Planet Earth

GROUNDBREAKING: Hemp Is Officially Legalized As President Trump Signs The New Farm Bill

Hemp used to be legal once in the US, until it was controversially made illegal. But this changed today, President Donald Trump just signed the Farm Bill, legalizing industrial hemp in the United States once again.

This new policy, voted on every 5 years or so, was highly anticipated after Congressional approval last week. The bid for hemp’s recent legalization began when Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell pushed for hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill. The goal was to reinvigorate the plant’s farming opportunities from state pilot programs to a nationwide scale by removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and treating it like an agricultural product. After all, why would it be a controlled substance if it has no psychoactive properties?

When Trump signed the bill he did not make specific mention about hemp, but he called it his “great honour to sign the 2018 Farm Bill, a very special and important piece of legislation.” He added, “It opens new markets for agriculture all over the world.”

Although this new bill is being categorized as outright legalization for hemp, it’s important to note that strict regulations still apply. Although hemp will no longer be in the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, prospective growers will have to submit cultivation plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), either through the state government or the USDA itself. Similar to how hemp currently operates in Canada.

For proper distinction, Cannabis plants must contain less than 0.3 percent THC in order to be classified as hemp.

Another positive in this development is that the bill puts hemp under the Federal Crop Insurance Act, meaning that in the event a cultivator experiences crop loss, they will be entitled to insurance coverage in the same way that farmers for other legal agriculture products are. This illustrates how serious this crop is now being taken, which reminds me of when hemp was legal in the past and farmers were actually mandated to grow it as it was such a useful and healthy crop.

CBD

So what about CBD when it comes to the farm bill? Well, it’s not legalized.

“It is true that section 12619 of the Farm Bill removes hemp-derived products from its Schedule I status under the Controlled Substances Act, but the legislation does not legalize CBD generally. As I have noted elsewhere on this blog CBD generally remains a Schedule I substance under federal law… The Farm Bill ensures that any cannabinoid—a set of chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant—that is derived from hemp will be legal, if and only if that hemp is produced in a manner consistent with the Farm Bill, associated federal regulations, association state regulations, and by a licensed grower. All other cannabinoids, produced in any other setting, remain a Schedule I substance under federal law and are thus illegal. (The one exception is pharmaceutical-grade CBD products that have been approved by FDA, which currently includes one drug: GW Pharmaceutical’s Epidiolex.)” – John Hudak of the Brookings Institute

Regardless of the current CBD restriction, hemp getting the nod for growth again is still a BIG plus.

“The significance of this law change should not be underemphasized,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a press release. “This law marks the first change in the federal classification of the cannabis plant since it was initially classified as a schedule I controlled substance by Congress in 1970, and paves the way for the first federally-sanctioned commercial hemp grows since World War II.”

The Takeaway

Even though things may be happening a bit slower than we might like at times, things are changing and they are moving in a more open and free direction. Lots of work is still to be done but we can take victories like this and build upon them within ourselves.

About The Author

Joe Martino

I founded CE 9 years ago as I love inspiring others to find joy, peace and make lasting shifts in consciousness in their lives. I’ve been working to formulate a new style of media, ‘Conscious Media,’ that tells stories without polarity and division. That digs to the truth and isn’t afraid to look, and that helps viewers make change in their lives as a result of what they view.

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Planet Earth

Latimeria found, lived on our planet long before the dinosaurs

The unique fish Latimeria chalumnae, also called “Coelacanth”, lived on our planet long before the dinosaurs. They were long thought to have disappeared around the same time, about 65 million years ago.

However, after 1938, when the first Latimeria was officially discovered by chance, it turns out that the Latimerians did not die, but live in the deep waters off the east and south coasts of Africa.

Later, a second type of Latimeria was discovered in Indonesia.

The oldest fossils of Latimeria are 360 million years old, and the “freshest” are 80 million years old. At the same time, it should be known that there were a huge number of Latimerians, at least 90 different species. They have been distributed worldwide, in sea and fresh waters.

Latimeria stand out against the modern fishes with their unusual fins, more like limbs, and a wedge-shaped tail. Their bodies are covered with solid scales, similar to armor.

Latimeria are pretty big fish. They can reach up to 2 meters in length and weigh up to 90 kg. At the same time, the fact that no one has found them for so long is amazing.

Even after this species has been officially recognized as being extant, the Latimeria is still rare and can only be found through specific monitoring in the waters where it has been observed.

Latimeria swim slowly and feed on cephalopods and deep-sea fishes. Often, they were discovered in groups in underwater caves. They live to about 48 years. Females give birth to live individuals after a long pregnancy of 13 months.

The history of the Coelacanth is the cornerstone that supports the belief of many cryptozoologists that the mysterious Yeti, sea monsters, Chupacabra and other cryptids, actually exist, but simply have not yet been found.

At least two species of Latimeria, and perhaps more, have survived to this day without hiding at all. In addition, as mentioned above, Latimeria’s “freshest” fossils date back to 80 million years.

Just imagine this huge period of time during which archeologists have not found a single skeleton of Latimeria, even though they existed all this time.

According to some reports, there are populations of 300-400 individuals near the coasts of Africa and Indonesia. This comes after several years of increased illegal fishing. In the 1980s, the Latimerians were hunted (supposedly) because of the healing properties of their meat, and before that there were probably several thousand of them.

But if they were initially much smaller, they would probably never have been discovered at all, still considered extinct.

And the rare stories of local fishermen about “fish with a foot and a shell ” would be considered the same fiction as the stories of Africans about living dinosaurs.

Planet Earth

Humpback Whales Have Made a Stunning Recovery After Coming Close to Extinction

Elias Marat, The Mind Unleashed

After coming dangerously close to the brink of extinction, the humpback whale population in the South Atlantic Ocean has made a stunning rebound, according to scientists.

Around 60 years ago, it was estimated that the western South Atlantic (WSA) humpback whale population had been thinned out to less than 500.

However, a new study published in Royal Society Open Science reveals that the WSA humpbacks, which were “the first major target of commercial whaling in the Antarctic,” now have a population of roughly 24,900 individuals—a breathtaking turnaround for a population that had come remarkably close to disappearing from the world.

Between the late 1700s and mid-1900s, some 300,000 humpback whales were killed by hunters, according to Smithsonian. By 1958, only 440 WSA humpbacks were left.

However, strong protections were put in place in the 1960s, including a worldwide moratorium that drastically curtailed whaling activities. These combined efforts allowed the whales to recover by an estimated 25,000—nearly as many as researcher believe there were prior to the dawn of large-scale commercial whaling.

Even the researchers were stunned by the strength of the population’s resurgence, which they believe could be a model for the recovery of other species threatened by human activities.

Marine biologist Alexandre Zerbini of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who is lead author on a study of the whales’ recovery, told USA Today:

“I hope it serves as an example that we can do the same thing for other animal populations.”

In 2006, a global survey by the International Whaling Commission found that the western South Atlantic humpbacks’ population had only recovered by 30 percent—proof, marine biologists believed, that the whale was unlikely to recover from the massive slaughter that took place over the course of centuries.

Only now have scientists realized how wrong they were. Zerbini said:

“I expected the recovery to be higher than we’d estimated in 2006 … but I wasn’t expecting the almost full recovery we found.”

And the WSA humpbacks aren’t alone in bouncing back from endangerment. In 2016, NOAA released data showing that nine out of the 14 known populations of humpback whales have also recovered from historically low numbers. Yet while the southern populations have certainly fared well, none have made the type of recovery as was made by the western South Atlantic humpbacks.

In the Royal Society study, the authors noted that barring new threats from humans, the whale populations should reach pre-hunting levels. They wrote:

“The population status is much more optimistic than previously thought and abundance should reach its pre-exploitation level within the next 10 years or so, assuming mortality from anthropogenic threats remains low.”

However, it remains far too soon to celebrate the recovery of the whales. The ongoing climate catastrophe continues to manifest itself in myriad unpredictable ways, ranging from record-breaking Arctic heat to massive heat waves and resulting algae blooms that have devastated food sources for whales.

Indeed, the world remains in the throes of what scientists have dubbed the Anthropocene—the first truly human-caused geological period in the Earth’s history that has also entailed the mass extinctions of plants and animals alike.

However, the recovery of the WSA humpback whale shows how humans can also influence the planet for the better.

Zerbini said:

“This is a clear example that if we do the right thing then the population will recover.”

Planet Earth

The heartbeat of a blue whale is recorded for the first time

Blue Whales can survive with two beats per minute in the ocean depths and now for the first time heartbeat of a blue whale is recorded.

When a blue whale feeds, it skips several heartbeats, sometimes up to 30. this is what a team of marine biologists has discovered after being able to record the heartbeat of a blue whale, on the coast near California. To do this, a suction pulse monitor was placed on his back.

The researchers watched as the marine giant emerged and submerged again for a period of almost 9 hours, alternately filling its lungs with air and its stomach with appetizing schools of fish hundreds of meters below the surface.

During the dives, the whale’s heart has brutal ups and downs, pumping from 34 times per minute on the sea surface to only 2 per minute at the deepest depths – between 30 and 50% slower than expected to be recorded.

According to the new study published in PNAS, the simple act of opening the mouth to eat takes the heart of the cetacean to its physical limits, something that could explain why there are no creatures larger than the blue whale on the planet.

“Animals that function at physiological extremes can help us understand the biological limits of size,” said lead author Jeremy Goldbogen, an assistant professor at Stanford University in California. “In other words: if the heart of a whale is not able to pump faster during the effort required in the search for food, how could it support the heart of an older animal and provide the required energy?”

The largest animal in the world Blue Whale

Blue whales are the largest creatures that have ever inhabited the oceans (the Patagotitan mayorum dinosaur was consecrated as the largest terrestrial creature that has stepped on the planet, after its study and classification in 2014 ).

Upon reaching adulthood, the blue whale can be more than 30 meters long, more or less the length of two school buses parked one after the other. It takes a big heart to drive a beast of such size; and while this organ is not so large that a human can swim inside one of its arteries, as an urban myth says, the truth is that stranded whales have allowed hearts to recover up to 200 kilograms and the size of a golf cart .

Blue whale heart. With a weight of 200 kg, it was extracted from a specimen that found its final destination on the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in 2014. heartbeat of a blue whale is recorded — Blue whale heart.
With a weight of 200 kg, it was extracted from a specimen that found its final destination on the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in 2014.

Scientists already knew that the pulse of these cetaceans decreased in the aquatic environment. When mammals submerge, their bodies automatically begin to redistribute oxygen; The heart and brain are the ones that most demand oxygen, while your muscles, skin and other organs receive less. This allows animals to stay underwater for longer with a single inhalation, resulting in a lower than normal heart rate. This is so true for humans who like diving as for blue whales, however, given the enormous size of the whale and its ability to reach 300 meters below the surface, their hearts are pushed to limits beyond our own. .

Change in the heartbeat of a blue whale with change in depth

In the creature studied, its maximum immersion lasted 16.5 minutes, reaching a depth of 184 meters. On the other hand, he never spent more than 4 minutes on the surface to fill his lungs with air.

The sensor set by the scientists showed that in the deepest dives, the heart of the whale beat at an average rate of 4 to 8 times per minute, with a minimum of only 2 beats per minute. “During these beats that were so temporarily separated, the flexible aortic artery of the animal contracted to maintain a slowed movement of the oxygenated blood through the body,” the researchers write.

Back on the surface, the heart rate accelerated rapidly to 25 to 37 beats per minute, charging the bloodstream with enough oxygen to support the next dive. “At that time the heart of the whale was working near its physical limit,” the authors add. “It is unlikely that your heart can beat faster than that.”

Source: Live Science