AFOLU - Agricultural, forestry and Land Use

Sectors/source categories

     Agriculture

          Other

Land use is the one place any country can examine where land use can be improved to grow larger carbon sinks.

11 April 2014, Rome (click here) - New FAO estimates of greenhouse gas data show that emissions from agriculture, forestry and fisheries have nearly doubled over the past fifty years and could increase an additional 30 percent by 2050, without greater efforts to reduce them....

...Meanwhile, net GHG emissions due to land use change and deforestation registered a nearly 10 percent decrease over the 2001-2010 period, averaging some 3 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr over the decade. This was the result of reduced levels of deforestation and increases in the amount of atmospheric carbon being sequestered in many countries....

...Averaged over the 2001-2010 period, agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU) emissions break down as follows:

5 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr from crop and livestock production

4 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr due to net forest conversion to other lands (a proxy for deforestation)

1 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr from degraded peatlands

0.2 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr by biomass fires

In addition to these emissions, some two billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr were removed from the atmosphere during the same time frame as a result of carbon sequestration in forest sinks....

...The largest source of GHG emissions within agriculture is enteric fermentation - when methane is produced by livestock during digestion and released via belches - this accounted in 2011 for 39 percent of the sector's total GHG outputs. Emissions from enteric fermentation increased 11 percent between 2001 and 2011.

Emissions generated during the application of synthetic fertilizers accounted for 13 percent of agricultural emissions (725 Mt CO2 eq.) in 2011, and are the fastest growing emissions source in agriculture, having increased some 37 percent since 2001.

Greenhouse gases resulting from biological processes in rice paddies that generate methane make up 10 percent of total agricultural emissions, while the burning of savannahs accounts for 5 percent.

In 2011,  44 percent of agriculture-related GHG outputs occurred in Asia, followed by the Americas (25%), Africa (15%),  Europe (12%), and Oceania (4%), according to FAO's data. This regional distribution was fairly constant over the last decade. In 1990 however, Asia's contribution to the global total (38%) was smaller than at present, while Europe's was much larger (21%)....                          

H. R. McMasters, hm?

H. R. ? I like the name better, Herbert Raymond. It is a nice name. HR gets mixed up in the bureaucratic mind with Human Resources. Seriously. It is strange what some more simpler folks react to. I mean look at the way scientists seem like aliens to people like Bannon.

H.R. might be an 'image' issue. I like the name Herbert Raymond. And get for real, Bannon can't hold a candle, okay?

Bannon is dangerous. His friends are not good people. He is a racist and that is definitely reflected in demeanor and focus. There is no room for racism in national security. Some of General McMasters friends are of different nationalities, right? He has worked with some of the finest military men and women in our history. There is no comparison to Bannon.

General McMasters is a young man as well. He is only 55 years old and has eons of experience to his name.

PhD from UNC. A man after my own heart. He is the soldier's General. Thank you.

It was generous of him to continue his service to his country in the White House. He will be great. I wish him well and much success.

No country on the face of Earth needs the utterances of Steve Bannon.

Stever Bannon is grossly wrong about foreign policy. The USA cannot fight a war against Islamists. There is no sovereign state with citizens called Islamists.

Is·lam·ist
izlaməst/
noun

1. 1.

   
   

   an advocate or supporter of Islamic militancy or fundamentalism.

   
   

   "radical Islamists"
2. 
   
3. adjective

1. 1.

   relating to, advocating, or supporting Islamic militancy or fundamentalism.

The only way to combat Islamists is for sovereign countries to carry out their own intelligence to remove dangerous individuals and/or groups to court and ultimately prison. The other alternative is for the cultural oppression of Islamist extremism, such as the charismatic movement currently at work in countries across Earth.

Bannon's rantings are simply something hateful for him to say to satisfy the white supremacists he considers a strong base for Trump. It must be such an honor to realize one's presidency relies on idiots and criminals no other party will embrace.

Bannon's criticism of any member of the president's national defense council is nothing more than jealousy since he isn't there anymore. Bannon is incompetent and unable to be a great American. He lacks the willingness to be a leader for all the people, but, only the most hate filled and violent Americans.

Country's important to the control of the radicals affiliated with a religious extremism are doing just fine. Steve Bannon has nothing on them.

23 June 2017

Saudi Arabian security forces (click here) have foiled a terror plot targeting the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, exchanging gunfire with one of the suspects who blew himself up inside a home on Friday, the interior ministry said.

The ministry described the plot as part of “self-serving schemes managed from abroad”.

Five people, including a woman, were arrested in security operations in Mecca, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news website said, citing interior ministry security spokesman Mansour al-Turki.

Five security force members and six other people were injured, the report said.

Turki said police “foiled the terrorist plan that targeted the security of the Grand Mosque, pilgrims and worshippers”....

Interestingly, as all this surveillance of religious extremists continues, the countries of the region are focused on Qatar to instill changes in their governance.

23 June 2017
By Patrick Wintour

Saudi Arabia and its allies (click here) issued a threatening 13-point ultimatum to Qatar as the price for lifting a two-week trade and diplomatic embargo of the country, in a marked escalation of the Gulf’s worst diplomatic dispute in decades.

The onerous list of demands includes stipulations that Doha close the broadcaster al-Jazeera, drastically scale back cooperation with Iran, remove Turkish troops from Qatar’s soil, end contact with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and submit to monthly external compliance checks. Qatar has been given 10 days to comply with the demands or face unspecified consequences....

It will be much better quality of life for all the people in these countries if their national security measures are on the same page. I think Qatar realizes that and accepts the agenda of its neighbors. All this without Steve Bannon's influence in USA national security. Amazing.

But, then white supremacists are all ego without much substance. A white hood anyone? I didn't think so. Lord knows if Bannon used one it would be easier on the eyes.

The USA has no history of using a nuclear arsenal as a first strike weapon.

There have only been two uses of a nuclear arsenal in the history of the world and that was by the USA, BUT, they were last ditch efforts, not first strike capacity.

The Pacific theater of WWII began with the attack on Pearl Harbor, 
7 December 1941. I think that is the date. 

The Pacific theater was a long struggle for the USA, but, it had many victories along the way. The real casualties would come when the allied forces would enter Japan. They were confident they would win, but, there would be enormous costs in doing so.

The decision that launched a nuclear strike on Japan became clear when Hiroshima burned into oblivion on 6 August 1945. 

That is a long time to be at war before a nightmare landed in Japan. Nearly four years of war and the number of battles in the Pacific was enormous.

Attack on Pearl Harbor
Fall of the Philippines and Dutch East Indies
Soloman Islands and New Guinea Campaign
Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Aleutian Islands
Battle of Midway
Guadalcanal
Tarawa
Iow Jima
Okinawa
and finally Japan

The USA has a great military. It battles relentlessly until the war is won. But, it seems as though the military is forgotten when all Americans think about is the nukes. The USA has always had incredible forces and that is excluding nukes. It is the soldier and the love of family and country that built the USA military not some plane over Japan.

There is an article in the "Sydney Morning Herald" noting the fact Donald Trump alone has the decision to launch nuclear weapons. Last night on "All In," Chris Hayes had Congressman Ted Lieu speak about that very subject. There is currently a bill sponsored by Congressman Lieu and Senator Markey to limit the power of the US President when it comes to a nuclear first strike.

This was submitted three days after Donald Trump took office. The Congressmen saw the evil potential then.

January 24, 2017
Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (click here) (D | Los Angeles County) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced H.R. 669 and S. 200, the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017. This legislation would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. The crucial issue of nuclear “first use” is more urgent than ever now that President Donald Trump has the power to launch a nuclear war at a moment’s notice....

Such a bill has little chance of passing the US House or US Senate without diplomacy that brings all nuclear nations to the same common initiative. It is, however, a very brave and appropriate step to nonproliferation. If countries were restricted from using nuclear weapons as a first strike capacity there would be far less importance placed on them.

I believe this initative is best addressed by the United Nations.

China does not support a first nuclear strike by North Korea.

I think that is a very moral position by China. China is stating a great deal in that position regarding North Korea. It is willing to risk problems all that will manifest should North Korea enter into a nuclear war with the USA.

China will be besieged by refugees and the potential of a nuclear strike near it's borders. There is also the danger of nuclear poison falling into the oceans and fisheries it has bought from North Korea. North Korea no longer values many things, including those fisheries.

China is correct in standing down from assisting North Korea in any way if it declares a first strike against Guam. But, in the same regard, the USA cannot be careless and should be sensitive to China in any retaliation. I thank China for it's consideration in supporting the moral decisions in such circumstances. Nuclear weapons are a plague on the world and China's decisions are thoughtful and correct.

January 11, 2017

By Simon Denyer

Beijing — China won’t come to North Korea’s help (click here) if it launches missiles threatening U.S. soil and there is retaliation, a state-owned newspaper warned on Friday, but it would intervene if Washington strikes first.

The Global Times newspaper is not an official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, but in this case its editorial probably does reflect government policy, experts said.

China has repeatedly warned both Washington and Pyongyang not to do anything that raises tensions or causes instability on the Korean Peninsula, and strongly reiterated that idea Friday.

“The current situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated and sensitive,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement....

Texas has the highest maternal death rate, which increased with it's attack on abortion clinics.

June 29, 2017
By W. Gardner Selby

A Democrat credited the Republican governor (click here) for highlighting maternal mortality and then made a claim about Texas leading nationally in a disturbing way.

Houston Rep. Shawn Thierry noted in a press release circulated the day after Gov. Greg Abbott set the agenda for the special legislative session starting July 18, 2017, that Abbott authorized maternal mortality as a potential topic after Thierry and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, had urged him to do so.

Thierry said: "It was clear that a special session was going to happen and we now know that our Texas mothers are dying during childbirth at the highest rates in the nation. This time around, we cannot afford for party politics to stand in the way of resolving this crisis."

Abbott included "extending maternal mortality task force" in his session "call," he said, to allow lawmakers to maintain the state’s advisory Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force into 2023. The group, created by the 2013 Legislature, is otherwise abolished as of September 2019....

Michelle died of a blood in her leg that traveled to her lung. Fragments probably traveled to other areas of her body that caused her death.

What are they doing in regard to placenta removal?

DIC - Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (click here)

I'd check infection and placenta removal. Inadequate sepsis may be lacking and both conditions would cause blood coagulation problems. A doctor's attitude in seeing women as healthy with an uncomplicated pregnancy, is not a Heifer!

Pregnancy is a medical condition that requires REVERENCE to the woman. If a woman decides to end a pregnancy the primary worry is being sure the uterus is healthy after the abortion. Abortion options need to be returned to women in Texas. More than likely, a woman with an abortion has a healthier post procedure uterus than one that delivered a baby.

Texas has no respect for the intricacies of a woman's body, life or choices. What support is provided to the families with deceased mothers?

August 10, 2017

By Jason Whitely

Doctors, nurses, researchers and state lawmakers (click here) are investigating a mystery -- why Texas women die after giving birth at a higher rate than anywhere else in the country.

"It's hard to remember details because I was pretty upset," said Chris Zavala, 39, when recounting what happened to his wife Michelle last month.

She was 35, active and adventurous.

"You always hear about love at first sight, and it sounds corny, but the first time I saw her, I was done for,” he admitted.

Their first child, Clara, was born mid-July. She was healthy, six pounds and four ounces.

At 7 days old, they took her to pose for newborn pictures, never imagining their first family portraits would also be their last....

Gorka is nobody. He was born in the UK to people that basically were illegal immigrants from Hungry.

Trump placed him in a position where he could be the "Man-Servant" to Trump's bad press.

End of discussion.

Here is a really interesting story about business success from Australia.

A minor stockholder took the company back and it is now worth $530 million.

August 11, 2017

By Cara Waters

Ray Malone was in a bind. (click here)

He owned some panel shops but saw the consolidation within the crash repair industry and decided to get on the front foot.

"I approached a roll up group that was listed on the ASX and I rolled my company into it," he says. "These guys mismanaged my company very badly. I was in the middle of it, I had two choices, which were to pull out and go back to being a happy panel beater or to keep it together."...

..."I called an extraordinary general meeting, I sacked the chief executive and I removed the chairman," he says.

Malone replaced the board and removed $20 million in debt by converting some of it into equity. These steps gave him room to shake up the business....            

Inhumanity defines Trump Administration and Congress, from health care to the climate crisis to foreign relations.

When China signed on to sanctions at the UN Security Council it did not expect nuclear retaliation. When Kim's father was willing to place seals on North Korea's nuclear reactor, which seems like light years ago, it was with the understanding China had it's back. If China reasserts itself, North Korea may find reassurance again. 

11 August 2017

By Hannah Parry

China (click here) will intervene if America attacks North Korea first, according to a state-owned paper, and will only stay neutral if Kim Jong-un attacks the US first.

An editorial in the Global Times, warned that "China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral," the Daily Mail reported.

"If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so."

China also expressed its "strong dissatisfaction" with the US Navy over its operations in the South China Sea.

The warning comes amid escalating tensions between the US and North Korea.

Pyongyang has warned it plans to launch a nuclear strike on Guam after President Trump announced that any more threats against the US would be met with "fire and fury"....