Mes: febrero 2021

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce and 21 business groups launched a new campaign to urge the New Mexico state legislature to refocus its efforts on economic recovery and expanding opportunities for workers and businesses. The campaign kicked off with a full-page ad running today in nine of the state’s largest newspapers.

The New Mexico legislature is currently working to fast-track more than 20 bills that will make economic recovery more difficult. A partial list of the harmful legislation shows everything from bills that would potentially close our rural hospitals to eliminating billions of dollars in revenue for New Mexico schools. These bills would not only create regulatory uncertainty, but stymie efforts to safely reopen the state’s economy, working against the best interests of more than two million New Mexicans who call the state home. As the ad points out, neighboring states of Arizona, Colorado and Texas rank among the top 20 states for business; New Mexico ranks 48th.

«New Mexico is at a crossroads, and we need to decide what kind of opportunities we want our children and future generations to have,» said Rob Black, President and CEO of the New Mexico of Commerce. «Unfortunately, so many of the bills being fast tracked through state legislative committees will put our shared vision for the future at risk. We must work together to ensure an equitable and prosperous future for all, and the time for that is now.»

«Santa Fe is the tourism hub for New Mexico and the industry is essential for both our local and state economy. We need the legislature to focus on re-starting and supporting this crucial sector of the economy. We are at a turning point where we can salvage and then recover beyond the losses, we have experienced in the tourism industry.» said Bridget Dixson, President and CEO of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce.

«As our state struggles to overcome a tumultuous and economically devastating year, we look to our state elected officials to provide a legislative environment that creates new opportunities for our children and attracts new investments, revenue streams and jobs for New Mexico – now and for the future,» said Hayley Klein, Executive Director of the Artesia Chamber of Commerce. «We are particularly concerned at how some of these bills will impact the backbone of our local economy here in southeast New Mexico, namely the energy sector. If these high paying jobs disappear, there are few if any other opportunities for our workers.»

«We work hard to advance the civic and business interests of not only Farmington, but the entire Four Corners region,» said Jamie Church, President and CEO of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce. «Unfortunately, several proposed bills in the state legislature would kneecap these efforts and make an already bleak economic outlook worse. We have suffered considerably in recent years as state and federal efforts targeted energy producers in our region, and these bills aren’t providing any relief; they’re piling on. We all deserve better. Our lawmakers must collaborate with us to ensure we do not continue to lose out on valuable investments and opportunities to neighboring states.»

«New Mexicans are already struggling to provide for their families and make ends meet amid the devastating economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,» Bill Lee, CEO of the Gallup McKinley-County Chamber of Commerce, said. «Now, proposed bills circulating through our state legislation stand to cost New Mexicans billions of dollars in revenue in the near term – creating an insolvable business climate and jeopardizing the quality of life for our friends, families and neighbors. We need the help of our state legislators to provide economic relief to our state.»

The full coalition includes: Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce, Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, Angel Fire Chamber of Commerce, Artesia Chamber of Commerce, Carlsbad Mainstreet, Clovis Industrial Development Corporation, Economic Development Corporation of Lea County, Economic Forum of Albuquerque, Farmington Chamber, Gallup–McKinley County Chamber of Commerce, Greater East Mountain Chamber of Commerce, Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, NAIOP, New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, New Mexico Chile Association, New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, Portales Roosevelt County Chamber, Rio Rancho Regional Chamber, Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce.

Visit OpportunityNM.org for more information.

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SOURCE New Mexico Chamber of Commerce

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — As a 1% for the Planet member, Good Culture, the premium cultured dairy brand that aims to make real healing foods available to all, has partnered with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) to create the Path to Pasture program that will help support soil health and utilization of pasture on family dairy farms.

Through the Path to Pasture program with DFA’s sustainability team and associated nonprofits, funds from Good Culture will be leveraged to provide farmers with education on and access to sustainable, regenerative agriculture farming practices that are critical in delivering nutrient-dense foods to the masses. The Path to Pasture pilot program will initially be offered to farmers located in the Minnesota and Wisconsin milkshed that are interested in enhancing soil or pasture health. Initial outreach and commitments have begun in 2020 with implementation of new resources and processes to start in spring 2021. Consultations will continue through for mid-summer 2021 with implementation for those in the program to follow in the fall.

«At Good Culture, we are committed to creating good for people, animals and the planet, and soil health and regenerative agriculture plays a vital role in this,» said founder Jesse Merrill. «Through the Path to Pasture program and our partnership with DFA, we aim to support farmers by providing them access to regenerative agriculture farming resources which will create healthier soil; grow more nutrient-dense foods; ensure that our animals are outside on pasture; and sequester carbon.»

«DFA and our farm family-owners are committed to sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint,» says David Darr, senior vice president and chief strategy and sustainability officer at DFA. «Continuous improvements in soil health, including development of pasture, are important parts of our overall sustainability strategy. We are excited to establish Path to Pasture as a new program to educate, share best practices and promote continuous improvement with our members.»

Through Good Culture’s long-standing membership with 1% for the Planet, the brand also works with Kiss The Ground to provide access to scholarships for soil health training and testing. With each cup of organic Good Culture sold, 1 percent of the sales goes towards transitioning conventional farms to regenerative agriculture practices with a focus on planned grazing. Since 2017, 14 scholarships have been awarded to farmers and producers.

The Path to Pastures program announcement also comes soon after the brand announced it is a Certified B Corporation, This certification is reserved for businesses that are a force for good and dedicated to creating a more inclusive and sustainable economy at the highest standard. To learn more about Good Culture, please visit www.goodculture.com or follow along on Instagram at @good_culture.

About Good Culture:

Good Culture is on a mission to make real, healing foods available to all without hurting animals or the planet. Met with acclaim since the brand’s founding in 2015, Founders Jesse Merrill and Anders Eisner saw that cottage cheese, an overlooked and undervalued category, had the potential to be catapulted to the forefront of the real food trend, so they decided to shake up and reinvigorate the dairy aisle with the first certified organic, pasture-raised, stabilizer and additive-free cottage cheese. Good Culture leads the way with its organic, pasture-raised, high-protein, low-sugar, thick and creamy product that never uses gums, thickeners, or chemical preservatives. This disruptive company is dedicated to using only real foods and simple ingredients across their growing portfolio of cultured foods. The overwhelming success of their flagship product led to expansion into other cultured food offerings such as probiotic-rich sour cream.

About DFA: 

Dairy Farmers of America is a national, farmer-owned dairy cooperative focusing on quality, innovation and the future of family dairies. While supporting and serving more than 13,000 family farm-owners, DFA manufactures a variety of dairy products, including fluid milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, dairy ingredients and more that connect our Cooperative’s family farms to family tables with regional brands such as Country Fresh, Meadow Gold, Friendly’s Ice Cream, Borden® Cheese, Plugra® Butter and Kemps® to name a few. On a global scale, we work with some of the world’s largest food companies to develop ingredients their customers are craving, while staying committed to social responsibility and ethical farming. For more information, please visit dfamilk.com.

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SOURCE Good Culture

BUSAN, South Korea, Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Rapid global urbanization has dramatically changed the face of our planet, polluting our atmosphere with greenhouse gases and causing global warming. It is the need of the hour to control our activities and find more sustainable alternatives to preserve what remains of our planet for the generations to come.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO) make up a large proportion of industrial flue gases. Recent research has shown that certain microorganisms are capable of metabolizing these gases into useful by-products. Thus, attempts are now being directed to using microbes to recycle these gases and convert them into useful chemicals in a process known as ‘carbon capture and utilization’ (CCU). This is a step beyond the current widespread practice of ‘carbon capture and storage’ (CCS). However, such CCU requires high energy input making the scaling up of this process difficult and expensive. How can this process then be optimized for maximum output?

A team of researchers from Korea, led by Prof. Jung Rae Kim from Pusan National University, have answered this question for a newer CCU system called the bioelectrochemical system (BES). Prof. Kim explains, «We have developed a ‘bioelectrosynthetic process’ in which electroactive bacteria convert CO/CO₂  into useful metabolites like acetate and volatile fatty acids using electricity as the reducing power.» The scientists were able to optimize BESs to increase their efficiency by 2 to 6 times that of current systems for CO gas. Their findings are published in Bioresource Technology since January 2021.

The two-chamber BES they used had several special features that achieved this. The cathode contained an electro-active biofilm, and the anode produced hydrogen ions via water electrolysis. These chambers were divided by an ion exchange membrane (IEM), which controlled the flow of protons and electrons between the chambers. Further, while the former contained microbial culture media, the latter contained mechanisms to control the initial pH of the system. In addition, a quinone electron mediator was used.

They found that, given the right IEM—one that allowed protons but not oxygen to pass through—an acidic pH in the anode chamber caused a higher proton concentration gradient across the membrane, which was key to enhancing acetate production and the synthesis of longer chain fatty acids in the cathode chamber. The quinone-dependent mediators improved electron transfer and increased product formation.

Prof. Kim states, «Since CO is a more reduced gas than CO₂, perhaps unsurprisingly, the coulombic efficiency for CO was double that for CO₂. CO is a major component in the industrial off-gas of most steel mill processes and biomass gasification. Via this BES conversion, it can be a valuable feedstock for various bioprocesses. This is the first study that makes the conversion of CO via BESs commercially viable.» Highlighting the applications further, he continues: «The microbes self-replicate, making this BES an economical solution. That combined with the efficiency we’ve achieved and the optimal system we’ve created should make this of sufficient interest to industries such that this becomes commercial industrial machinery within 5 years.»

This is one way in which the earth will be made cleaner, greener, and cooler!

Reference

Title of original paper: Supply of proton enhances CO electrosynthesis for acetate and volatile fatty acid productions

Journal: Bioresource Technology

DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124245

About Pusan National University

Website: https://www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/Main.do

About Professor Jung Rae Kim

Dr. Jung Rae Kim is a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Pusan National University.

Media Contact:

Young-suk Hwang
+82 51 510-1311
291670@email4pr.com 

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SOURCE Pusan National University

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Amid a renewed push in Congress and states to enact new gig economy restrictions following California’s controversial AB 5, a new study released today by the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute finds that enacting these harmful laws would hinder innovation and restrict people’s ability to become entrepreneurs and provide for their families.

Click here to download the study

«By using technology to create innovative new platforms bringing together buyers and sellers, the gig economy helps entrepreneurs prosper and lowers customer costs,» said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics and the study’s author.

«The Small Business Gig,» the fourth paper in PRI’s Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity series, explores how the gig economy promotes small business growth and development. Previous papers in the series explored how entrepreneurship lifts people out of poverty, and how entrepreneurship can alleviate America’s health care challenges.

Winegarden explores how the gig economy is becoming an increasingly important way Americans buy goods and services and earn a living.  A 2018 Gallup survey found that 36 percent of American workers today have some type of a gig worker arrangement.

Yet proponents of laws like AB 5 argue that gig economy firms are exploitative. But Winegarden cites an ADP Research Institute survey documenting that 70 percent of gig workers are independent workers by choice, while research from the Gig Economy Data Hub found that more than two-thirds were satisfied with their current work arrangement.

Instead of enacting misguided laws like AB 5, Winegarden recommends that state and federal leaders embrace gig economy entrepreneurship by enacting free-market policies to:

• Repeal regulations that have imposed terrible burdens on people’s ability to become gig economy entrepreneurs;
• Reform unnecessary regulations that create disadvantages for traditional economy firms, while imposing the smallest necessary regulations on gig economy companies; and
• Modernize health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits so gig economy workers have access to the same tax-free benefits as workers for more traditional companies.

«Government shouldn’t be picking economic winners and losers through new restrictions that limit people’s freedom to become entrepreneurs while preserving the old way of doing work,» Winegarden said. «Instead, Washington and Sacramento should adopt the right policies so the gig economy continues to drive innovation, economic growth, and higher incomes.»

Dr. Wayne Winegarden is a Senior Fellow in Business and Economics, and Director of the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at Pacific Research Institute. 

The Pacific Research Institute (www.pacificresearch.org) champions freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility by advancing free-market policy ideas.  Follow PRI on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Madison Miller
291698@email4pr.com
(202) 471-4228 ext. 125

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SOURCE Pacific Research Institute

BOSTON, Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Dr. Keith Ablow, Founder of Pain-2-Power, the life coaching and counseling platform designed to clarify one’s true goals, restore personal autonomy and fuel success, has launched the Pain-2-Power Person of the Week.

The Pain-2-Power Person of the Week will be revealed in a blog authored each Monday by Dr. Ablow and posted on his website www.pain-2-power.com.  The site already offers action sheets, ebooks and inspiring videos which empower individuals to define, pursue and reach their personal and professional goals.

This week’s Pain-2-Power Person of the Week has already been chosen.

«The first Pain-2-Power Person of the Week is Michael van der Veen,» Dr. Ablow wrote. «Attorney van der Veen was one of President Donald Trump’s lawyers at his second impeachment trial. He doesn’t just take on clients the political Right would necessarily embrace. He has represented those seeking to provide clean needles to drug users in an effort to combat HIV/AIDS. He has represented clients alleging police brutality. He also represented a client suing President Trump for what the client alleged were baseless claims that the U.S. Postal Service was involved in voter fraud.

«This time, though, van der Veen was standing up for the President,» Ablow continued, «because he saw no evidence that the President had inciting an insurrection at the Capitol Building on January 6.  As most everyone knows, van der Veen prevailed. That isn’t unusual for him because he is a warrior for truth who is fearless in its pursuit.»

Dr. Ablow is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 16 books, including Trump Your Life and Living the Truth.  He was a Fox News Channel Contributor for ten years and now appears regularly on Newsmax TV.  Dr. Ablow has also appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, 20/20, Oprah and a host of other national television shows. He was a columnist for The Washington Post and Good Housekeeping magazine and has been published by Newsweek, USA Today, the New York Times, the New York Post and a host of other national publications. 

«It is more important than ever before,» Dr. Ablow said, «to study the example of those who stick to their principles, who are willing to endure pain to create personal or social change and who stand up to those forces in this world that seek to silence individual voices and the free exchange of ideas.  The Pain-2-Power Person of the Week will be such an individual.»

Dr. Ablow works 1:1 with Pain-2-Power clients who include transformational entrepreneurs, artists, politicians and investors.  He has worked with individuals throughout the United States and in several other countries, including England, Canada, Mexico, France, Israel, Japan, Dubai, Kuwait and Italy.

To become a client of Dr. Ablow, email 291637@email4pr.com or call 978-462-1125.

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SOURCE Dr. Keith Ablow