and other crops in as much harmony with natural processes and rhythms as we can muster.

"The problem that has impoverished and destroyed farmers nearly always is that of low prices resulting from surplus production," poet and environmentalist Wendell Berry told the New York Times in a 2018 interview. "That is also, obviously, a land-destroying problem. The only solution to that problem that can sustain the small farmers is the combination of production control and price supports as exemplified by the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association as it was reorganized in my region under the New Deal in 1941."

What does production control plus price supports mean and how did it work under the New Deal?

In 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, so many family farms were going bankrupt that the federal government stepped in to help them avoid eviction and to increase prices for their crops. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) declared an economic emergency, justifying action as being in "the national public interest." The AAA set out to re-establish farmers' purchasing power, taking the years just before WWI as the base period when the proper balance existed.

To raise prices for farm products, the AAA reduced the oversupply by setting limits in the form of marketing quotas on the acreage farmers could use for basic commodities, and that first year, some crops were even plowed under. There were also marketing agreements that controlled the quantity, quality, and rate of shipment to market to limit some fruit and vegetable crops. Although agribusiness successfully brought suit against the first version of this parity system, the revised approach set up by the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of February 29, 1936, proved more durable and lasted through the 1960s.

Farm income in 1935 was more than 50 percent higher than farm income during 1932, due in part to the farm programs. From 1935 through 1974, legislation each year set the level of the price supports from 50 to 90 percent of parity, depending on the supply of each commodity and the changing economic conditions through the years of WWII.

In "Crisis by Design: A Brief Review of U.S, Farm Policy," a paper written by Mark Ritchie and Kevin Ristau and published by the League of Rural Voters Education Project in the midst of the 1980s farm crisis, the three central features of the parity system are summarized:

It established the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), which made loans to farmers whenever prices offered by the food processors or grain corporations fell below the cost of production. This allowed farmers to hold their crops off the market, eventually forcing prices back up. Once prices returned to fair levels, farmers sold their crops and repaid the CCC with interest. By allowing farmers to control their marketing, the CCC loan program made it possible for them to receive a fair price from the marketplace without relying on subsidies.

It regulated farm production in order to balance supply with demand, thereby preventing surpluses. Since government storage of surpluses was expensive, this feature was crucial to reducing government costs.

It created a national grain reserve to prevent consumer prices from skyrocketing in times of drought or other natural disasters. When prices rose above a predetermined level, grain was released from government reserves onto the market, driving prices back down to normal levels. From 1933 to 1953 this parity legislation remained in effect and was extremely successful. Farmers received fair prices for their crops, production was controlled to prevent costly surpluses, and consumer prices remained low and stable. At the same time, the number of new farmers increased, soil and water conservation practices expanded dramatically, and overall farm debt declined. What is even more important is that this parity program was not a burden to the taxpayers."

In the 1960s however, according to Mark Ritchie in The Loss of Our Family Farms: Inevitable Results or Conscious Policies? a consortium of agribusiness, banking and university leaders deliberately set in place policies that cut farm prices to drive excess "resources" (that is, farmers and their families) out of the countryside.By the mid-'70s, farm prices were dropping below parity. Instead of a system that had provided stability for family-scale farms, farm numbers were decreasing rapidly and the cheap food policies that we have today were set in place.

The combination of subsidy and emergency payments to farmers along with the program of crop insurance in the 2018 Farm Bill actually guarantees low prices that mainly benefit the biggest ag corporations. With production control and price supports, those corporations had to pay farmers decent prices in the marketplace. Just to take a couple of commodities for illustration purposes, according to the National Agriculture Statistics Service, the parity price for 100 pounds of milk in May 2019 would be $52.80, a bushel of corn would be $13.20. Instead, conventional farmers were getting $18 for a hundredweight of milk and $3.63 for a bushel of corn. Since the 1970s, it is the taxpayer who covers the costs of cheap food. This adds up to a major transfer of wealth from the farmers and the public to the likes of Walmart, Amazon and Archer Daniels Midland, a global food processing and commodities trading corporation.

Although a few farming organizations — in particular, the National Family Farm Coalition — have continued to demand a return to parity and supply management, for 20 years or more it has been deemed too unlikely to gain any traction in Washington, D.C. Then in a flash of light, the Green New Deal resolution by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a crash program to mobilize all possible forces to prevent climate disaster, has made it "realistic" once again to consider this set of root solutions to the food and farm crisis.

While we can learn a lot from the old New Deal — both from its strengths and also its failures, especially in regard to farmers of color — we will have to design a new version for the 21st century that includes racial justice and equity in the safety net it provides for farms. I can imagine an exciting public process where groups of stakeholders all over the country hammer out the details.

The challenge we face now is to pull together a big enough movement of farmers, farmworkers, labor unions, environmentalists, faith communities, youth and rural and urban activists of all kinds to transform this climate emergency into an all-out campaign to save human life on this planet.

Elizabeth Henderson farmed at Peacework Farm in Wayne County, New York, for more than 30 years. Peacework CSA was one of the first community-supported agriculture farms in New York State. She is a member of the Board the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) of New York, and represents the NOFA Interstate Council on the Board of the Agricultural Justice Project. Elizabeth is the lead author of Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture (Chelsea Green, 2007), with a Spanish language e-book edition in 2017. She maintains the blog The Prying Mantis.

This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

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New Law Hands Over Protected Forests in Ivory Coast to Chocolate Industry
View of an Ivorian cleared forest at the edge of the 35.000 hectares Peko Mont National Park on Oct. 8, 2016. The Mont Péko National Park is located in the west of Ivory Coast where the forest officers fight with illegal immigrants to protect an exceptional flora and fauna, espacially dwarf elephants. SIA KAMBOU / AFP / Getty Images
Ivory Coast's rainforests have been decimated by cocoa production and what is left is put in peril by a new law that will remove legal protections for thousands of square miles of forests, according to The Guardian.

So much forest has been cut down over the last 60 years that there is barely enough left for slash-and-burn. Since 1960, forests in Ivory Coast has decreased from 16 million hectares, roughly half the country, to less than 2 million by 2005, according to Odijie's essay.

The new law, which allows for 24-year land leases, will lead to a loss in property rights for Indigenous communities and create a monopoly for foreign companies.

"There's a risk of a massive land grab situation," said Julia Christian, forest campaigner at Fern, a Brussels-based organization working with cocoa growers, as The Guardian reported. "They're lands currently run by independent, small-scale farmers – but it's going to become a monopoly with companies given exclusive rights to buy cacao."

The rampant deforestation that has occurred since 1960 to meet the world's demand for chocolate has pushed native animals like chimpanzees and forest elephants to the brink of extinction.

The Guardian reported that a Global Forest Watch report showed that Ivory Coast had the second highest increase in deforestation rates in the world. Unrestricted deforestation means the Cavally Forest will disappear entirely by 2061 and the Goin Debe Forest by 2071, according to a report by Mighty Earth. The Mighty Earth investigation found that Ivorian cocoa has depended on protected areas. Since 2000, cocoa planting claimed half of Mont Péko National Park.

In addition to trampling over the forests, the West African cocoa-industry has a horrible record of human rights' abuses. There are more than 2 million children working on West African cocoa plantations and trafficking and slavery are rampant, according to The Guardian.

Farmers often earn less than one dollar per day while working in oppressive heat. They earn 6 percent of a chocolate bar's sale price compared to 80 percent for the manufacturers and retailer, according to Fern, as The Guardian reported.

If you love chocolate, but don't want to support deforestation or human rights abuses, there is sustainable chocolate in the marketplace. So, before stocking up on Halloween candy, you might want to look at the Green America Chocolate Scorecard, which ranks major chocolate companies on their sustainability practices and human rights efforts in cocoa supply chains.

Spoiler alert courtesy of the trade publication Material, Handling & Logistics: the three lowest graded companies were Godiva (F) and Ferrero and Mondelez (both Ds). They ranked worse than Lindt, Hershey (both C), Mars and Nestle (C+).

Meanwhile, Guittard scored a B+. Alter Eco, Divine, Endangered Species, Equal Exchange, Shaman, Theo Chocolate and Tony's Chocolonely all received As.

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Brazil Experts: A 'Genocide Is Underway' Against Uncontacted Tribes
Climate activists demonstrate against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Barcelona on Aug. 23. LLUIS GENE / AFP / Getty Images
In an open letter to Brazilian society and right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, a group of experts warned that a "genocide is underway" against uncontacted tribes because of Bolsonaro's efforts to strip away Indigenous peoples' rights and lands and open up more of the Amazon rainforest to agribusiness and mining.

Breaking: Brazilian experts release a damning statement warning "genocide is underway" against uncontacted tribes.

It follows the sacking of Bruno Pereira, the head of gov dept charged with protecting uncontacted tribes' lands.#StopBrazilsGenocide
 https://t.co/4J29AsD0oZ
— Survival International (@Survival) October 7, 2019

Last week saw not only Pereira's dismissal but also, as The Guardian noted, an announcement from Bolsonaro's mining minister, Bento Albuquerque, that "draft legislation to allow mining and agriculture on Indigenous lands should be ready later this month."

According to the newspaper, which reported on the experts' letter Monday:

Pereira said he could not comment on the reason for his dismissal as he didn't have any information about it. He said FUNAI should be the ones to explain why he was fired.
"Isolated Indigenous people are extremely vulnerable. They don't have political support; they don't speak with journalists or other Indigenous groups," Pereira said.
FUNAI described Pereira's dismissal as part of a management restructuring to "optimize work in progress." His replacement, Paula Wolthers de Lorena Pires, is an anthropologist and Indigenous specialist.

José Carlos Meirelles, a signatory of the letter who pioneered FUNAI's "no contact" policy, told The Guardian that "it's almost as if this government has a rule: to remove dedicated and competent people and put incompetents in their place."

Reporting on the letter came as Pope Francis delivered a speech Monday as part of a three-week synod that began at the Vatican Sunday to address religious and environmental issues in the Amazon region. The Associated Press reported that Indigenous people from several regional tribes as well as more than 180 South American cardinals, bishops and priests have traveled to the Vatican for the meeting.

One of the experts invited to the synod, United Nations Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, told the AP that deforestation is leading to violence against Indigenous people. As she put it, "If we refuse to surrender our territories for cattle ranchers and soybean farms—two of the main drivers of deforestation in the Amazon—we are often labeled criminals, illegals, or terrorists."

Based on data from FUNAI, Brazil has more uncontacted tribes than any other country. A recent report from Brazil's Missionary Indigenous Council found at least 160 cases of "possessive invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources [and] damage to heritage" on Indigenous lands since Bolsonaro took office for his first term in January. That figure compared with 111 recorded cases for all of 2018 under Bolsonaro's predecessor.

When those findings were released on Sept. 24, the AP reported that Catholic priest Roque Paloschi, who heads the council, said in a press conference that Bolsonaro's "aggressive rhetoric fuels violence against Indigenous land and peoples."

The council's report was released the same day that Bolsonaro gave his first speech to the U.N. General Assembly — during which he reiterated some of his common messages about Indigenous people in Brazil and claimed that his government "is solemnly committed to environmental preservation and sustainable development," despite mounting global concern and criticism over the summer surge in deforestation and fires in the Amazon rainforest.

"As expected, Bolsonaro's speech at the United Nations has doubled down on division, on nationalism, and on ecocide," the Brazilian Climate Observatory said at the time. "Bolsonaro's policies bring an immediate risk to all humankind."

Great read from our friends @EcoWatch about whether the Amazon Fires should/could be considered a crime against humanity.

"The Amazon fires may seem beyond human control, but they're not beyond human culpability.https://t.co/Zlxi75ciSc
— Amazon Aid (@AmazonAidF) September 25, 2019

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.

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A Brief Guide to the Impacts of Climate Change on Food Production
Yale Climate Connections
By Daisy Simmons
Food may be a universal language — but in these record-breaking hot days, so too is climate change. With July clocking in as the hottest month on Earth in recorded history and extreme weather ramping up globally, farmers are facing the brunt of climate change in croplands and pastures around the world.

Climate change poses not just one but a whole slew of challenges to farmers – and to the larger communities that depend on them for food. From erratic precipitation to changing seasons, consider just these five key climatic changes and how they stand to affect food availability now and in the future:

1) More extreme weather can harm livestock and crops. Major storms have always devastated farms, whether from damaging winds during a storm, or erosion and landslides that can rear up even as the storm subsides. But now they're becoming even more common. In spring 2018, for example, unusually heavy rain and snow storms caused massive flooding across the U.S. Midwest, leaving some areas 10 feet deep in sand. In Nebraska alone, farmers lost an estimated $440 million of cattle. As a result of these flooding conditions, many farmers had to delay spring planting. Delays in commodity crops like corn and soybeans aren't just stressful for farmers, either – they could lead to food price volatility and even potential food insecurity.

2) Water scarcity across the U.S. Southwest makes it more expensive and difficult to sustain crops and livestock. Drought is in the long-term outlook across the U.S. West, with declining snowpack making it more challenging to keep reservoirs full through summer. Lack of adequate water can easily damage or destroy crops, dry up soil, and threaten livelihoods. Between 2014-2016, for example, California endured an estimated $3.8 billion of direct statewide economic losses to agriculture as a result of drought.

3) Seasons aren't what they used to be. Growing seasons are starting earlier and getting hotter in a warming climate. A longer growing season, over time, could theoretically have some advantages, but it also presents more obstacles in the short term, such as an uptick in pest populations is possible, with more generations possible per year. Early spring onset can also cause crops to grow before the soil holds enough water and nutrients, or to ruin fruit crops that bud early and then experience later spring frost. Plus, warmer winters can affect other farming practices like grain storage.

4) Wildfire can devastate farms – even when the flames don't actually reach them. Ranchers across the West have recently seen major losses as a result of worsening fire seasons, from outright loss of life to charred grazing lands and decimated hay stocks. What's more, "secondary impacts" abound, from a smoky taint that can ruin wine, to the ordeal of keeping a farm operational when fires are raging nearby and evacuation orders seem just around the corner. All this also causes costs to mount given that the respiratory dangers of laboring in smoky, excessively hot conditions can force farms to send workers home in the height of harvest season.

5) Warmer weather and rising CO2 levels adversely affect food supply, safety and quality. According to a 2019 IPCC land use report, between 25 and 30 percent of the food produced worldwide is wasted, not all of it for the same reasons. In developed countries, for instance, consumers, sometimes seemingly with abandon, simply discard what they see as "excess" or "surplus" food. In developing countries, much of the waste is brought about by a lack of refrigeration as products go bad between producers and consumers. The IPCC report estimates that food waste costs about $1 trillion per year and accounts for about 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from food systems. Meanwhile, some two-billion humans worldwide are overweight or obese even as nearly one billion are undernourished, highlighting the inefficiencies and inequities in food distribution.

In addition, rising temperatures can alter exposures to some pathogens and toxins. Consider: Salmonella, Campylobacter, Vibrio parahaemolyticus in raw oysters, and mycotoxigenic fungi, which can all potentially thrive in warmer environments. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also can decrease dietary iron, zinc, protein, and other macro- and micronutrients in certain crops.

Now for the elephant still in the room: Food production isn't just being affected by climate change – it's actively contributing to climate change, too. According to IPCC's land use report, agriculture and other land uses comprise more than one-fifth of global CO2 emissions, creating a vicious cycle.

Parched and fire-damaged ag fields pose mounting challenges to farmers and consumers.
Growing Solutions to the Climate Crisis

The July IPCC report cited above lists various adaptation and mitigation measures that could help reduce the adverse impacts of food and dietary preferences on climate change. The suggestions address more sustainable food production and diets (more plant-based, less meat-based); improved forestry management (including reducing deforestation and increasing reforestation); agricultural carbon sequestration, including no-till farming practices; and reducing food waste.

And it warns that delaying action will be costly:

Deferral of [greenhouse gas] emissions reductions from all sectors implies trade-offs including irreversible loss in land ecosystem functions and services required for food, health, habitable settlements and production, leading to increasingly significant economic impacts on many countries in many regions of the world.

So, what can individuals do to help avert some of the worsening impacts of climate on food supply? There in fact are a number of ways to help support climate-friendlier food production.

Improving soil health, on a large-scale, is one key way forward. Nutrient-rich soil stores carbon better than degraded, overworked soil. Plus, healthy soil helps farms stay productive – a win-win. Consumers can boost these efforts, by supporting farmers and ranchers who engage in sustainable practices like cover cropping and composting.

Reducing meat consumption is another way to reduce the climate impact of food production, given that a livestock farm is like a methane factory, contributing an estimated 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meatless Mondays, "flexitarian" diets, and the rise of faux-meat brands are all testimony to the growing efforts aimed at reducing meat consumption.

In addition to consumer actions, there are interesting new ways forward on the industry side. Manure digesters, for one, can convert methane from manure into electricity. And seaweed is gaining scientific interest for its potential in making cattle burp less often. (Yes, you read that right.)

Policy efforts will likely be key also. California for its part has goals to direct some cap-and-trade funding to build compost facilities, and incentivize methane reduction in dairies.

The challenges ahead are steep. But so too are the opportunities to adapt to new realities and reduce assorted diverse impacts. According to Project Drawdown, three of the top 10 best climate solutions have something to do with food, from reducing food waste (3) and choosing a plant-rich diet (4) to silvopasturing (9), which integrates trees and pasture into a single ecosystem.

It isn't always easy to make such changes. What is getting easier, though, is to see that the world's collective appetite for fossil fuels is having a negative impact on real food and on dietary options.

And the option of inaction on something so fundamental? Through their food-purchasing and dietary preferences, Americans increasingly, albeit perhaps only gradually, are showing that they are increasingly wary about swallowing that one.

This story originally appeared in Yale Climate Connections. It is republished here as part of EcoWatch's partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

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Water Utility Collaborates With Farmers to Clean up Pollution
Erin Houghton presenting the project to a Soil and Water Conservation Society tour group in 2015. NEW Water
By Samantha Harrington
When heavy rain falls in northwest Wisconsin, fertilizer and manure can wash off farm fields into nearby waterways. This pollution contains phosphorus, which can cause algal blooms and foul surface water.
"We know we're going to see increased precipitation events. We know we're going to have more severe precipitation events," says Erin Houghton of NEW Water, Green Bay's wastewater utility.
State regulations require the utility to reduce phosphorus in the water it discharges. But instead of building a $100 million treatment plant, NEW Water decided to tackle the problem at its source.
The utility worked with crop and soil experts and farmers to minimize runoff. They experimented with planting cover crops, tilling the soil less, and planting grass buffers alongside fields.
Houghton says the goal is "keeping those nutrients and soil where they need to be, and on those fields, and really working for that farmer."
She says the early results are promising, so NEW Water is expanding the project into a 20-year plan. The utility is confident that by preventing runoff in the first place, it can reduce phosphorus pollution without an expensive new treatment plant.
As the climate warms, the problem could get worse.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Yale Climate Connections.
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Palm Oil Is in Everything, and It's Hurting More Than the Orangutans
Asparagus Magazine
Orange-red oil palm fruit produces two kinds of oil: "palm oil" from the flesh, "palm kernel oil" from the seed. dolphfyn / iStock / Getty Images
By Helen A. Lee
We cook with it. We bathe with it. We use it for mood lighting. Palm oil is an ingredient in processed foods, cosmetics, hygiene products, biofuels and candles; experts estimate it's found in 50 percent of the items on grocery store shelves. Inexpensive to produce, palm oil contains no trans fats, and has a high melting point, making it versatile and easy to spread. The result: increasing demand. In 1996, global production totaled 16 million metric tons. By 2017, it was 60.7 million.

The story of palm oil begins with clearing tropical rainforests and peatlands for plantations of oil palm trees, which thrive on warmth, sunlight, and copious rainfall. The trees — native to West Africa — produce clusters of orange-red fruit year-round, and can be harvested every 10–14 days when mature. For the most part, oil palms don't need much help, but some farms do use herbicides and insecticides. Oil palms produce 3.8 metric tons of oil per hectare annually — eight times as much as soybeans (.5 t/ha), and almost five times the yield of canola (.8 t/ha).

Palm fruit contains oil in its flesh (palm oil), and its seed (palm kernel oil). At diesel-powered mills, fruit and kernels are pressed to extract oil. The next stop is often a refinery, where bleaching improves the oil's color, deodorization reduces its smell, and "fractionation" can create different oils suited for different purposes. Then, the oil is shipped all over the world.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says palm oil is the most consumed oil in the world, and its non-food uses are also increasing. India, China, Europe and Pakistan are the top importers, collectively using more than half of the global supply. In Asia, it's used in home cooking. In Europe and the U.S., most demand comes from manufacturers for everything from Oreos to toothpaste. You can find it in Silk soy milk, Secret deodorant, Nutella, Jergens lotion, instant noodles and Girl Scout cookies.

Palm Oil and Environmental Devastation

Malaysian and Indonesian plantations make up about 85 percent of the industry, with Guatemala, Benin and Thailand among the other top producers. Areas with low wages and abundant labor often welcome palm plantations — despite the industry's history of slavery, child labor, and land-theft — because of their potential to lift workers out of poverty.

Around the world, the business of palm oil harms the environment. During conventional cultivation, forests are cleared for plantations, bringing biodiversity loss, human-wildlife conflict, and habitat destruction affecting many species, notably the orangutan. A recent International Union for Conservation of Nature report notes that 50% of all deforestation on Borneo between 2005 and 2015 was driven by palm oil development.

This deforestation also contributes to climate change; the conversion of forests to palm oil plantations releases carbon dioxide that had been absorbed by old-growth forests. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimated in 2013 that 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from tropical deforestation.

These impacts have proven hard to combat, in part because palm oil is rarely the end commodity. Richard Zimmerman, executive director of New York-based non-profit Orangutan Outreach, calls it a "pervasive yet hidden" problem. Given all the chemicals, sugars, fats, and allergens shoppers are already trying to avoid, he said, "Palm oil is low on the list, if it's even on the list."

Palm oil and its derivatives appear under a multitude of monikers, from "palm kernel oil" and "partially hydrogenated palm oil" to "sodium lauryl sulfate" and "glyceryl stearate." Other names, according to the Rainforest Action Network, include "stearic acid," anything that includes "palmitate," and "elaesis guineensis" (the oil palm's Latin name). Try finding products in your grocery store without these. Not that all these terms always mean palm oil — some are occasionally derived from other oils. But companies likely can't guarantee that, and there's no way of knowing from reading a package.

So how do we change things? One group trying to answer that question is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a 4,000-member-strong industry non-profit. Its approach includes offering financial incentives to stakeholders along the supply chain in return for implementing best practices.

RSPO members must demonstrate that plantation land was purchased, not stolen, and that they offer safe conditions for workers. The RSPO prohibits clearing primary (never-logged) forests and imposes requirements like: obtaining free, prior, and informed consent from locals for new plantings; analyzing and protecting fragile soils and areas of high-conservation value; and mitigating carbon impacts in place.

But right now, only about 20 percent of palm oil is RSPO-certified, and critics think the group's approach still doesn't go far enough. Greenpeace's Senior Palm Oil Campaigner Diana Ruiz said investigations show that brands shift responsibility for palm oil sourcing problems onto traders, and traders don't enforce on their end. "Once you get … all the way to the grower, there is no monitoring being done," she says — and no good way to address violations.

Beyond the produce section, palm oil can be found in almost everything in your grocery store, from from Oreos to toothpaste and beyond.
Erin Flegg
The Future of Palm Oil

Palm oil has a long supply chain, which makes reducing its use complex. "Historically, companies have not paid attention to what happens at the farm level, because [palm oil] is a secondary ingredient," said Neil Blomquist, a spokesperson for the education and advocacy group Palm Done Right.

That may be changing, as palm oil gets more publicity. Still, places where palm grows see a clear economic boom from the industry, and there's always a market for cheap consumables.

"It's a difficult industry to regulate for that reason," Blomquist said. "There's been a growing demand for palm oil, the lowest-cost oil that can be produced. So, increasing demand with an increasing population in the world is really what's driving the problems… with more and more rainforest being destroyed."

Ending the use of palm oil may not be the answer. "Going to a boycott could cause more problems," said Dan Strechay, the RSPO's US outreach and engagement representative. "Because if we don't buy palm oil — or ingredients that contain palm oil — it's not like we snap our fingers and we have additional materials to put in. Something else has to be grown to replace it, and other oil seeds may require more land."

But continuing as we are means ignoring the true costs of palm oil: to the environment and people living in palm-oil-producing areas. Said Zimmerman,"If the humans aren't doing well, the orangutans are not going to do well."

So, what do we do now? Eating fewer processed foods, buying locally, and otherwise voting with your dollars is a start. Keeping companies accountable for meeting their stated deadlines around sourcing sustainable palm oil is also key.

Ruiz says the next step is asking suppliers and traders to create more transparency around their reporting, and the public can help. "We have huge influence over these brands," she said. "The key here is to use that buying power we have as consumers and demand that companies do better."

This story originally appeared in Asparagus Magazine. It is republished here as part of EcoWatch's partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

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Why the UK Is Wary of American 'Chlorinated Chicken'
Packs of 'Brexit Selection Freshly Chlorinated Chicken' sit on display at 'Costupper' Brexit Minimart pop-up store, set up by the People's Vote campaign group, to demonstrate predicted price rises and supply problems in south London, United Kingdom on Nov. 23, 2018. Tayfun Salci / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
A hot-button issue in the UK focuses on something most Americans don't even know about: a particular method of disinfecting raw poultry.

 Reposted with permission from our media associate Modern Farmer.

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Norway Urges Its Companies Not to Fund Amazon Deforestation
Brazil from space. Harvepino / iStock / Getty Images
Norway has urged its companies that actively do business in Brazil to make sure that they are not contributing to destruction of the Amazon rainforest, as Reuters reported.
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Bergan says KLP is seeking dialogue with companies that operate in Brazil, including transnational commodities trading giants Cargill, Bunge, and Archer Daniels Midland with the goal of ensuring they follow sustainable supply chain practices, according to Mongabay.

"It's always very hard," Bergan said. "Responsible corporate behavior, or responsible behavior from anybody, is always a challenge when there is a conflict between economic development and responsible business practice or ethics."

The wildfires in the rainforest are a bitter pill to swallow for Norway, which has worked closely with Brazil for over a decade to protect the Amazon rainforest, and has paid some $1.2 billion into the Amazon Fund, to which it is by far the biggest donor, as Reuters reported.

Oslo has stop contributing to the Amazon fund after the Brazilian government refused to divest aid to an organization earmarked to receive the funds.

The three companies involved in the meeting with Norway's Climate and Environment all issued statements reassuring their commitment to sustainable practices and their support for maintaining the rainforests.

Yara, which makes fertilizers in Brazil and supplies Brazilian farmers with products, said that it was "very important to safeguard the rainforest."

"This has high priority in Yara and we do our utmost to ensure compliance across the supply chain to prevent the illegal clearing of land," said a company spokeswoman, as Reuters reported.

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Bric Arts Media is the largest provider of free cultural programming for the borough of Brooklyn.
BRIC Teaching Artists implement student-centered arts residencies, using arts and media to build skills and increase student learning, engaging students through creative projects and lessons relevant to their academic studies, needs and learning styles. BRIC currently works in over 40 schools serving over 4,000 students. In addition to school residencies, BRIC Teaching Artists also facilitate professional development workshops, media studio workshops, and family activities.
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text:
Heterocladia, rod crvenih algi smješten u vlastiti tribus Heterocladieae, dio porodice Rhodomelaceae. Postoje tri priznate vrste; tipična je morska alga H. australis.

Vrste
 Heterocladia australis Decaisne - tip
 Heterocladia caudata L.E.Phillips, H.-G.Choi, G.W.Saunders & Kraft
 Heterocladia umbellifera (Zanardini) Womersley

Izvori

Rhodomelaceae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia