Durban climate summit: ALBA to fight for humanity

Representatives from the Latin American and Caribbean governments that make up the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) met in Bolivia on November 17-18 to coordinate their battle plan ahead of the international climate change summit in Durban later this month

By Federico Fuentes | Green Left Weekly | November 28, 2011

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'Climate Policy is Neither Futile Nor Defeated'

Achim Steiner, 50, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, speaks to SPIEGEL about the current state of global climate negotiations ahead of the UN conference in Durban, South Africa. If the world can afford billions in bank bailouts, it can also subsidize climate protection to ensure a better future, he argues

Spiegel Online International | 25 Nov 2011

UN Environment Program head Achim Steiner says climate change policymaking is still in its infancy.

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Durban's UN Climate Stakes

Beginning on November 28 diplomats will convene in Durban, South Africa, for the 17th annual UN climate negotiations, known formally as the COP to UNFCCC. Those talks, which will last two weeks, are aimed at advancing international efforts to mitigate and adapt to global climate change. The proceedings will involve a mix of technical negotiations aimed at fleshing out and implementing past agreements, and political negotiations focused on elaborating the legal obligations of countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The talks will be much lower profile--and involve lower stakes--than the contentious gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark, two years ago. But several important issues are still on the table, and the consequences of decisions made in Durban could linger for many years

Michael A. Levi, David M. | Council on Foreign Relations | November 28, 211

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Why is economic growth so popular?

When the new Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Mario Monti, gave his acceptance speech to the Senate, a few days ago, he used 28 times the term "growth" and not even once terms such as "natural resources" or "energy". He is not alone in neglecting the physical basis of the world's economy: the chorus of economic pundits everywhere in the world is all revolving around this magic world, "growth".  But why? What is that makes this single parameter so special and so beloved?

By Ugo Bardi | Nov 26 2011 by Cassandra's legacy in Energy Bulletin | Nov 26, 2011

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A Mindful Path to a Steady State Economy

The Occupy Wall Street movement has struck a chord with its protests against growing inequality in the United States. Suddenly, it is conceivable that policies may be enacted in the next Congress that would raise taxes on the rich and make the American dream more affordable. But if all the Occupy movement does is to restore middle-class demand for large homes and late-model automobiles, it will have been a failure

By Rick Heller | The Daly News | Nov 28, 2011

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The new Story of Stuff: Can we consume less?

A new study finds that Britons are consuming less than they did a decade ago, with similar patterns being seen across Europe. Could this be the beginning of a trend in developed countries? Might we be reaching “peak stuff”?

By Fred Pearce | Nov 28 2011 by Yale Environment 360 in Energy Bulletin | Nov 28 2011

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A Pledge That Didn't Meet Its Potential

A pledge that could be worth $100 billion each year to developing countries was one of the few concrete outcomes of aUnited Nations climate summit meeting two years ago in Copenhagen that was otherwise seen as a fiasco

By JAMES KANTER | The New York Times | November 27, 2011

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Q&A: Durban COP17 climate talks

Environment ministers will gather in Durban in late November to continue efforts towards a global climate deal. What can we expect from the talks?

Hanna Gersmann and John Vidal | guardian.co.uk | Monday 28 November 2011

A local artist shows a Burundi PACJA logo before the launch of the Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) 'Trans African Climate Caravan of Hope', which is a climate change campaign. The caravan finished in Durban, South Africa, on 27 November, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP17. Photograph: James Akena/PACJA

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Durban and the climate change deniers

A repeat of the failed Copenhagen summit is likely unless the global north is prepared to take its fair share of CO2 cuts

Praful Bidwai | guardian.co.uk | 28 November 2011

Villagers shelter as floodwaters submerge houses and fields in Assam, where nearly a million people were displaced by extraordinary floods in 2010. Photograph: Str/EPA

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Welcome to Durban (excerpt from new book, 'Durban’s Climate Gamble')

[The following is an excerpt from a new book, Durban’s Climate Gamble: Playing the Carbon Markets, Betting the Earth, launched on November 23, 2011, ahead of the November 28–December 9 COP17 climate change talks by UNISA Press. It is posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with permission.]

By Patrick Bond | Links - International journal of socialist renewal | 25 November 2011

Above: Durban’s Climate Gamble editor Patrick Bond (right) and contributor Ashwin Desai provide a background to the Durban climate talks

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The Corporate Welfare State

Despite the crisis, it’s still socialism for the 1%, capitalism for the rest

By George Monbiot | The Guardian 22nd November 2011 in George Monbiot | November 21, 2011

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Concerns standoff between Borneo forest community and Malaysian palm oil developer may turn violent

A conflict between villagers in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province and a palm oil developer could turn violent over the company's decision to press forward with clearing of forest land used by the community, warns the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak

mongabay.com | November 23, 2011

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Green energy could trigger 'catastrophic' blackouts

'Unstable' renewable energy sources increase the risk of 'supra-regional' electricity blackouts with multi-billion pound consequences, insurance giant Allianz has warned

By Matthew Holehouse | The Telegraph | 23 Nov 2011

Renewable energy is volatile and risks triggering devastating power outages, Allianz have warned Photo: Alamy

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CoP 17: What will be achieved, and what to expect?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) published its agenda for the COP 17 on 19th September 2011. The current agenda has changed little since the COP 16 in Cancun in 2010 and the COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009

By: Asha Naznin | Climate Change Media Partnership | November 21st, 2011

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Brazil Officials Criticize Chevron Over Oil Spill

Chevron came under intense scrutiny in Brazil on Friday over an oil spill at an offshore field the company operates, with federal investigators here threatening fines for Chevron and potential prison terms for its officials if they are found guilty of violating environmental contamination laws

By SIMON ROMERO | The New York Times | November 18, 2011

The response to the spill, which Chevron said it was notified of on Nov. 8, is an important test for the authorities as Brazil moves to tap oil from its large recent offshore discoveries. [Rogerio Santana, via Reuters]

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Irwandi Yusuf, Indonesia’s “green governor”, accused of issuing illegal palm oil concession

In August 2011, Irwandi Yusuf, governor of Aceh, signed a permit for a palm oil concession in the Tripa Peat Swamp, part of the Leuser Ecosystem, that Wetlands International describes as “an area of outstanding, world-renowned biodiversity value”. The permit would allow PT Kallista Alam to convert 1,605 hectares of forest

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor| 24th November 2011

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Ten of the worst REDD-type projects

A recently released booklet, “No REDD Papers, Volume 1” (pdf file 2.5 MB), includes a list of 10 of the worst REDD-type projects affecting indigenous peoples. The booklet was produced by Carbon Trade Watch, Global Justice Ecology Project, Indigenous Environmental Network, Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and Timberwatch Coalition

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 23rd November 2011

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Political crisis in Italy and Greece: Karl Marx on ‘technical governments’

In recent years Karl Marx has again been featuring in the world’s press because of his prescient insights into the cyclical and structural character of capitalist crises. Now there is another reason why he should be re-read in the light of Greece and Italy: the reappearance of the "technical government"

By Marcello Musto | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | November 16, 2011

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Nepal climate loans: an injustice

The Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), part of the World Bank-housed Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), intends to help integrate climate resilience in national development planning of climate vulnerable countries. The PPCR offers recipient countries a mix of grants and loans for climate adaptation projects

Keshab Thapa | Bretton Woods Project | 18 November 2011

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Capitalism need not be about greed and gambling

Capitalism “should be replaced by something nicer”, one group of demonstrators demanded. The slogan encapsulates the incoherence of the protests at Wall Street and the City of London

John Kay | Published in Financial Times 02 November 2011 in JohnKay.com | 2 November 2011

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Capitalism vs. the Climate

There is a question from a gentleman in the fourth row

Naomi Klein | The Nation | November 9, 2011

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Science wants to save us from ourselves

I just took a geography class. Geography is nowadays technically described as a “physical science”. My geography class had a laboratory component. A lab? I haven’t boiled anything in a beaker, over a Bunsen burner, since I was in high school

by Belinda Waymouth | Nov 15 2011 by Our World 2.0 in Energy Bulletin | Nov 15 2011

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Selling the oil illusion, American style

"The task of the real intellectual consists of analyzing illusions in order to discover their causes." ~ Arthur Miller

by Gregor MacDonald | Nov 15 2011 by chrismartenson.com in Energy Bulletin | Nov 15 2011

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Solar Markets: A Study in Extremes

Solar niches across a range of scale ranging from utility-size plants to clothing-mounted cells face varying yet largely bright outlooks

By Elisa Wood, Contributor | Renewable Energy World | November 16, 2011

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Indonesia Loaned $100 Million to Reduce Greenhouse Emissions

The Asian Development Bank is providing Indonesia with a $100 million loan to support Indonesia’s drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen its resilience against climate change

Jakarta Globe | November 10, 2011

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McKinsey trampled on the rainforests – it can't be trusted

The firm consulting on the NHS shake-up has given advice on forest protection that benefits only big business. Its secrecy is causing concern

John Sauven | guardian.co.uk | 10 November 2011

Timber cutting in Sumatra, Indonesia, where McKinsey has advised the government on reducing emissions from deforestation. Photograph: Dimas Ardian/Getty Images

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IEA economist: ‘We have to leave oil before it leaves us’

The International Energy Agency (IEA)’s annual World Energy Outlook, due for publication on 9 November, will contain alarming research that the world is on track for a catastrophic rise in global temperatures unless fossil fuel subsidies are cut, energy efficiency is improved, and more countries introduce some form of carbon pricing

Eu Active.com | 07 November 2011

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Norway: Saving rainforests with one hand, destroying with the other

“It has long been a fact: Norway is saving rainforest with one hand and destroying the rainforest with the other,” wrote Lars Løvold of Rainforest Foundation Norway recently. The problem is that while Norway has promised billions to save the rainforest, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) is investing in companies that are destroying the rainforests

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 16th November 2011

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“Is Norway paying for ‘hot air’?”: Three articles about Guyana by Janette Bulkan in the Commonwealth Forestry Association newsletter

In this series of articles, published in the newsletter of theCommonwealth Forestry Association, Janette Bulkan looks at the issue of governance and illegal logging in the forest sector in Guyana, in the context of the REDD agreement with Norway

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 15th November 2011

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Imagining the post-industrial economy

Here is the single biggest question to consider about the economic, energy and environmental unwinding we are facing - what will the economy look as we go? I get more questions about this than about anything else - what should people do for work, what should they do with savings, how should they begin to prepare themselves for a lower energy world. What I find, however, is that among both the prepared and the unprepared, there's a whole lot of people kidding themselves. There are those who imagine that there is no economy outside the world of the stock market and formal jobs - that a crash in those things is the end of the world, which means to them either that it can't happen or they should buy a bunker and some ammo. Others have imagined themselves "free' of all economic structures larger than the neighborhood, cheerfully providing most of their needs or bartering and never again touching cash. Both ideas fall into the realm of fantasy

by Sharon Astyk | Nov 10 2011 by Casaubon's Book | Energy Bulletin | Nove 10, 2011

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Palm oil biofuel from peatlands has big climate impact, finds study

Biofuels produced from oil palm plantations established on tropical peatlands are a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions, reports a comprehensive new assessment conducted for the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

mongabay.com | November 08, 2011

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BP agrees to pay Texas $50M for pollution violations at refinery where ‘05 explosion killed 15

BP will pay Texas $50 million after the sides reached an unprecedented settlement over air pollution violations at the beleaguered oil giant’s Gulf Coast refinery, the site of a massive explosion in 2005 that killed 15 people

Associated Press | Washington Post | November 3, 2011

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World Bank’s Benoit Bosquet on REDD: “It’s probably good to take the time to get things right”

The “ultimate goal is to jump-start a forest carbon market”, the World Bank announced in 2007, at the launch of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facitily. A “jump-start” is a way of starting a car with a flat battery. After four years of trying, perhaps it’s time to accept the fact that there’s no point jump-starting the forest carbon car when the wheels have fallen off

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 9th November 2011

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Carbon Fund Risks Undermining REDD Readiness

Last month, 29 NGOs and indigenous peoples organisations from 14 countries wrote to the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility expressing their concern that the World Bank is rushing through its REDD readiness process

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 2nd November 2011

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Occupy My Wallet: Moving Money Off Wall Street

If you're really ticked off at Wall Street, you've got some options: Grab your sleeping bag and head to the nearest protest site, or do something that actually pinches the big bankers' bottom line

By Lewis Braham | Bloomberg | Nov 5, 2011

A man dressed as an "evil banker" stands with other Occupy Wall Street protesters. Photographer: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

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Fatty Foods Addictive as Cocaine in Growing Body of Science

Cupcakes may be addictive, just like cocaine

By Robert Langreth and Duane D. Stanford | Bloomberg | Nov 2, 2011

If fatty foods and snacks and drinks sweetened with sugar and high fructose corn syrup are proven to be addictive, Big Food may face the most drawn-out consumer safety battle since the anti-smoking movement took on the tobacco industry a generation ago. Photographer: Denis Stenderchuck/Getty Images

Cupcakes sit on display at a bakery in New York. Photographer: Rich Press/Bloomberg

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The Reign of the One Percenters

Income inequality and the death of culture in New York City

By Christopher Ketcham | November/December 2011 issue | Orion

Photograph: William Steacy

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The Era of Small and Many

Reversing the trend of generations

By Bill McKibben | November/December 2011 issue | Orion

Painting: Suzanne Stryk

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Why the world is burning more coal

The inconvenient truth is that coal remains a cheap and dirty fuel — and the idea of 'clean' coal remains a distant dream

Fred Pearce for Yale Environment 360 | the Guardian Environment Network | guardian.co.uk | 31 October 2011

A worker walks past freshly-mined, high quality coal awaiting transport on a train at the Wieczorek coal mine April 14, 2004 in Katowice, Poland. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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Ideals that don’t make money

Environmental activists have done a lot for rural communities, but some are feeling the pinch

Laurens Bakker | Inside Indonesia | 29 October 2011

An abandoned village bauxite mine now run by a large mining company - Laurens Bakker

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Euro bailout - an animated explanation

Are you confused about what the Euro bailout actually is? So were we! Tom Meltzer tries to explain with the help of his animated friends …

Tom Meltzer | guardian.co.uk | 28 October 2011

Script by Tom Meltzer. Animation by http://www.xtranormal.com

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Plantations, Mining and REDD a Threat: Dayak

Expanding oil palm plantations, mining concessions and even forest conservation projects are threatening to wipe out the traditional way of life of the Dayak tribes of Kalimantan, tribal elders say

Fidelis E. Satriastanti | Jakarta Globe | October 25, 2011

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