AgraFlora’s 2.2 Million Square Foot Delta Greenhouse Moves Toward Licensing - Yahoo Finance
Monday, April 6, 2020AgraFlora Organics International Inc. (“AgraFlora” or the “Company”) (CSE: AGRA) (Frankfurt: PU31) (OTCPK: AGFAF), a growth oriented and diversified international cannabis company, is pleased to announce its key asset, Propagation Services Canada (the “Delta Facility”) has completed additional steps in the process to obtain a license to cultivate cannabis from Health Canada and confirms its commitment to deliver the cultivation license at the Delta Facility prior to the end of Q2 2020, barring any material change in Health Canada’s service standards as a result of prevailing socioeconomic conditions." data-reactid="12" VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AgraFlora Organics International Inc. (“AgraFlora” or the “Company”) (CSE: AGRA) (Frankfurt: PU31) (OTCPK: AGFAF), a growth oriented and diversified international cannabis company, is pleased to announce its key asset, Propagation Services Canada (the “Delta Facility”) has completed additional steps in the process to obtain a license to cultivate cannabis from Health Canada and confirms...https://finance.yahoo.com/news/agraflora-2-2-million-square-210010496.html
She Believes Trees Will Save Germany — If She Can Save the Trees - OZY
Sunday, January 26, 2020Joachim Curtius, professor of geosciences at Goethe University in Frankfurt. “The agricultural lobby in Germany is very strong. And she has the difficult job of juggling these different interests and keeping everybody happy.” But after the last two years of extreme weather, there’s an unprecedented debate about climate change in Germany, and political parties are under pressure to change things to become more environmentally sustainable. They haven’t always made good: A recent climate package announced a carbon tax, but one so low that environmentalists dismissed it as barely useful.
Here’s what Klöckner wants: $886 million to reforest Germany. Climate change has so far affected nearly 2 percent of the country’s forests, according to forestry organization AGDW, and the plan calls for all those trees to be replanted, though perhaps not with the same tree species, but with more diverse and extreme weather–resistant varieties. She’s also spoken out separately about other environmental plans, including exhorting Germans to start building wooden houses again — the wood, even when used as a material, is a carbon sink and helps to retain excess carbon.
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“We need nearly 300 million trees planted in the next year,” says Larissa Schulz-Trieglaff of the AGDW, which represents forest owners (about 49 percent of Germany’s forested land is privately owned). The organization approves of Klöckner’s plan, and of her methods for making it: “She visited different forests to look at the results of the crisis … and she asked our association: What are the problems? What do you need?” They don’t expect her to find a swift solution though, as it involves millions in taxpayer dollars — and climate change isn’t exactly an easy problem to solve.
In the short run, it may not make her popular either. A poll published by Der Spiegel last month found that Klöckner was the second least popular politician in the cabinet, tied with Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the woman who succeeded Merkel as leader of the CDU, a job many once believed would be Klöckner’s. Still, an EU poll over the summer found that climate and the...https://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/she-believes-trees-will-save-germany-if-she-can-save-the-trees/221908/
Germany's second-highest traffic bridge opens - DW (English)
Sunday, January 26, 2020Europe. The bridge and the new stretch of federal highway constitute part of a larger, long-distance road project that will eventually link the Rhine-Main area near Frankfurt with the states of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Germany's biggest wastes of taxpayer money in 2019 Solar flower power, in the shade Every year, the German Taxpayers Federation keeps tabs on areas where they believe taxpayer money was wasted and sums up the most egregious cases in its annual "black book." The 2019 report called out Thuringia's Environment Ministry for a flower-shaped mini-solar panel sculpture that was installed in the shade. The ministry defended the flower, saying it was never supposed to power the building.
Germany's biggest wastes of taxpayer money in 2019 A bridge for mice After realizing that a new bypass road near the southern German city of Passau cuts through the natural habitat of the dormouse, officials got creative and built a bridge for the mice to safely travel over the road. The German Taxpayer's Federation (BdSt) had a bone to pick with the resulting structure ...
Germany's biggest wastes of taxpayer money in 2019 Perilous path to safety (instructions not included) ... The bridge requires mice to climb wooden rungs up 7 meters high (23 feet) and run down a passage 20 meters long in order to travel safely over the road. The project ended up costing taxpayers €93,000; the BdSt said it wasn't clear if any dormice actually use the bridge. The city of Passau said colonies of mice were found near the road. Explaining the bridge's purpose to them may prove tricky.
Germany's biggest wastes of taxpayer money in 2019 Stolen but golden This golden bird's nest was the prized possession of an elementary school in Berlin — until it was stolen. The sculpture, comprised of 74 branches made out of pure gold, was placed in a display case with supposedly shatter-proof glass. According to the BdSt, the artwork cost €92,500. Thieves tried to break in several times and managed to make off with the nest on their third attempt.
Germany's biggest wast...https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-second-highest-traffic-bridge-opens/a-51355455
Southern Germany offers a scenic look at mountainous highs and historic lows - CT Insider
Sunday, January 26, 2020We didn’t visit our relatives this time because, while they live in an uncrowded area, the rest of the country is popular for big cities, such as Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne and Frankfurt. We prefer mountains, lakes and villages.
We rented a car (do check with your insurance agent ahead of time; I learned later we weren’t covered in Germany all week) and we didn’t even stop in Munich, where the famous, crowded Oktoberfest was underway. Instead, we headed a short ways south for the combined scenic towns of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, stopping along the way near Oberammergau to see Ettal Abbey. It’s a nicely kept Benedictine monastery where you can buy not only a little ice cream in the gift shop but bottles of their beer. (This is when I first indulged my sophomoric amusement at how German words can mean something different to us, as I bought a bottle of Ettaler Kloster-Hell, or simply Hell for short. Later came Badgasse road, the Schmuck store and “Gute Fahrt!” on a gas station handle.)
The Akzent Hotel Schatten (and restaurant) was a good choice in G-P, located on a cobblestone street in a 19th century building with a great view of the nearby mountains. The food was solid. German cuisine can be on the mild side, but the pork cutlet bathed in a mushroom gravy with spaetzle noodles worked for me. (I consider gravy a food group.)
Speaking of food, we noticed similarities in breakfast at hotels in Mittenwald nearby, Oberstdorf to the west and our hotel at Lake Konstanz: the bread and rolls are great and abundant in the morning, mostly absent at night. (A good thing.) There are coldcuts for breakfast, as in Italy, but there is also fruit and some great cheese samples, along with eggs. Get a hotel with breakfast included. I expected to eat more sausage but didn’t have to; there were better options (schnitzel and even a nice steak in gravy) although not many green vegetables to be found (then again, the menus were in German).
Local attractions include the rushing waters of Partnach Gorge, cable cars up Alpspitze (a lovely mountain in the northern limestone Alps) and even taller Zugspitze (mountaintops we visited included large Christian crosses near their summits), Neuschwanstein Castle (much-visited and known as “The Disney Castle”) and the old-town colorfully painted old houses and incredibly lush flowers in so many window boxes.
We actually enjoyed the regular chiming tone of a nearby church bell, and there was a street festival going on for two days nearby that drew us to it with che...https://www.ctinsider.com/entertainment/ctpost/article/Southern-Germany-offers-a-scenic-look-at-14981609.php
In the Studio with Ruby Barber, the Florist Behind Berlin-Based Mary Lennox - W Magazine
Monday, April 6, 2020Ruby Barber in her studio, photograph courtesy of Becca Crawford.
Barber spends her days scouring Berlin’s parks for dry materials and visiting local growers in Brandenburg and Potsdam, returning to her studio to assemble dripping, plumed constructions from the spoils. While her regular haunts supply the materials for most of her creations, some of Barber’s favored brambles can only be found further afield—and sometimes for just a week or two at a time. In late summer, Dutch hydrangea farms dispose of several wheelbarrows’ worth of sun-crisped heads. On the island of Mallorca, the narrow country roads are littered with perfect gold-fringed palm fronds. In the southern Italian countryside, overgrown family greenhouses shelter dead plants that have dried perfectly in place. “No work needs to be done to make an installation from these things,” Barber says. “Nature’s done the work already.”
The daughter of two contemporary art gallerists, Barber’s rise has coincided with a shift in the fashion and visual art worlds, where a growing appetite for living designs has put her abstract installations in high demand. “There’s an increasing desire in modern times to feel close to nature. People want more and more to incorporate that natural language into their lives, and brands are starting to understand that.” But Barber’s designs, commissioned to reinvigorate established labels, are so rich in color and texture as to risk eclipsing them altogether. At last year’s Saut Hermès, an equestrian competition sponsored by the French house at the Grand Palais in Paris, Barber hung enormous downy columns of tea-colored amaranth like stalactites from the glass-paneled ceilings of the Grand Palais. For Loro Piana’s Fall/Winter 2020 presentation, her team scoured the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, sourcing a medley of local plants to construct a garden inside of the mid century modern venue.
The year has been a whirlwind for Barber; a steady stream of projects kept her bouncing between Hamburg, Paris and Milan until Germany’s recent lockdown order resulted in a sort of forced retreat. “It’s a relief in a way, and a chance to think about the sort of work I actually want to do,” she says of the imposed hiatus. Perhaps, while she’s confined to her apartment, Barber will make an exception to her no-flowers-in-the-home rule. Her window looks out onto a park, so she can keep an eye out for the first blooms.
...https://www.wmagazine.com/story/ruby-barber-mary-lennox-florist-berlin-interview/
Mary Louise Bowmar Knotts - Mountain Statesman
Tuesday, April 23, 2019She was one of a kind, an inspiration in many ways and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
Friends will be received at the Talbott Funeral Home, 56 N Brandenburg Street in Belington, on Saturday April 6, 2019, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., the funeral hour, when final rites will be conducted from the funeral home chapel, with the Pastor Jo McCartney officiating.
Interment will follow in the Woodsdale Memorial Park Cemetery near Grafton.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be made to the Samaritans Purse 801 Bamboo Road Boone, NC26807.
Condolences can be made to the family at www.talbottfuneralhome.com.
The Talbott Funeral Home of Belington is in charge of the arrangements for Mrs. Mary Louise Bowmar Knotts.
https://mountainstatesman.com/article/mary-louise-bowmar-knotts
Far-right German politician starts a new party with a logo bearing a secret Nazi symbol - CNN
Sunday, March 3, 2019Thursday when his political ally Egbert Ermer told Spiegel that the "project of forming a political party has today started." He said this would be a "middle German movement," with branches in Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/11/europe/andre-poggenburg-afd-germany-far-right-scli-grm-intl/index.html
Germany may end coal use - Sunbury News
Sunday, March 3, 2019FILE---In this Jan.6, 2019 file photo water vapour rises from the cooling towers of the Joenschwalde lignite-fired power plant of Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG) in Brandenburg, Germany. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP)
File--- In this photo taken Aug. 27, 2018 bucket wheel digs for coal near the Hambach Forest near Dueren, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Climate fight: Germany sets 2038 deadline to end coal use
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press
Monday, January 28
BERLIN (AP) — In a pioneering move, a German government-appointed panel has recommended that Germany stop burning coal to generate electricity by 2038 at the latest, as part of efforts to curb climate change.
The Coal Commission reached a deal early Saturday following months of wrangling that were closely watched by other coal-dependent countries.
“We made it,” Ronald Pofalla, the head of the commission, told reporters in Berlin. “This is a historic effort.”
Germany gets more than a third of its electricity fr...https://www.sunburynews.com/opinion/25027/germany-may-end-coal-use