“Our relative a Salp a jellylike sea animal”


Salps are free-float in most ocean waters, but abundant in the Southern Ocean. They eat and move about  propelled by air and water, but hey can even link up in a train to live a communal lifestyle. They look like jellyfish, however structurally the Salps actually are thought to be the ancient ancestor of all vertebrate or backboned animals.  The tiny groups of nerves in Salps are one of the first instances of a primitive nervous system, similar to the primitive streak in our early vertebrate embryology.

Only half-inch to 5-inch-long Salps are the most efficient filter feeders in the ocean. “…They consume particles spanning four orders of magnitude in size. This is like eating everything from a mouse to a horse.” said Laurence P. Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Director of Research and one of the investigator. Salps capture food particles, mostly phytoplankton, with an internal mucous filter net. Until now, it was thought that only particles as large as or larger than the 1.5-micron-wide holes in the mesh.
The salps’ role in carbon cycling is very important.  As they eat small, as well as large, particles and microbes of all sizes, they condense their waste products into carbon-containing pellets, the larger and denser sink to the ocean bottom. This effectively removes carbon from the surface waters and sequesters it on the ocean floor where it cannot escape again into the atmosphere for many years or longer.
Small, but mighty important the Salps help  save our planet.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of   http://bit.ly/apnkem

Excerpts courtesy of    http://bit.ly/aou6qH

Image 1. courtesy of   http://bit.ly/bfKMyV

Image 2. courtesy of  http://bit.ly/aI7rjG

“Is Big Oil running this world amuck?”


Who runs the  degradation of the planet?

This madness of excessive oil disasters around the world is the responsibility of us all. Why?  We have trusted that big oil will take care of our way of life and our modern life style and industry, but time to rethink that belief.  Here are of few examples of why we need a new director of modern life.

Climate:

Saudis block call for warming report on June 11, 2010.  Saudi Arabia a call by vulnerable island states at climate talks for a study into the impact of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming.

Why?

The appeal came from the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), gathering low-lying islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, which is lobbying hard for the UN climate arena not to abandon the 1.5 C target.
The goal is receding as emissions of greenhouse gases rise and political problems for tackling climate change multiply.
AOSIS, supported by the European Union (EU), Australia and New Zealand, called for a technical report on the cost of reaching the 1.5 C target and the consequences of breaching it.
But it was thwarted by Saudi Arabia, with support from Kuwait and Qatar, under the UN’s consensus rule,because they argue that action on carbon emissions control to decrease global warming will hurt their revenues as fossil-fuel consumers switch to cleaner energy

So what if small island states could disappear from sea level rise due to global temperature rise to be kept below 1.5 C.

Where was the US and other countries backing for this bill? Who did not support it were conspicuous by their absence.

Water

From the BP oil from the Gulf gusher, Exxon Valdez and the pipe breaking on the Alaska pipeline, BP has learned that they are so well insulated that no matter the size of the disaster their insurance picks up most of the tab.  People forget and profits get better. People, nature and the environment are only around to help them increase profits.

BP got away with paying only 3% of the bill for the Exxon-Valdez mess. They  had assured the people of Alaska and the state and federal agencies, they could contain all accidents, but never bought the equipment or trained people to operate containment equipment, because it would have cost them about 1 million to complete their end of the bargain. They saved their money instead.   Is this why their logo is green?

Gulf of Mexico

They are required to have safety equipment the rubber skirts to contain oil and the ships to draw up the spillage on site, but had none and have never brought any in.  People will forget.

Cut costs  1 bill while increase production off shore and took difference out of safety budget.

BP claims to be picking up the bill for this disaster, but their is a cap on how much they have to pay-75 million liability limit.  Guess who will pay?  People will forget.

Since the blackening blanket began spreading across the Gulf of Mexico, the cost of oil per barrel has risen by $2.5 dollars a barrel. BP made 4 million dollars  a day before the crisis,  now it makes 10 million  per day.  Why should they worry about containment. People forget and go back to work on those rigs.

BP has mastered making money iearned cheap to cheep out on safety and repair; it saves my bottom line.  They are getting away with it again.

Land+ SEA  Africa

Seismic tests over the past 50 years have shown that countries up the coast of East Africa have natural gas in abundance and suggest the presence of massive offshore oil deposits. Those finds have spurred oil explorers to start dropping more wells in East Africa, a region they say is an oil and gas bonanza just waiting to be tapped, one of the last great frontiers in the hunt for hydrocarbons.

“The question is not if any hydrocarbon deposits exist, but where they are.” 

It doesn’t help that the region is so geologically complex with lots of fractures and offshore oil deposits likely deep underground. The countries with  large potential deposits regularly go to war and unrest and leaders that cannot lead. Somalia remains a no-go zone, and Ethiopia’s eastern Ogaden region is beset by a violent rebel insurgency. And while Mozambique’s civil war may have ended in 1992, it has taken years for the country to recover.

The west African countries where big oil has set up shop have had their local way of life destroyed. The oil companies have polluted their waters and made may coastal areas and river banks uninhabitable from the trash and water pollution left behind.

Oil in Africa — from the Gulf of Guinea to northwestern Sudan — lies at the heart of questions of good governance and development, as oil prices and revenues soar but fail to bring better living standards for millions of poor.

There is no person or group powerful enough to regulate these amoral oil giants to hold them accountable for responsible care of the planet much less to demand they improve  the quality of life everywhere they drill.

How long will we allow this arrogant blind greed to control and destroy our economy and world? Listen to what a life long biologist has to say as he flew over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of   terradaily.com/Climate_Saudis

Excerpts courtesy of  time.com/time

Excerpts courtesy of  petroleumworld.com

Video courtesy of   YOUTUBE.com

Video courtesy of  youtube.com

Image 1. courtesy of   greenprophet.com/dubai-money

Image 2. courtesy of  cartype.com/bp

Image 3. courtesy of  time.com and Steve Allen/Getty

“Good News AFF gives Helena National Forest gift of new life”


There is good news  to share.

American Forest Foundation (AFF) gave the Helena National Forest recently received $26,000 to reforest more than 500 acres in the Big Belt Mountains and near Stemple Pass.Healthy forests are an endangered species these days so this help is greatly appreciated.

Lodgepole pine seedlings

Tree planting will target the burned areas by Maudlow-Toston and Cave Gulch burnt during the 2000 fire season. More than 40,000 acres of trees in these areas were destroyed.
“The Helena Forest, will acquire 170,000 Douglas fir and lodgepole pine seedlings from the grant money received from the American Forest Foundation will be added to the Helena Forest’s funding to expand its efforts for 2010 to areas that are generally harsh sites where natural regeneration has been unsuccessful.

Douglas fir seedling bring hope

When these trees grow they will provide watershed restoration, cover for wildlife habitat and natural beauty forest visitors and carbon sequestering for the planet.

Planting will begin in the Sulphur Bar and Blacktail areas off of the Deep Creek Highway, but closed to the public.

“Thanks AFF for continuing to help Mother Nature along.” -Nature’s Crusaders and Mother Nature

For more information about the American Forest Foundation grant or Helena National Forest tree planting efforts, contact forest silviculturist Amanda Milburn at 449-5201.

Resources
Excerpts
courtesy of   helenair.com
Excerpts courtesy of

Image (lodgepine) courtesy of  nps.gov/fire/postfiresuccession.jpg
Image (Douglas fir) courtesy of  bordenmemorialforest.com

“Historic pact to save Canadian boreal forest lands”


A truce of possibly historic nature for nature.
Two unlikely bed fellows have come together and laid down their prejudices to help save a two thirds of the all the certified boreal forest lands in Canada. This area of old growth forest that forms the border between Canada and the tundra is critically

Ancient Canadian forest and migratory Woodland caribou saved

important to carbon sequestering for the earth and home to the migratory Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou).

The Forest Products Association of Canada and nine leading environmental groups collectively have agreed to the boreal forest and the woodland caribou while allowing sustainable forestry practices to continue. The agreement was signed on May 18, 2010 with the world watching.

Through the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement 72 million hectares (277,993.554 square miles) of forest licensed to FPAC members. Under the agreement, new logging will be suspended on nearly 29 million hectares (111,969.626 square miles) of boreal forest, and in return Canopy, ForestEthics and Greenpeace will suspend their “Do Not Buy” campaigns while the agreement is being implemented.

Area of Suspended Timber Harvest in Boreal Caribou Range

endangered migrating Woodland caribou

This is our best chance to save the endangered “Woodland caribou, permanently protect vast areas of the boreal forest and put in place sustainable forestry practices,” said Richard Brooks, spokesperson for participating environmental organizations and Forest Campaign Co-ordinator of Greenpeace Canada.

Another Canadian company that supports sustainable lumber practices is RONA’s Wood Products, the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products, will by the end of 2010, buy and sell only 100% of the softwood lumber – spruce, pine and fir – sold in corporate and franchised stores will be from forests certified under three programs recognized by RONA: the Forest Products Marking Program (CSA), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The policy gives preference to lumber certified to the FSC standard, which the Company considers best responds to its requirements with regards to biodiversity and relations with local communities.

Go Canada -Mother Nature thanks you.

Will Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s follow suit in the US? Buy sustainable or recycled or pressed wood products.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  canadianborealforestagreement

Excerpts courtesy of absoluteastronomy.com/Migratory_Woodland_Caribou

Image 1. courtesy of  resurrectionfern.typepad.jpg

Image 2. courtesy of  cpawsmb.org/woodland-caribou.jpg

Map of protected boreal forest canadianborealforestagreement.com

“Can condoms help save the endangered rainforest?”


The Brazilian Government is the largest single buyer of condoms in the world, importing around a billion of them every year. The sales of these government supported condoms funds a high profile advertising campaign targeted to reach  high risk populations.Brazil has also developed a highly effective anti-HIV/AIDS campaign, which is widely credited with having prevented the type of epidemic that has devastated other developing countries.

Brazil has driven down the cost of antiretroviral drugs.  The condoms are make with sustainable rubber. This supports the growth of local industry, while controlling the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS. The government opened its new factory in May of 2008. Located in the northwestern Acre state its goal is to produce 100 million condoms a year.

The latex comes from the Chico Mendes Reserve, named after the celebrated conservationist and rubber tapper who was killed by ranchers in 1988.  He gave his life fighting conditions under which the rubber tappers worked and lived, and he grew into an activist fighting to change those conditions.
Supporting People Helping People improve the health of our world-one person, plant or animal at a time. -Nature’s Crusaders
Resources


Excerpts
courtesy of  http://bit.ly/cMOpUa

Excerpts courtesy of  http://bit.ly/9xExvJ

Excerpts courtesy of  http://nyti.ms/eiybh

Image 1. courtesy of  http://bit.ly/9y4Uci

Photo of rubber sap collection courtesy of Flickr photographer zaza_bj under the Creative Commons license.

Image 2. courtesy of  http://nyti.ms/eiybh

Image 3. courtesy of  http://bit.ly/aN4MCa

“Coral reefs are the world’s underwater rainforests”


Coral are the rainforest of the ocean. Its reefs quickly create new species. The biodiversity of life on the reef is comparable to the multiplicity of life forms in the rainforests. There are 30 of 34 known animal phyla living on the reef. About 2800 species of fish are known to live in the reef region. Of the 500 or so species of reef building corals found throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, about 350 are known to be on the Barrier Reef. It could be decades before scientists have a complete list of all the plants and animals found on any one reef. Many species are still to be identified and named. Preserving and nurturing the coral will protect the entire food chain and our web of life as we know it.

In the richest of all regions of coral reef development (central Indo-Pacific), a single acre of coral reef habitat may harbor many types of marine algae, hundreds of brightly hued fish species, and thousands of different kinds of invertebrate animals. Coral reefs are the largest living structure on the planet.

500 million years ago the first coral reef grew. Now the world’s coral reefs are in crisis

The economic importance of maintaining a healthy coral and pollution free coastal shoreline cannot be under estimated:

1. Coral reefs cover are home to 25% of all marine fish species.
2. 500 million people rely on coral reefs for their food and livelihoods.
3. Coral reefs form natural barriers that protect nearby shorelines from the eroding forces of the sea, thereby protecting coastal dwellings, agricultural land and beaches.
4. Coral reefs, protect parts of Florida from be submerged.
5. Medicines made coral have been used in the treatment of cancer, HIV, cardiovascular diseases and ulcers.
6. Corals’ porous limestone skeletons have been used for human bone grafts.
7. It is estimated that coral reefs provide $375 billion per year around the world in goods and services.

Threats to the world’s coral reefs include:
1. Pollution -waste products from gasoline and oil, trash, plastic, cans, bottles, cosmetics, human carelessness, agriculture waste run off
2. Disease – bacterial, white pox, band and rapid wasting disease, coral bleaching, shedding – a sick environment equals sick coral
3. Over-fishing -destroying the food chain by taking all the largest fish and other sea creatures
4. Dynamite and cyanide fishing  especially in the Far East -Indonesia, Phillipines, Malasia, China, Japan
5. Sedimentation – muddy freshwater enters the sea by realizing that gaps in continuous fringing and offshore reefs faced the river mouths.
6. Bleaching caused by rising ocean temperatures from global warming

Healthy coral

If the present rate of destruction continues:

a. 70% of the world’s coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 2050.
b.  25% of coral reefs have already disappeared and an estimated two-thirds of all coral reefs are at risk today.1
c. 88% of the reefs in Southeast Asia – the most species rich reefs on earth – are at risk.
d. Since 1975, more than 90% of the reefs in the Florida Keys have lost their living coral cover.

Only we can change this destruction

  1. Take care and help clean up the our streams, shores, ocean and all waterways.
  2. Decreasing our carbon footprint
  3. When diving being respectful of the environment and staying off the coral.
  4. Take pictures of coral for souvenirs.
  5. Refusing to buy fish that are harvested by in long lines, dynamiting or cynanide poisoning ( the last two methods are from the Far East).
  6. Recycle, reuse and take trash home for proper discard on land, lake , stream, the seashore or ocean.

Support organizations that are helping protect the coral reef and sealife. Get involved.

Coral reefs are a world treasure. Our economic and health depend on them staying healthy.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.terradaily.com//Coral_reefs_quickly_create.html

Excerpts courtesy of  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian_coral_reefs

Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/great-barrier-reef-info2.html

Excerpts courtesy of   http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/rescuereef/explore/facts.html

Image courtesy of  http://images.google.com/foodweb

Image courtesy of  http://www.uncwil.edu/bio/images/JRPBahamasspongesandcoral.jpg

“Water Water-what are we doing with it around the world?”


The rain in Spain -well I only know about the rains in the Southwestern USA
As rain pours out of the skies like someone opened the heavenly dam over the Southwestern and Southern California arid lands, the waste of this so precious and scarce natural resource is too obvious. These desert areas  have been in drought for twenty years, but have we built reservoirs to channel this glorious gifts from on high? Of course not even though this is the first serious rain these areas have seen in eight months to a year and the water table is many feet lower than it should be.

El Nino rains

Now the ground is saturated and the cities and the locals have generally not developed any rain water catch systems to trap this liquid gold for future use so much of it runs down the river beds toward Mexico.

“This was a high-impact event,” said Brian Klimowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Flagstaff. “It was a storm that impacted all of Arizona with flooding and very heavy snow, certainly ranking in the top five of all-time snow or rain events for the state.”

On the other side of the world there is another water issue, Ethiopia’s Gilgel Gibe III dam  is due for completion in 2013. It is being built on the main tributary Omo river. This branch of the Omo river supplies Lake Turkana with 80 percent of the water. It is located on the Kenya-Ethiopia border. The dam and it has a 240 meter is the tallest of its type anywhere in the world. It will hold back a reservoir 150 kilometers long (93.21miles).

The death of Lake Turkana

Dams in generally ruin the natural balance of local flora and fauna the life. The Ethiopian dam is no different. The initial assessment survey of necessity was flawed. It wreaks of payoff and not surprisingly came up with the exact results the powers that be structure wanted. No surprises.

During the two years it will take to fill the dam reservoir Lake Turkana will recede, increasing its salinity, damaging the local economy, degrading biodiversity and increasing the risk of cross-border conflicts. The reservoir will flood the areas on both sides of its ban and its wildlife will have to go elsewhere.
Around 300,000 fishermen and herders depend on Lake Turkana, while hundreds of thousands more, mainly farmers, rely on the Omo’s annual flooding for river bank cultivation and grazing of livestock.

So what are we doing to create sustainable  water reservoirs around the world in harmony with nature? Protecting and supporting rather than doing only what works for one country. We  need a world green team must become the popular way.

Yes, government should take a more proactive roll, but this is in our hands to do. Every house should have a simple rain water collection system to take care of any outside or in house plant watering needs. If you need help contact Nature’s Crusaders to help you.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100123/ap_on_re_us/us_stormy_weather

Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.terradaily.com//Ethiopian_dam.html

Excerpts courtesy of  http://richardleakey.wildlifedirect.org/the-gibe-iii-dam-must-be-stopped

Excerpts courtesy of  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgel_Gibe_River

Image courtesy of  http://www.kvoa.com/images/news/stock/environment_wx/RainClouds2.jpg

Image courtesy of  http://na.unep.net/geas/bulletin_images/1-15June09/GibeDam.png

http://na.unep.net/geas/bulletin_images/1-15June09/GibeDam.png

“How pure are your snowflakes?”


Global warming effects everything even the shape of snow flakes. The shape of a snowflake changes if the water as its crystallizing picks up pollutants or other impurities from the air.

These chemicals and temperature changes cause the ice crystal to form a flat plate, a spiky needle, or another shape as it falls towards the earth.

Mathematicians have created an elaborate computer model that shows how feathery ice crystals form in such elaborate patterns, and why. See the slide show featuring some of their snowflakes.
http://dsc.discovery.com/technology/im/3d-snowflake-griffeath.html
Scientists think that there are really four different shapes of snow crystals.  The simplest shape is a long needle shaped like a spike.  The other shapes all have six sides.  One of them is a long, hollow column that is shaped like a six-sided prism.  There are also thin, flat six-sided plates.  And lastly there are intricate, six-pointed stars.

How high has the snowflake fallen ?

Ice crystal column shaped snowflakes are made in the highest clouds at around -30°F. 

The star shaped crystals are formed when temperature in the clouds is  3° to 10°F

Plate shapes form when the temperature in the clouds is  10°-18°F

Star shaped crystals form.  ,  18°-23°F

Columns form 18°-23°F.

needles form from 23°-27°F

the plates reappear. from 27°-32°F

Each snowflake is made up of from 2 to about 200 separate crystals.

Snow crystals grow and get heavier as they fall towards Earth.  If the crystals spins like tops as their shape may be perfectly symmetrical when they hit the Earth. Falling snow crystals attach other snow crystals as they fall and clump together forming snowflakes.  Not all crystals are proportional. If they have fallen on an angle they may turn out lopsided. Each snowflake is made up of from 2 to about 200 separate crystals.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  The most awesome snow flake site http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos2/photos2.htm
Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.pa.msu.edu/~sciencet/ask_st/100897.html

Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class
Image 1. courtesy of  http://aura.gaia.com/photos/10/95804/xlarge/Winter_snow_flakes.jpg

Image 2. courtesy of   http://webecoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snowflakes.jpg

Happy Peaceful & Healthy Holidays

from All of us at Nature’s Crusaders.

Thank you for all your comments and support this year.

” Two thumbs up-Christmas trees smiling and we breathe less CO2 this year”


It is a healthier holiday season this 2009 with less CO2 for us to breathe and more carbon sequestering

Evergrow Christmas Trees and Carbonsync Christmas are helping ‘green’ Christmas this year.

Thanks to the green thinking of the two Canadian Christmas trees rental companies, we will all breathe easier this year. This blessing of less CO2 in the air will continue for many years to come. Instead of selling cut trees, they sell live potted trees decorated for the holidays. The after the festivities are over these tow firms will pick up the trees and take care of them until next year.

Live Christmas trees clean air

This eco-friendly Christmas tree rental service for the holiday period costs 100 dollars, Evergrow Christmas Trees and Carbonsync Christmas will drop off a potted tree at your home or business and pick it up three weeks later after all the presents have been opened and Santa has parked his sleigh. Carbonsync plans to donate its trees to habitat restoration groups for replanting after Christmas, while Evergrow says it will return them to a nursery to be cared for until next Christmas when they may be rented out again.

Christmas trees grow from six to 12 years before being harvested and used for one Christmas. Then if the trees are not recycled they end up in the landfill. Wasted time, transportation costs, fuel, human resources and creating fire hazards in many homes as they dry oout.

These young healthy Canadian trees will also continue to draw CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering the the carbon helping slow global warming instead of ending up as waste. If a family gets attached to their holiday tree, they may even rent the same tree year after year from Evergrow, as long as it has not grown too large to fit in their living room.

Resources

Excerpts and Image courtesy of http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Canadian_firms_tout_green_Christmas_trees_999.html

“Saving the Amazonian rainforests is taking to the SKY”


The good news and the challenge for reforesting our rain forests

Our rain forests around the world are being destroyed at a rate of 36 football fields deforested each minute.


The good news:

More individuals and companies around the world are helping save the rainforests and thus save all of us.

Why must we stop the deforestation?

Forests sequester or trap excessive CO2 in the air and reuse it to make oxygen needed to keep us inhaling that vital life enhancing substance and the hold the excess CO2 in the soil. This carbon sequestering helps decrease global warming so life as we have grown to appreciate it continues unabated on the earth. Forests help increase the moisture on th planet and act as the earth’s lungs.

Destruction of Amazon rainforest

Destruction of Amazon rainforest

SkyTV has teamed up with with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Sky TV will be working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) over the next three years in an attempt to save one billion trees in the Amazon region.

The Sky Rainforest Rescue Drive aims to help reforest three million hectares (about 7.41 million acres) area in the region of Acre, Brazil.

“Go world family we can make a difference and make the world better, healthier and safer for all of us. Thank You all “-Mother Nature and Nature’s Crusaders.

Brazil deforestation

Brazil deforestation

Sky TV is creating two films to be shown on Sky One HD during 2010 that will encourage viewers to get involved and to donate to the cause. It takes £10 ( about 15 USD) in order to save five hundred trees. For each tree funded by their viewers, Sky TV will match the donations up to £4 million (6,0028 million USD).

Some of the challenges and the hope

Even though there is no way that the cutting of old growth tress in the Amazon can be totally compensated for with these reforesting projects it will help the planet over time if these trees can mature. According to the WWF, the pace of deforestation “generates around 20 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Countries that border these great tropical forests around the world are being clearcut to grow biofuel crops and wood products like stationery and toilet paper. The massive eradication of forests for quick financial gain benefits the major companies involved at the expense of the locals and the world health and welfare and must be stopped. An example of one country’s loss is Argentina. Just 30 percent of its original forests is still standing. This pattern is repeated around the world

We can change this. Refuse to buy products from companies involved in forest, ocean and land destruction. We can all be Nature’s Crusaders every time we go to buy a product or service and financial contributions to groups that are working actively to save our rainforests.

Please comment.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/091022173910.dhhdvne4.html

Excerpts courtesy of http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/sc_afp/environmentclimateargentinawwf

Image courtesy of http://3.bp.blogspot.com/nasa_amazon_deforestation.gif

Image courtesy of http://www.saawinternational.org/brazil-stephenferry-getty460.jpg

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