One of a small, but high-profile group of startups attempting to decouple food production from agricultural land, Solar Foods uses carbon dioxide and hydrogen instead of sugars to feed its bacteria.
Assuming the energy-intensive parts of the process are powered by renewables, says the firm, the technology has clear environmental benefits over animals for protein production: lower emissions, reduced water and land use, and the ability to locate plants nearer to the end consumer.
Solar Foods secured novel foods approval for Solein in Singapore last year and hopes to be self-GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) in the US by next summer. It has submitted a safety dossier to EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) for EU approval as a novel food, and in the most optimistic scenario hopes to secure an opinion late next year.
Cofounder and CEO Pasi Vainikka: “The front end of the factory is similar to an oil refinery, the middle part is like a brewery, and the downstream part is like dairy.” Image credit: Solar Foods
Gas fermentation: Decoupling food production from agricultural land
Finnish startup Solar Foods—which makes a yellow, protein-packed ingredient called Solein by feeding microbes elements from the air—has raised another €8 million ($8.8 million) in a Series B round carried out through the Finnish-based investment group Springvest.
Venezuela always disputed the UK’s inclusion of the great Essequibo forest in Guyana. Now its Indigenous Cultures and pristine Ecology are up for grabs by Capitalist Looters.
High school students walk past ExxonMobil flags as they arrive at a job fair at the University of Guyana in Georgetown on April 21, 2023 (Photo: AP Photo)
In recent years, Venezuela has witnessed Guyana’s aggressive attitude in the dispute over the Essequibo.
With unilateral actions within the framework of the territorial controversy, denying Venezuelan historical rights and violating the consensual resolution mechanism, the 1966 Geneva Agreement, a plot is woven in which corporate influence is the driving force.
Attention is directed, as we well know, towards ExxonMobil, whose shadow is projected over the strategic reserves on the Atlantic façade of Guyana Esequiba.
How has this American corporation managed to penetrate Guyana, shaping its posture and unleashing a series of events that transcend the point of violent confrontation against Venezuela, putting the security of the region at risk?
Aerial view of Georgetown city where the Demerara River meets the Atlantic ocean. The city is extremely vulnerable to flooding due to sea level rise. Guyana‘s capital city is among the top nine coastal locales in the world that are likely to drown by 2030.
In her article titled “How Exxon Conquered a Country Without Firing a Shot” “Cómo Exxon conquistó un país sin disparar un tiro“published in The Intercept, journalist Amy Westervelt meticulously breaks down the corrupt ways in which ExxonMobil has woven its web of influence in the Guyanese state, based on a court case. which recently had a ruling favorable to Guyanese citizens against ExxonMobil and the Guyana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Two Guyanese nationals brought the case accusing the EPA of failing to obtain an assurance from ExxonMobil or its subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, that the company would cover all costs related to a potential oil spill.
ExxonMobil’s drilling project in Guyana is the riskiest because it involves intense pressure on complex equipment.
The company’s own environmental impact assessments indicate that such a disaster in Guyana could send oil onto the beaches of 14 different Caribbean islands, most of which rely on fishing and tourism, and all of which could hold the Guyana for the damage.
Esso joined the case with the EPA, arguing that the plaintiffs were misinterpreting the law, that an agreement had been reached between the company and the agency, and that Guyanese citizens did not have the right to bring these types of cases anyway.
Judge Sandil Kissoon ruled in favor of the plaintiffs across the board, concluding that the insurance and warranty requirements were clearly stated in Esso’s permit, that the EPA did not obtain those guarantees, and that Guyanese citizens had every reason to question that failure.
“In Guyana, it has become difficult to distinguish where the oil company ends and the government begins.
ExxonMobil executives join the Guyanese president in his suite at cricket matches, and the vice president regularly holds press conferences to defend the company. oil company.
Vincent Adams, a Guyanese petroleum engineer and former head of the country’s EPA, has been one of the agency’s harshest critics.”
Adams, who worked at the US Department of Energy, talks about the lack of oversight and monitoring of oil production in Guyana by ExxonMobil.
He mentions that, during his time working in the United States, there were always offshore personnel to supervise the operations of the oil companies. In Guyana this supervision has been canceled and the transnational’s files and permits are locked in the director’s office. Cloudy business? Cricket will cover them up
La revelación de que ExxonMobil pagó los honorarios de los abogados de Guyana en la Corte Internacional de Justicia plantea serias dudas sobre la imparcialidad en la controversia del territorio Esequibo. https://t.co/yP8VJMel3e
In response to Kissoon’s order, the EPA was directed to immediately issue an enforcement action against Esso, requiring an unlimited financial guarantee from ExxonMobil and evidence of adequate liability insurance.
The EPA appealed the decision, and on June 8, an appeals court judge temporarily stayed the order until the appeal is resolved, although he requested that Exxon post a $2 billion interim guarantee.
In the article, the local lawyer in the case, Melinda Janki, believes that regardless of the outcome of the appeal, this situation represents an important victory for Guyanese against ExxonMobil in court.
During Cheddi Jagan’s government in the early 1990s, Melinda Janki, then immersed in the corporate sphere, became involved in the drafting of the Environmental Protection Law in 1994, being hired as a consultant for said process.
Melinda Janki,
The version of the law proposed by Janki was officially ratified in 1996. In subsequent years, the country entered into its first oil contract with a partnership between ExxonMobil and Shell, although there was no major impact with the laws since no major exploration began during those years.
Janki also advocated for the inclusion of an amendment to the Constitution to protect the human right to a healthy environment, achieving its ratification in 2003.
After Venezuela nationalized oil and expelled foreign oil majors, including ExxonMobil, in 2008, companies began exploring undemarcated waters with Guyana, under the unilateral and illegitimate authorization of Georgetown.
It was precisely ExxonMobil the company that, in 2015, announced the discovery of important reserves of high-quality light and sweet oil.
This discovery generated great expectations among the people, which was not spontaneous, but rather manipulated by the company and the government, who actively promoted the idea of oil wealth in Guyana.
As part of this strategy, ExxonMobil sponsored a major cricket tournament and broadcast the games on television.
“‘When you walked the streets, you heard all the Guyanese saying, ‘Thank God for Exxon! If it weren’t for Exxon, we would never have been able to watch cricket live on television,'” said Glenn Lall, editor of a local newspaper. Kaieteur News. —Do you see how dangerous that is?
Organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are able to admit that the agreement between ExxonMobil and Guyana is unfair to the latter.
In response to that obvious and controversial truth, the company resorts to extolling the sponsorship and conservation contributions of cricket. The article describes one of the advertising campaigns launched last year regarding that.
“Exxon’s marketing team put together a Facebook video that begins—where else?—at the National Cricket Stadium. The first minute and a half focuses on the company’s investments in cricket before the relationship leader Exxon public officials take to the streets, choosing ‘random’ people to talk about the contract. And then back to the cricket stadium for a briefing.”
The company’s commitment to Guyanese cricket was heightened in March when they announced a $17.7 million investment in the construction of a new stadium in the easternmost region of the country, close to future oil and gas export facilities.
Abuses of power to the detriment of the population
Janki has filed seven lawsuits against the government to ensure compliance with environmental laws he helped draft.
Only two of these lawsuits have been resolved in favor of the country. In 2020, ExxonMobil’s drilling permit was reduced from 23 to five years. The other “victory” is the one reported at the beginning of this article, without taking into account the result that will follow the appeal made by EPA.
The attempt to enforce environmental laws in Guyana faces numerous obstacles.
The lack of lawyers and secretaries who are not in conflict of interest with ExxonMobil is just one of them.
In addition, ExxonMobil funds conservation organizations that could oppose how resources are being exploited on the high seas.
An example of this is the Iwokrama International Center for Rainforest Conservation and Development, considered “the crown jewel of conservation in Guyana and a world leader in sustainable forestry.”
On the other hand, according to the investigation published by The Intercept, ( SEE BELOW) ExxonMobil and the government have hired journalists to control information about oil and gas extraction in the country.
The offer includes a big pay rise, a high title and a free car, which has led many journalists to accept the proposal. This has left the country with very few journalists reporting on the issue with a critical eye.
The dark elements that surround the activities of the American transnational are not even compensated with effective social investment to lift Guyanese out of poverty, beyond marketing strategies to promote the idea that some of the wealth will go to the population.
It is public knowledge that the agreements with ExxonMobil have been established under unfavorable conditions for Guyana, especially with regard to the distribution of benefits generated by the exploitation of resources.
Compas, amigxs, dominadxs y perdidxs en la tempestad del capitalismo: nos esperan tiempos de pelea donde seguiremos con el puño y la cabeza en alto. En el hondo bajo fondo buscaremos sublevarnos, relacionarnos con lo demás y lxs demás de otro modo, crear libertad hasta el exceso. Genocidio, guerras y la complacencia del suicida parecen […]
Los británicos tienen suerte porque a los veinte años se levantan los secretos oficiales y, aunque con mucho retraso, pueden conocer los embustes de sus gobiernos. Lo malo es que, después de tanto tiempo ya nadie se acuerda de lo que pasó entonces y de lo que mintieron unos y otros. Los últimos que se han […]
It is difficult to imagine that he can carry out his anarcho-capitalist postulates of eliminating the State since the State and capital are complementary and necessary elements in the capitalist system.
The critically endangered buffy-headed marmoset is one of the rarest primates in the world. Suffering from a catastrophic decline and beset by countless threats, they face imminent extinction in the wild.
Male buffy-headed marmosets are model fathers and assist heavily in the care of infants by carrying them on their backs, which allows the mother time to rest and produce milk to feed her offspring. Juvenile marmosets generally stick with the family group until adulthood and help their parents with the care of newborn infants.
These enchanting and charismatic tiny monkeys have a distinct “gothic” appearance. They live deep in the forests of a tiny area of Brazil. Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are also known as buffy tufted-ear mamosets or the white-eared marmosets and ‘mountain marmosets’.
It lives in groups made up of two to eight individuals but in the past when the species was more widely spread and in greater numbers, sightings of groups with up to 20 members were sometimes recorded. I
t displays complex social behaviour and though most groups seem to be led by a dominant monogamous breeding pair, there have been reports of polyandrous (one dominant female breeding with several males) and polygynous behaviour (one dominant male breeding with several females).
At dusk, the troop will retreat to a communal tree hollow where they sleep out the night huddled together for warmth and safety from nocturnal predators.
They are New World monkeys living in a geographically isolated region in the Atlantic coast that has been decimated for palm oil, soy and cattle ranching agriculture and mining.
The buffy-headed marmoset is an important species in contributing to the health of the Atlantic rainforest due to its diet of insects and fruit. Predation of insects by the monkey helps to regulate invertebrate populations while the consumption of fruit helps with the dispersal of seeds that eventually grow into trees – enhancing the structure, composition, and regeneration of the rainforest.
According to latest estimates, no more than 2,500 individuals are left in the wild, a perilously low population. Bombarded by unrelenting pressures that continue to undermine its survival, the extinction of the species seems ever more probable in the 21st century.
A commercial ship was struck by a Houthi missile fired from Yemen as it passed through the Southern Red Sea on Saturday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said. It added that two more missiles were shot down by an American destroyer patrolling the area.
FILE PHOTO: A cargo ship crosses the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt, on December 29, 2023
The Ansar Allah Houthi movement’s political bureau last week denounced the US-led maritime coalition, saying it is “an integral part of the aggression against the Palestinian people, Gaza and the Arab and Islamic nation.”
They also accused it of seeking to “militarize the Red Sea for the benefit of the Israeli entity,” according to the Yemeni news agency Saba.
The Singapore-flagged containership Maersk Hangzhou, owned and operated by Denmark, signaled at 8:30pm local time that it had been attacked and requested assistance, CENTCOM said on X (formerly Twitter). According to the statement, the vessel remains seaworthy and no injuries have been reported among the crew.
Saturday’s strike came a day after Denmark announced it would contribute to the US-led OPG, sending a frigate next month.
Warships USS Graverly and USS Laboon responded to the call for help, with the former shooting down two ballistic missiles “fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the ships,” the statement said.
Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk announced in mid-December that it was suspending all cargo shipments through the Red Sea due to attacks targeting commercial vessels in the region.
However, last week the company said it planned to resume shipping, linking the move to the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), which was set up to ensure safe passage.
An international naval operation to secure trade in the area was announced by Washington last week, as Houthi attacks have forced major shipping companies to seek alternative routes, disrupting global supply chains. The Red Sea is the entry point for vessels using the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of global trade.
The Houthi revolutionary resistance, who control most of Yemen’s territory, said they would attack Israeli-linked ships in response to the Israeli bombing and ground invasion of Gaza. Twenty-three ships have been attacked or seized in the Red Sea since November 19, according to CENTCOM.
A cargo ship caught fire in the Red Sea on December 15 after being hit by a projectile from Yemen, say US and Ambrey
The news agency identified the ship as the Liberian-flagged Al Jasrah. This was confirmed by the private intelligence firm Ambrey, which also reported the attack.
“The projectile reportedly hit the port side of the vessel and one container fell overboard due to the impact,” Ambrey said. “The projectile caused a ‘fire on deck’ which was broadcast via” radio.
The Al Jasrah is operated by the German-based Hapag Lloyd. Ambrey noted that the shipping company “is known to have offices in the Israeli ports of Ashdod, Haifa and Tel Aviv.”
Ansar Allah demonstrates military in North Yemen
The attack on the ship was most likely carried out by the Houthis (Ansar Allah), who are a part of the so-called Axis of Resistance that is backed by Iran and opposes Israel.
Two ballistic missiles were fired in a second attack, one of which struck a vessel, causing a fire, which the crew was working to extinguish, the US official said.
The Associated Press news agency identified the vessel struck in the second attack as the Liberian-flagged MSC Palatium III.
The group has fired several missiles and drones at the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip. It has also assaulted a number of Israeli-owned ships and announced a blockade on all ships heading to Israel.
Danish shipping company Maersk said on Friday it was suspending its vessels’ passage through the key Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd said it would pause journeys in the Red Sea until Monday.
Just day earlier, the Houthis said that they struck the Maersk Gibraltar, a Hong Kong-flagged cargo container vessel, near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait with a suicide drone.
This was however denied by both the ship owner, Danish shipping company Maersk, and the United States Central Command, which said in a statement that the vessel was in fact targeted with a ballistic missile.
“We will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports until the food and medicine our people need in the Gaza Strip is brought in,”
The Houthis recent attacks forced ships heading to Israel from Asia to take a route that circles Africa, making the journey three weeks longer and more expensive.In addition, the arrival of commercial ships to the port of Eilat has almost completely stopped.
The U.S. has reportedly warned the Houthis from continuing their attacks and is preparing to announce a special upgraded multinational task force in the Red Sea.
The Prime Minister of Yemen’s National Salvation Government (NSG), Abdulaziz bin Habtour, said on 10 November that Sanaa will continue to conduct attacks on Israel for as long as the ethnic cleansing campaign of Gaza continues.
Alanya and Palatium III both listed Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as their destination, according to data from ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.
“We will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports until the food and medicine our people need in the Gaza Strip is brought in,” the AnsarAllah statement said.
No casualties reported from strike on Strinda tanker as it passed through strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
“We assure all ships heading to all ports of the world apart from Israeli ports that they will suffer no harm and they must keep their identification device on,” it said.
The Ansar Allah movement, called Houthis in the West after their leader, at present have forced a Ceasefire with US backed Saudi colonial forces, who still seek to have their proxies returned to control all Yemen, despite failing in the long horrific war. With US backing the Saudis obtained recognition of their occupiers and proxies as still the legally recognised government of Yemen.
AnsarAllah have long had a growing expertise in building long range drones, always blamed by the West on Iranian aid. The Houthis are mainly a local branch of Shiite muslims who are also severely repressed in Saudi Arabia which is ruled by a Sunni clan.
The Free 