Civic Leader Backs Greater Sensitization of Judges to Reduce Tourist Harassment

Former President of St Ann Chamber of Commerce Joe Issa has said he is in support of sensitising judges to tourist harassment as it would help them better understand the problem and how to deal with such cases.

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

Joe Issa, Executive Chairman, Cool Group trading as Cool Corp – a multifaceted group of over 50 companies that are being leveraged internationally.

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett (fifth left) and Chief Justice Zaila McCalla (sixth left) flanked by parish court judges at the recent tourist harassment sensitization workshop held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.

“I think it’s a great idea. It will help them to better understand the problem of tourist harassment and what it is doing to them and the many businesses who depend on their spend, from craft vendors, boutiques and restaurants, down to the jelly coconut man on the street.

“Tourist harassment is a big problem and the useful work of the special reserve officers who patrol resort areas need to be backed up by the appropriate sentences in order to deter the practice and protect the tourism industry,” said Issa.

Issa was commenting on a recent tourist harassment sensitization workshop that was held for parish court judges at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.

This comes on the heels of a similar approval by Issa involving the training of Supreme Court judges in maritime law, as Jamaica seeks to enhance its capacity to handle claims arrising out of shipping disputes, accidents, pollution and arrests at sea.

Speaking against the backdrop of concerns about harassment in the tourism sector, Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, is said to have made a strong call for stakeholders to be more attentive in dealing with the cultural differences of visitors.

According to The Gleaner, the minister said at the workshop that cultural differences can negatively impact Brand Jamaica if those at the sector are not aware of how to deal with the millions of diverse people who visit the island each year.

“We (Jamaicans) are a touchy-feely people and while that very warm, nice feeling is very welcome for a lot of people, for many others, it is huge turn-off,” Bartlett was quoted as stating.

“Yes, while sometimes what we call harassment is described by some to be warm and friendly, it’s a different world out there with different types of people. We feel that it is a marketing strategy to show how important our goods are, but many visitors regard badgering as being an annoyance,” he reportedly added.

He informed that the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) was gearing up to further help the sector in terms of that cultural realignment as a means of mitigating the problem.

About travel advisories warning visitors against certain sections of the country or about the country itself, Bartlett said that it was not so much his job to fight the advisories, but rather to swiftly correct the concerns and problems stated, according to the article.

“People wonder perhaps why I haven’t responded to these advisories, but you can’t fight that. What you have to do is correct and do what you must do, that is my job,” he reportedly explained.

Welcoming the opportunity to educate judicial officers to concerns relating to harassment in the tourist industry, Chief Justice Zaila McCalla said the courts must be made aware of the negative impact that can result. She said it could lead to the country’s inability to attract investment, the article said.

“Our courts are well aware of the importance of our tourist industry, as special provisions are made for dealing with certain cases on Saturdays and Sundays when necessary,” she was quoted as saying.

Civic Leader Congratulates New JACRA Chair, Says He’s A Good Fit

Former president of the St Ann Chamber of Commerce Joe Issa has congratulated Dennis Boothe on his appointment as chairman of board of directors for the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), describing him as a best fit for the job which took effect last December.

Chair of JACRA, Dennis Boothe

Head of Cool Corp, Joe Issa

 

“From what I read about Mr Boothe he appears to be fit for the job and I wish him well in representing the interests of farmers, who make a significant contribution to the growth of the economy.

“His financial expertise as a former banker and chairman of FINSAC (the Financial Sector Adjustment Company) and advisor to the IMF(International Monetary Fund),  should enable him to achieve operational efficiency and revenue growth.

“I also understand he is a former GM (general manager) of Jamaica Citrus Growers, so he should have a good understanding of farm operations and commodity markets,” said issa.

Boothe also reportedly served as special advisor to the minister of finance during 2008.

Gusland McCook, acting director general of JACRA, has reportedly confirmed that business consultant Dennis Boothe has been appointed chairman of the board of JACRA.

JACRA’s first chairman, Richard Pandohie, resigned soon after taking the position last year.

McCook said that a new board has been named although consisting primarily of the same members as in 2018.

“A board has been named. It has not changed much. It is pretty much the same as what was there before,” McCook reportedly told the Financial Gleaner.

He said that Boothe would bring to JACRA “a wealth of experience, especially from the coffee perspective. He was on some boards prior to now. For someone who has been there and done that in both financial and agricultural circles, I am sure he will bring a wealth of experience to this new enterprise”.

JACRA, the new commodities regulator responsible for overseeing the coconut, spices, coffee, and cocoa sectors, launched operations in January 2018.

In one year of operations, it is said to have been beset by controversy as producers and manufacturers protested a new cess imposed in March last year. The cess is intended to fund JACRA’s operations, which include regulation of product quality.

According to the Gleaner, it began to impose fees on growers and processors and non-agricultural traders with a cess on six crops – turmeric, ginger, pimento, coffee, and cocoa, ranging from US$0.18 to US$2.40 per kilogramme, with coffee facing the highest charges.

Payment of the cess by a grower, processor, manufacturer, importer or exporter is due 10 days after the sale of the product. The charge doubles if the entity fails to adhere to the payment schedule. They must also file annual sales records with JACRA, for which a breach incurs a fine of $3 million.

Manufacturers reportedly protested the increase in costs last year.

When contacted, Boothe reportedly said that he had no comment regarding changes expected in 2019, noting that he had not yet been officially briefed.

He is described online as a business-turnaround consultant focused on helping emerging businesses achieve operational and revenue growth.

Couples’ Pioneer Workers Honored – Joey Lauds Staff For Extraordinary Loyalty And Devotion To Duty

Praise was heaped on nearly 30 employees who have served Couples Hotel, Tower Isle, for the 15 years of its existence. The employees stood tall at the hotel’s 15^th birthday bash on the lawns of Couples, one of the five SuperClubs resorts in Jamaica, Wednesday.

General manager Joey Issa lauded the hotel staff for “exemplary, extraordinary loyalty and devotion to duty.”

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

Praise also came from Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who said the hotel had to continue its tradition of service and that he had met several of the guests who had come back to Couples several times, noting that the repeat business was a part of the formula for success. Chairman of Couples, John Issa also praised the staff in general and spoke about the record of Couples’ achievements. Couples is completing a week of celebrations surrounding the 15^thanniversary. And man of the moment was pantry chef, 63-year-old Simeon Weir, a 43-year veteran of both Couples and its predecessor, the grand Tower Isle Hotel.

Mr. Weir has been on property since 1949, when Tower Isle first opened for business. He has never worked anywhere else.

And Mr. Issa praised him very richly not only for his longevity at Couples, but also for being “ the very epitome of what true loyalty and exemplary professionalism in the truest tradition is all about.”

Mr. Issa added: “We all salute this dedicated, warm-hearted co-worker. He’s made us all very proud, over the years!”

The general manager had high praise for his other 27 long-serving employees, too. “To us at Couples, you’re all solid gold,” he told them. “You’ve all contributed extensively to what Couples has achieved – formidable recognition in the world marketplace as a first – class resort.

“I thank you all.”

The other 27 long-serving employees honored were: Grehen Caiden, reservation manager; telephone operator, Hubert Mortimer; Sanitation Department workers, Pastley Martin and Agustus Williams; Godfrey Sinclair, from the bell desk; Esmilyn Waylor-Williams, Yvonne Russell-Bishop, Jennifer Gordon, Lorna Williams, Estria Richards, Owen Pottinger and Lenworth Laing, all from the housekeeping department; the assistant sous chef, Eric Black; Dewar Davis, Devon Thomas and Lincoln Matthews, from the kitchen; the food service manager, Lennox Lofters; dining room supervisors, Althea Brown-Farrell and Denzil Thompson.

Glenroy McIntosh, Byron Wynter and Joseph Stephens, from the grounds department; maintenance supervisors, Ronald Barrett; financial controller, Doreen Fox; chief engineer, Lloyd Parris, and electrician, Mr. Winston Baxter, were also honored.

Classy reopening of Ironshore Golf Club – Joey Issa Thanks All For Their Support.

The sound of a Cuban concerto, the taste of pink salmon and the fizzle of champagne were a precursor to the classy evening that awaited guests at the cocktail reception put on by the SuperClubs Ironshore Golf Club, Montego Bay on Saturday night.

Montegonians were given a ‘thank you’ treat by the hotel chain which leased the 18-hole championship golf course little over one year ago from developers Joe and Angelina Whitter. SuperClubs now operates two of the 12 courses the island boasts.

Executive vice-president of SuperClubs, Joey Issa, expressed gratitude to the Montego Bay community and members of the golf club for their support in putting up with the renovation exercise over the pat 14 months. “Though we are still in the sowing stage, we foresee a lot of growth in the future. Without the support of our members and the Montego Bay community we would not have made it to this stage,” he said.

The Ironshore Golf Club, which is probably the most popular course used by locals, has been refurbished. For an undisclosed sum, the clubhouse has ben renovated with new pro shop, baggage and cart houses.

In addition 40 new golf carts have been bought and old maintenance equipment replaced with new ones. The property now boasts a large banquet area capable of accommodating between 150 and 200 persons comfortably.

“We have redone the greens, refurbished the irrigation system, built three ponds and can accommodate guests in the two and one-bedroom furnished apartments, that give a spectacular view of the golf course and the ocean,” said Gary Williams, vice-president of operations, SuperClubs.

Jamaica Golfing Association president Arthur Ziadie travelled 120 miles from Kingston top show his organization’s commitment to making Jamaica the golfing destination of the Caribbean. Montego Bay attorneys-at-law George Thomas, Clayton Morgan; businessmen Arden Griffiths, Robert Russell and politician Edmund Bartlett spent most of the night talking politics.

“The joint venture between the Whitters and SuperClub which has seen the refurbishing exercise has brought to five the number of world class courses on the elegant corridor of Montego Bay,” said Mr. Bartlett, JLP’s spokesman on tourism.

Golfers Phyllis Jones, Denny Chandiram, Jimmy Wright, along with Craig Martin, Sue McManus, Sam James, Norma Foreman, Peter Massey, Dr. Marco Brown and Hans Schenk were just a few of the persons who came out to support the golf club manager, Suzette Smith-Burgess and her team.

Picture caption: Pat Samuels (left), general manager, regional offices, Jamaica Tourist Board, chats with Joey Issa(centre) SuperClubs vice-president and Arthur Ziadie, president of the Golfing Association of Jamaica.

Eucharistic Minister Hails Jamaican Mothers, Says They Endure More than Their Fair Share

National honoree for business and philanthropy Joe Issa, who employs many women in his Cool Group of companies, one of a handful of large corporations to locate their headquarters in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, is hailing all Jamaican mothers, as they celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 14, 2017, stating that they have endured more than their fair share.

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

“I wish all Jamaican mothers a Happy Mother’s Day! I also wish for them continued strength and imagination as they continue to endure more than their fare share in bringing up the countries next generation,” said Issa, in an interview.

He adds, “In fact, in most cases they raise their children all by themselves, and where, by comparison, a man would wobble doing so, women tend to walk a straight path, begging the question: where do they get the strength to endure so much?”

According to the Statistics Institute of Jamaica, most Jamaican households are traditionally headed by women, a phenomenon which is believed to have given birth to the popular phrase: “My Mother Who Fathered Me”.

Also, the little or no attention given by many fathers to their children’s well being, particularly their progress at school has created the intuitive saying that “Lunch Money Alone Is Not Enough”.

Contending that in fact, many fathers don’t even provide the lunch money, Issa said, “That cannot be acceptable, as many children, who are the country’s future labour force are going to school on ‘hungry belly’.”

It’s not the first time that Issa is raising the issue of the lack of support given to mothers by fathers. As a member of the past president’s advisory committee of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce, Issa has urged fathers “to not only provide the lunch money for your children, but to also take an interest in their school work and let them feel your love and affection.”

Noting that Mother’s Day provides a great opportunity to show support for mothers, Issa urges all guilty fathers, as well as sons and daughters, “to right their wrong on Sunday and recommit to playing their role in support of mothers.”

For those in the Diaspora Issa, who is also a Eucharistic Minister of the Roman Catholic Church, suggests an annual pilgrimage of fathers and children to pay homage to mothers in Jamaica, positing that “a well-supported motherhood in Jamaica could make a positive difference in our future crime rate and quality of workforce.”

Sharp Rise In Methane Levels Threatening World Climate Targets Worrying – Activist

Environment activist Joe Issa, says it is worrying that the level of the most dangerous greenhouse gas – methane – in the atmosphere has risen sharply, and scientists don’t know why.

Cattle grazing, a major source of methane emission

“It has been difficult enough getting world leaders to agree on the level of cut in CO₂  (carbon dioxide) emission needed, in order to keep temperature rise to 1 – 2 degrees centigrade above preindustrial level.

“Now, I am learning that there has been a sharp rise in the level of methane in the atmosphere, which is even more dangerous than carbon dioxide in causing global warming, and it’s not as easy for the world leaders to agree on emission cuts as was thought to be the case, because it’s not clear what’s causing methane emission to rise so sharply,” said Issa, who has supported the ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign during the last two global warming conferences.

Issa’s comments come as experts warn that failure to act immediately, risks a spike in global temperatures, stating that livestock are a leading source of the rise in methane levels.

According to the Guardian, livestock are a leading source of the rise in methane levels, and dramatic rises in atmospheric methane are threatening to derail plans to hold global temperature rises to 2C, citing warning from scientists.

The article citing a paper published recently, by the American Geophysical Union, in which researchers say sharp rises in levels of methane – which is a powerful greenhouse gas – have strengthened over the past four years, and, therefore, urgent action is now required to halt further increases in methane in the atmosphere, to avoid triggering enhanced global warming and temperature rises well beyond 2C.

Joseph Issa — Founder Cool Group of Companies

“What we are now witnessing is extremely worrying,” said one of the paper’s lead authors, Professor Euan Nisbet of Royal Holloway, University of London. “It is particularly alarming because we are still not sure why atmospheric methane levels are rising across the planet.”

Methane is said to be produced by cattle, and also comes from decaying vegetation, fires, coal mines and natural gas plants. It is many times more potent as a cause of atmospheric warming than carbon dioxide (CO2). However, it breaks down much more quickly than CO2 and is found at much lower levels in the atmosphere.

During much of the 20th century, levels of methane, mostly from fossil fuel sources, increased in the atmosphere but, by the beginning of the 21st century, it had stabilised, said Nisbet. “Then, to our surprise, levels starting rising in 2007. That increase began to accelerate after 2014 and fast growth has continued.”

According to the article, studies suggest these increases are more likely to be mainly biological in origin. However, the exact cause remains unclear. Some researchers believe the spread of intense farming in Africa may be involved, in particular in tropical regions where conditions are becoming warmer and wetter because of climate change. Rising numbers of cattle – as well as wetter and warmer swamps – are producing more and more methane, it is argued.

This idea is now being studied in detail by a consortium led by Nisbet, whose work is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. This month the consortium completed a series of flights over Uganda and Zambia to collect samples of the air above these countries.

“We have only just started analysing our data but have already found evidence that a great plume of methane now rises above the wetland swamps of Lake Bangweul in Zambia,” Nisbet was quoted as saying.

However, other scientists reportedly warned that there could be a more sinister factor at work: Natural chemicals in the atmosphere – which help to break down methane – may be changing because of temperature rises, causing it to lose its ability to deal with the gas.

Our world could therefore be losing its power to cleanse pollutants because it is heating up, a climate feedback in which warming allows more greenhouse gases to linger in the atmosphere and so trigger even more warming.

According to the article, it was assumed, in Paris, that dealing with methane levels in the atmosphere would be relatively easy.

In 2016, in Paris, it said nations agreed to cooperate to hold global temperature rises to 2C above preindustrial levels and, if possible, to keep that rise to under 1.5C. It was recognised that achieving this goal – mainly by curbing emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels – would always be difficult to achieve. Accelerating increases in a different greenhouse gas, methane, means that this task is going to be much, much harder.

This point is said to have been supported by Martin Manning of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. “Methane is the gas … that keeps us to a 2C rise in global temperatures. And even more significantly, we do not really know why.”

If nothing can be done about this, he reportedly added, then even more cuts will have to be made in CO2 emissions. Continued increases in methane levels will only make this situation worse.

This point was reportedly backed by Nisbet. “It was assumed, at the time of the Paris, agreement, that reducing the amount of methane in the atmosphere would be relatively easy and that the hard work would involve cutting CO2 emissions.

“However, that does not look so simple any more. We don’t know exactly what is happening.

“Perhaps emissions are growing or perhaps the problem is due to the fact that our atmosphere is losing its ability to break down methane.

“Either way we are facing a very worrying problem. That is why it is so important that we unravel what is going on – as soon as possible.”

American Refuges: How Climate Change Might Force US Migration North And Where They Could Go – Newsweek

As the earth heats up from above and below forcing entire ecosystems from flora and fauna to insets, birds and fish, to seek higher and cooler ground, such as the northern United States, Jamaican environment advocate Joe Issa, says humans should “take heed, or face the wrath of fiercer hurricanes and rising temperature and sea levels.”

Rcchester Mayor Lovely Warren welcomes migrants.

Issa, who has spoken about the vulnerability of small island states to global warming and has supported the global ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign, declares he is not a scientist, but believes “global warming is real and living species are reacting to it, warning of greater natural disasters to come.”

Issa was sharing a discussion about the possibility, or reality, that in the near future residents along the eastern seaboard and Florida could be seeking higher ground, creating a new wave of American climate refugees.

The discussion was sparked in Duluth, in the northern state of Minnesota, by Jesse Keenan, a faculty member of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard College, when he recently opened the floodgates to the idea that certain places may be prime to hordes of people fleeing Mother Nature’s wild side.

According to Newsweek, Keenan told The Duluth News Tribune, that Duluth was one of a few cities that could draw an onslaught of so-called “climigrants.” Buffalo, New York was another.

He touched on how humans may soon have to follow the lead of other creatures.

“What we understand is the northern migration of flora and fauna, fisheries and everything else in the Northern Hemisphere…. They’re moving north slowly,” he said. “So why wouldn’t people also do that?” Keenan said, according to The Duluth News Tribune, before partaking in the panel discussion for “Our Climate Futures: Meeting the Challenge in Duluth”.

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

It’s not just fish that are being watched and heading for cooler dwellings, but caribou, birds, insects and even plants. “Every organism has a certain set of conditions where it’s comfortable to live and reproduce,” Patrick Schoff, a biologist at the University of Minnesota Duluth reportedly told Newsweek.

That means it’s only natural to go where those conditions are met. And with the depletion of polar ice caps, dark sun-absorbing rocks are causing more heat and the changes are happening at warp speed.

“Biology is used to moving, but it’s not used to moving at the speed that we’re forcing it to,” he was quoted as saying.

This situation makes finding homes away from homes all the more crucial.

Lovely Warren, the mayor of Rochester, New York, reportedly described her city, where around 210,000 live, as “one of the snowiest cities in the country.” With 99 inches dumping a year, it competes on that score with big cities like Chicago or Minneapolis.

The city had already welcomed “a significant number” of displaced residents from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria tore through the island, and the mayor encourages the numbers in a city already hit with population decreases as manufacturing giants left and their workers with them. What she hopes for is a resurgence the likes of Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb—which all got their start in Rochester, the article said.

“Increasing our tax base will lead to more jobs and a more vibrant community for our businesses and residents, and we welcome an influx of citizens for any reason,” she reportedly wrote.

“Rochester was a city that had over 300,000 residents at one point – so we have ample housing stock to handle this,” she was quoted as saying.

The movement of a species—be it human or bird or insect—can cause adverse effects.

“If you increase a population by a certain amount, you increase the stress on everything including the food deliveries, infrastructure, water, streets and transportation,” Kristy Dahl, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Newsweek.

Dahl is seeing telltale signs of migration to the Northern Hemisphere. But some folks living in particularly vulnerable places are going to have a tough time selling a home whose worth is already sinking under water.

She pointed to Miami, where scientists are studying residential homes “exposed to flooding and appreciating at lower rates than those that don’t have that same flood risk.”

“There will be places within the next 30 years or so that would be significantly impacted by sea level rise,” she reportedly said.

This could render into dead zones some parts of the country where it’s too hot or too wet to stay.

Memories of super-storm Sandy which struck over Halloween in 2012 is still fresh. The East Coast was decimated by biblical storm surges that killed 117 people. Twenty-two of those deaths were in Staten Island, the report said.

Save for a few stragglers, the Oakwood Beach community is virtually gone. Many relocated out of New York and their homes razed, transformed into open space.

It is said that anyone who sold a home to the state, [it’s] back to nature forever. This back-to-the-land transformation witnessed in Oakwood Beach is repeating itself in southern swaths of Louisiana and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, which scientists believe are also becoming tough places to live.

Kevin Dorn is city manager in South Burlington, Vermont. Climate change  could wreak havoc for his some 19,000 denizens because of the city’s reliance on maple syrup production, which is climate sensitive.

Change of venue may give some protections from the elements—but clearly not everywhere, and not necessarily for long. Michael Mann, director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center, reportedly warned that there is only so far we as humans can run.

The article said there have been migrations in the past, citing the massive movement of people West to escape from the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. And throughout the earlier 20th century, millions of African-Americans fled the South in the Great Migration North.

Earthlings Are Colonizing Mars But Not In The Movies As Issa, Banson, Musk Sees A reality In The Making

Martians have been landing on earth in flying saucers for decades, colonizing and even having romantic relationships with Earthlings; but of course, that’s in the movies.

SpaceX workers crawl the lower section of the Test Hopper out to a launch pad near Boca Chica Beach, Texas, on March 8, 2019. Credit: Maria Pointer (bocachicaMaria)

In reality, it is Earthlings like Joe Issa, Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk who are envisioning colonizing Mars and providing opportunities for business relationships back on earth, and this time it’s actually in the making, as Musk prepares to test a prototype of the space vehicle, Star-ship, which will ferry people and cargo to and fro.

When contacted for comments Issa, who has previously supported the exploits of Musk whom he has not met personally,  and colleague Branson in whose “Centre for Entrepreneurship – Caribbean” he is a mentor, says he is delighted to hear of Elon Musk’s SpaceX launch of the ‘Test Hopper’ – a prototype for a giant Mars rocket ship – for the first time.

“I think regular missions to mars to deliver people and cargo is not about if, but when, and I see tremendous business opportunities there. This test represents a significant step towards achieving that goal,” said Issa, who is reportedly a science and technology enthusiast.

The news reportedly surfaced from notifications of road closure put in letter boxes of residents near Boca Chica Beach,  which is at the southernmost tip of Texas through which the Test Hopper was to be transported on its way to a launch pad on a site in the area that had been in the making since 2014 for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. However, Musk reportedly said in early 2018 that Boca Chica “will be dedicated to” Star-ship.

Earlier this month, SpaceX – the aerospace company founded by Musk -reportedly crawled the lower section of its mirror-polished Test Hopper out to the launch pad. Shortly afterward, engineers reportedly attached a single truck-sized Raptor rocket engine— the newest and most powerful such machine SpaceX has ever developed — to the base of the vehicle.

Head of Cool Corp, Joe Issa

The Test Hopper can’t launch into space, but it will trial crucial hardware and ideas that SpaceX needs to create a full-scale Star-ship (formerly called Big Falcon Rocket).

If fully realized, according to the article, Star-ship may stand roughly 400 feet tall, be fully reusable, and use a “bleeding” atmospheric reentry system. And if Musk’s “aspiration” dreams for the system come true, Star-ship may reach orbit in 2020, send its first crew around the moon in 2023, and launch the first people toward Mars in 2024. Ultimately, it might ferry up to 100 people and 150 tons of cargo at a time to the red planet.

But first, SpaceX needs to prove the basic concepts behind Star-ship work with its Test Hopper, the article said.

Test Hopper can’t fly into orbit around Earth. It’s a relatively crude and squat machine, with its lower section standing roughly 60 feet tall. The rocket ship is designed to fly on short “hops” that go no more than about 16,400 feet in the air, according to a Federal Communications Commission application.

Only last year, Issa hailed the possibility of sending packages to the moon by 2020, stating then, “I think it’s a terrific idea. It opens up enormous opportunities for businesses to invest in new products and services,” noting, “Who knows what else is out there waiting to be discovered and monetized.”

Issa said of the moon encounter: “One business opportunity could be to deploy drones to enter and photograph previously inaccessible terrains including craters and caves, and send back pictures that could be sold, or accessed at a cost. It would also be great collateral material for public relations and advertising.”

Issa says even as he joins Mr Musk and Sir Richard and others who look to mars and beyond for inspiration, “making the moon more accessible to us on earth may even rekindle the centuries-old romanticism with the moon, which was taken to new levels in song and the movies after we first landed there about four decades ago.”

Issa was at the time envisaging Coolcorp being among the first Jamaican companies to send packages to the moon, follow a Yahoo report about a United States company which aimed to deliver packages to the moon by 2020.

The report which was first published by AOL.com, said private lunar logistics company Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based company, is developing pioneering robotics technology that would enable companies as well as ordinary people to ship items, like rovers, time capsules or even a loved one’s ashes, to the moon.

Astrobotic, which has reportedly partnered with Earthly shipping giant DHL, is slated to launch its Peregrine Lunar Lander, which is designed to carry multiple packages to the surface of the moon, out of Florida’s Cape Canaveral on an Atlas V rocket in 2020.

John Thornton, the company’s CEO, reportedly said his goal is to go where no shipping company has gone before and “make the moon accessible to the world.”

The United States’ Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969, and according to Wikipedia, there have been six manned U.S. landings (between 1969 and 1972) and numerous unmanned landings, with no soft landings happening from 22 August 1976 until 14 December 2013.

According to Wikipedia, Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habitability potential.

Engineering interplanetary journeys is said to be complicated and the exploration of Mars has experienced a high failure rate, especially the early attempts. Roughly sixty percent of all spacecraft destined for Mars failed before completing their missions and some failed before their observations could begin. Some missions have met with unexpected success, such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, which operated for years beyond their specification.

 No sample return missions have been attempted for Mars and an attempted return mission for Mars’ moon Phobos (Fobos-Grunt) failed in 2011.

Five more missions are said to be in the late stages of development and fabrication, and will be launched between 2020 and 2021. These include the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover by Russia and ESA, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, the 2020 Chinese Mars Mission, the Hope Mars Mission by the United Arab Emirates, and India’s Mars Orbiter Mission 2.

Science Enthusiast Amused By Moon’s Behavior Happy Earth Not Affected

Science enthusiast Joe Issa is amused by the discovery that the moon has wrinkles and is shrinking, causing tremours that won’t affect us here on earth.

Man lands on the moon for the first time.

“This is amusing: the moon getting wrinkles and is shrinking and may some day disappear completely,” Issa quipped. “No more moonlight romance, no more high and low tides, and no more planting season for agricultural farmers. No more romanticism with the moon, period!”

Issa, who is usually in awe at scientific discoveries, this time finds entertainment in what at first seemed a frightening discovery until the scientists who detected the phenomenon clarified that there was nothing to worry about.

“What I find even more hilarious is the moon behaving like a grape, which wrinkles as it shrinks to a raisin. Apparently, the moon behaves the same way as it wrinkles as it shrinks, causing earthquakes, or more appropriately, moonquakes.

“But jokes aside, I’m relieved that all of this activity taking place on the moon is purely academic and has no real impact on earth; more so, the moon will not disappear and we won’t feel the moonquakes,” Issa joked.

Issa was commenting on the unsettling news carried by USA TODAY, that scientists have only recently detected that our favorite natural satellite – the moon – is shrinking,  causing “moonquakes”.

Joe Issa, Founder Cool Group of Companies

But according to the article, there is no cause for concern, citing an email to USA TODAY by co-author of the study Nicholas Schmerr, a University of Maryland geologist.

“As the moon cools, its overall size has contracted or decreased by about 100 meters over the past 4.5 billion years, which is why we say it is shrinking,” he was quoted as saying. “This puts the crust under compression.

“If there’s enough compressive stress, the crust can fail, producing earthquakes – or in this case moonquakes.

“Fortunately, the moon’s mass isn’t changing and the radius change is small, so the effect on Earth is minuscule, and it won’t affect tides or make the moon disappear,” Schmerr reportedly said.

To detect the quakes, researchers reportedly reviewed data gathered by Apollo astronauts back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, along with new information from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The LRO is an unmanned probe in orbit around the moon.

Here’s what’s going on up there, according to the study: Just as a grape wrinkles as it shrinks down to a raisin, the moon gets wrinkles as it shrinks. Unlike the flexible skin on a grape, however, the moon’s surface crust is brittle. Therefore, the crust breaks as the moon shrinks, forming “thrust faults” where one section of crust is pushed up over a neighboring part.

“Our analysis gives the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely producing moonquakes today as the moon continues to gradually cool and shrink,” said study lead-author Thomas Watters of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. “Some of these quakes can be fairly strong, around five on the Richter scale.”

What’s impressive, scientists say, is that the data from the Apollo program decades ago is still paying dividends for researchers today: “It’s a great testament to the continued benefits of the Apollo program that seismic data collected over 40 years ago is helping to confirm that the moon is likely tectonically active today,” Watters reportedly said.

Schmerr, the University of Maryland geologist, said the findings also “emphasize that we need to go back to the moon. We learned a lot from the Apollo missions, but they really only scratched the surface.” With a larger network of modern seismometers, we could make huge strides in our understanding of the moon’s geology. This provides some very promising low-hanging fruit for science on a future mission to the moon.”

The recent study was reportedly published in the peer-reviewed British journal Nature Geoscience.

Massive Rate Of Decarbonization Needed To Prevent Future Global Hunger, Strife Says Campaign Enthusiast

Major contributor in the fight against plastic pollution around the island  Joe Issa, urges on more students around the world into peaceful protest against the slow and inadequate response to global warming, citing the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and the Earth System Dynamics study, which confirm what many scientists have been warning for years: 2 degrees is not a “safe” threshold. Negative impacts are already underway and will only get worse.

Joseph “Joey” Issa

Issa explains that “whereas the leaders of the world have agreed to cap temperature rise to 1.5 – 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels, the studies show there is a huge difference between the impact of a 1.5 degree rise and a 2 degree rise. “

Issa, who supported the ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign during the last two international conferences on global warming, says he fears that “what seems to be an insignificant half a degree warmer is very deceptive as it can double the fresh water loss at 1.5 degrees and cause sea level to rise five times higher,” noting that “a 2-degree cap is not a safe zone.”

Issa sides new knowledge which says to delay decarbonization is to consign millions of people in tropical regions to less food and in the Mediterranean to less water — with all the attendant health problems and conflict. “We’re allowing more heat waves and higher seas. We’re giving up on the world’s coral reefs, and with them the hundreds of species that rely on them.”

Issa agrees with the study, which argues that “the longer we wait, the more human suffering and irreversible damage to ecosystems we inscribe into our collective future. But there’s no hiding, no escaping the imperative to decarbonize. It must be done if our species is to have a long-term home on Earth.”

But capping warming at 1.5 degrees will require major, sustained global action and there isn’t much time to take the necessary decisions, the studies say. “The window for hitting 1.5 degrees is rapidly closing…at the present rate of emissions, the carbon budget for a good (66 per cent) chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees will be used up in four years.”

According to the studies, to hit the brakes at 1.5 degrees, global carbon emissions would need to immediately begin plunging, faster than they ever have, and hit zero by 2050 (and then go negative), the Associated Press wrote.