He saw a hole in the mountain. The other side has surprised an entire world

You might have 40-story buildings here and there is even a jungle and a river. Son Doong cave in Vietnam is the world's largest cave. Visit would be something spectacular, misplaced. Enters the underworld and will be surprised by the beauty of nature.

The huge cave is in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam, 450 kilometers from the capital Hanoi .... http://greenlifes.net

Brazil Seizes Funds of Company Responsible for Mining Disaster

A court in Brazil has confirmed the freezing of around US$78 million Thursday from the accounts of Samarco, the operator of an iron ore mine that sparked a major environmental disaster earlier this month.

The funds will be held by Brazil’s central bank and may be used to provide compensation to victims of the disaster, according to government officials close to the matter.

Samarco has already been hit with fines of over US$60 million since a dam at one of its facilities burst on Nov. 5, leading to the flooding of surrounded areas and the displacement of hundreds of residents. At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in connection with the disaster and there are mounting concerns of a long-term health crisis .... http://www.telesurtv.net

BP to pay nearly $21bn to settle world’s largest oil spill

The US government and BP have finalized a $20.8 billion deal to settle the energy giant’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP plans to stretch its payment, described as the “biggest in US history,” over 15 years.

“This resolution is strong and fitting,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. “BP is receiving the punishment it deserves while also providing critical compensation to the damage to the Gulf region.”

The final agreement comes more than three months after the deal was first announced in July, but still needs to be approved by a federal court .... https://www.rt.com

Entrepreneurs Transform a WWII Bomb Shelter into World’s First Underground Farm

It’s probably the last place you would think of for growing food, but about 100 feet below London, the one-year old startup Growing Underground is producing what it calls “sustainable and mouth-wateringly fresh micro greens and salad.” It’s the world’s first subterranean farm. The site, a bomb shelter during World War II, was abandoned for 70 years until entrepreneurs Richard Ballard and Steven Dring came along .... http://www.wakingtimes.com

Rising CO2 levels are re-greening Africa’s deserts, bringing abundance that lifts people out of poverty

Experts from the university engaged in a study that ultimately showed that the West African Sahel, the strip south of the Sahara desert, has been “regreening” ever since droughts in the 1970s and 80s killed more than 100,000 people. They maintain that increased rainfall caused by climate change has led to more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which has spurred more plant growth and community-led farming efforts .... http://www.naturalnews.com

David Cameron gives top environment policy job to oil man ahead of major climate talks

Environmentalists have criticised a decision to appoint a former consultant to major oil and gas companies as David Cameron’s key adviser on energy and environment policy.

Stephen Heidari-Robinson, a little-known consultant from oilfield services company Schlumberger, arrives in Downing Street just months before the prime minister is expected to attend the UN’s global climate change summit which begins in Paris in December.

A Number 10 spokesman confirmed the appointment of Heidari-Robinson, who started in the job this week .... http://www.theguardian.com

Raging Inferno: Forests & woodlands engulfed in flames in California

Firefighters continue to battle blazes raging in forests and woodlands across California. Hundreds have been forced to flee their homes. California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency, as 18 large wildfires burn through more than a dozen counties.

Hidden Ocean Found Underneath China's Largest Basin Is Larger Than Five Great Lakes Combined

Chinese scientists have discovered what could potentially be a massive hidden ocean underneath the Tarim basin in northwestern Xinjiang, China, the South China Morning Post reported. The basin is one of the driest places on Earth, but the amount of salt water hidden underneath could equal 10 times the amount of water found in all five of the Great Lakes located in the U.S.

Scientists have suspected that the water is a result from high, nearby mountains, and that melt water from those mountains had slipped beneath the basin. “This is a terrifying amount of water,” said professor Li Yan, who led the study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography in Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, the South China Morning Post reported. “Never before have people dared to imagine so much water under the sand. Our definition of desert may have to change.” .... http://www.ibtimes.com

The Earth erupts! Spectacular pictures show THREE volcanoes ablaze in Mexico, Chile and Indonesia while a fourth rumbles away

Volcanoes are erupting around the globe this weekend, causing flight cancellations in southeast Asia and evacuations in Mexico.

Hundreds of people have been forced to flee from their villages located at the foot of the Colima Volcano in western Mexico's Colima State, following an eruption this weekend which saw the active mountain spew ash and fire.

The volcano, also known as the Volcano of Fire, also forced a local airport to close as authorities have sealed off a 7.5 mile area amid fears an even bigger eruption may follow .... http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Swedish Official Admits Toxic Chemtrails Are Real & NOT Conspiracy

Those long, white streams of persistent, cloudy haze commonly blasted into blue skies by unmarked airplanes are not your typical contrails, says Swedish Green Party leader Pernilla Hagberg. As reported by the Swedish paper Katrineholms Kuriren, Hagberg, the first major political leader to come forward on the issue, has openly admitted that these unusual cloud trails, which fail to dissipate like normal contrails do, are actually a toxic mix of chemicals, viruses, and metals that she has collectively referred to as “Chemtrails.”

According to Hagberg, the sprayings are a joint endeavor by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), as well as the Swedish government in her own country, to modify atmospheric conditions via deliberate aerosol spraying efforts. And included in this “dangerous” mix of aerosols are various chemical components .... http://www.neonnettle.com

Media and the Creation of Apathy

The cognitive map that has been put in place by our schools, universities and our media does not encourage us to question accepted norms... instead there is apathy.

More Illegally Dumped Radioactive Waste Found on Somalia’s Coast

Yesterday the BBC reported that radiation levels at the crippled Fukushima reactor site are ten million times normal levels. As the oceans near the damaged nuclear plant are becoming contaminated with increasing amounts of nuclear radiation, concerns are growing about how much radioactive poison the planet’s seas can withstand.

However, although it is not receiving anywhere near as much attention as the unfolding disaster in Japan, the massive amounts of illegally dumped radioactive nuclear waste that are still being thrown into Somalia’s oceans potentially could prove to be an even more deadly catastrophe .... http://ecolocalizer.com

Earth is greener than 10 years ago: Total amount of vegetation found to have increased significantly over past decade

For years we have been told mankind is destroying the planet, felling trees and systematically ripping up forests.

So it may be a surprise to some that Earth is actually greener today than it was a decade ago.

In an authoritative new study, scientists have calculated that the total vegetation on the planet increased substantially between 2003 and 2012.

While tropical jungles are still disappearing – felled for timber and to make way for cattle pasture – tree growth elsewhere has outstripped the loss .... http://www.dailymail.co.uk

It is actually illegal in Colorado to collect the rain that falls on your home​

Do you live in Colorado? Does it rain on your house? Do the drops patter off the roof, compose romantic puddles on your porch?

Guess what: That water isn’t yours. You can’t have it. And you most certainly cannot set out a tank to catch what falls from the sky, you thief.

Water laws are so strict in Colorado that rainwater collection is virtually prohibited. The doctrine is written into the state’s Constitution. All the rain is already spoken for. It belongs to someone, and that someone probably isn’t you. So don’t you touch it.

“The rain barrel is the bong of the Colorado garden,” local columnist Dave Philipps wrote in 2007. “It’s legal to sell one. It’s legal to own one. It’s just not legal to use it for its intended purpose.” .... http://www.washingtonpost.com

Forget Coffins – Organic Burial Pods Will Turn Your Loved Ones Into Trees

The idea of coming full circle and returning whence we came from is one that appeals to many of us, regardless of our faith (or lack thereof), and this is an idea captured perfectly by this beautiful new burial method developed in Italy. 

The Capsula Mundi project by designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel has developed an organic, biodegradable burial capsule that will turn the deceased’s body into nutrients for a tree that will grow out of their remains .... http://www.boredpanda.com

Researchers Discover How to Use Living Plants to Generate Usable Electricity

Solar paneling is usually the first thing that comes to mind when someone thinks of harvesting energy from the sun. Solar power modules essentially replicate how plants absorb photons from light energy. Well, instead of using solar panels that replicate plants, dutch company Plant-e is using the plants themselves .... http://www.techswarm.com

'Noah's Ark': Russia to Build World's First DNA Databank of All Living Things

Not quite the Biblical Noah’s Ark, but possibly the next best thing. Moscow State University has secured Russia’s largest-ever scientific grant to collect the DNA of every living and extinct creature for the world’s first database of its kind.

“I call the project ‘Noah’s Ark.’ It will involve the creation of a depository – a databank for the storing of every living thing on Earth, including not only living, but disappearing and extinct organisms. This is the challenge we have set for ourselves,” MSU rector Viktor Sadivnichy told journalists.

The gigantic ‘ark’, set to be completed by 2018, will be 430 sq km in size, built at one of the university’s central campuses .... http://rt.com

Walking on beautiful clean ice in Slovakian Mountains

Baltimore City Says It Does Not Plan to Privatize Water

Baltimore's City Council questions top official over plans to use private companies to study how to improve aging water system as opponents warn such a move could lead to privatization .... http://therealnews.com