31 January 2012
Muara Tae’s last stand against big palm oil
The fate of a Dayak community deep in the interior of East Kalimantan demonstrates how Indonesia must safeguard the rights of indigenous people if it is to meet ambitious targets to reduce emissions from deforestation
Environmental Investigation Agency | January 24, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content'Peak timber' concerns in tropics
Current tropical timber practices are not sustainable and nations should consider the "implications of 'peak timber'", a study has suggested
By Mark Kinver | BBC News | 24 January 2012
Tropical timber production exceeds forests' ability to replace the felled trees, the study says
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Japan emissions rising after atomic crisis: report
Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, hurting the country's carbon reduction goals, a report said Sunday
AFP in Google News | 30 Jan 2012
Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster (AFP/POOL/File, David Guttenfelder)
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Q+A: When will the EU raise its green ambitions?
The European Commission's latest analysis on moving beyond its existing set of 2020 green goals, to be published on Monday, finds raising its environmental ambitions would be cheaper than originally thought
By Barbara Lewis | Reuters | Jan 30, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content30 January 2012
Cuba seeks new socialist model
The Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), held in April, “endorsed for the first time a fundamental change in the political and economic model”, said Cuban political scientist and Temas editor Rafael Hernandez
By Marce Cameron | Green Left Weekly | January 28, 2012
Eurozone Fears Permeate Davos
The ongoing eurozone sovereign debt crisis has dominated the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with many private sector business leaders urging Germany to do more to alleviate Europe's fiscal woes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel formally opened the summit on Wednesday, calling on Europe to become "more European" (DeutscheWelle) and implement the fiscal compact agreed upon late last year by EU leaders
Christopher Alessi | Council on Foreign Relations | January 27, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentPalm oil does not meet U.S. renewable fuels standard, rules EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled on Friday that palm oil-based biofuels will not meet the renewable fuels standard due to carbon emissions associated with deforestation, reports The Hill
mongabay.com | January 27, 2012
Oil palm plantations and rainforest in Malaysia
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No oil for old countries
I THINK my colleague is right to take some encouragement from the latest Energy Information Agency outlook. As one would expect to occur amid a period of sustained, high oil prices, American oil consumption has fallen from 2005 while its production has risen
The Economist | Jan 24th 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentRenewable energy deals hit record high in 2011-PwC
Global deals climbed 40 pct to $53.5 billion in 2011. More consolidation as renewables markets mature. EU economy uncertainty could dampen deal flow in 2012
By Nina Chestney| Reuters | 30 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentCutting Climate Change is Simple: Just Stop Subsidising Fossil Fuels
I knew that this was true but I didn’t realise the effect was so great. The simple way to cut climate change is to stop subsidising fossil fuels
Tim Worstall | Forbes | 29 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentJapan finds water leaks at stricken nuclear plant
Japan's stricken nuclear power plant has leaked more than 600 liters of water, forcing it to briefly suspend cooling operations at a spent-fuel pond at the weekend, but none is thought to have escaped into the ocean, the plant's operator and domestic media said
Reuters | Jan 29, 2012
The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor building is seen before the removal of debris on the upper side of the unit in Fukushima prefecture, in this handout picture taken on September 22, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co./Handout
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27 January 2012
Can REDD save the forests of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan, Indonesia?
The Dayak Benuaq Indigenous People of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan are defending their last remaining area of forest against two palm oil companies. “This is the last remaining forests that we have and the only land we have to survive. If my forests are gone, our lives will end,” says Pak Singko, a leader of the Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 26th January 2012
Finance for biodiversity is a “new face for capitalism”: Sign on letter to CBD from Acción Ecológica
“Conserving the planet’s species and habitats is central to sustainable development yet the global decline in biodiversity is accelerating,” says UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 27th January 2012
Wind power: Clean energy, dirty business?
In the developing world, where land-intensive wind turbines are being rapidly constructed, wind power has often turned clean energy into dirty business
By Erik Vance | Christian Science Monitor | January 26, 2012
Wind power is sweeping the globe: It's clean energy, but it does have some dirty business aspects that hit the developing world particularly hard. This is part of the cover story package in the Jan. 30 issue of The Christian Science Monitor magazine. Reuters photo
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26 January 2012
Green economy and growth: Fiddling while Rome burns?
“Fiddling while Rome burns” may seem a stale analogy, but when talking of “green growth” and “green economy” (GGE, for short), it is appropriate. Despite assertions to the contrary, the only thing innovative about the GGE concepts is the buzz that surrounds them
by Manu V. Mathai | OurWorld 2.0 | January 25, 2012
Fracking: Anatomy of a free market failure
A recent New York Times article reported that rural landowners who had signed leases with gas and oil companies exchanging drilling rights on their property for royalty payments have discovered that they may have been misled
By Robin Hahnel | Real Climate Economics | January 12, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentNew video: “A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests”
A new video by the Global Forest Coalition and the Global Justice Ecology Project is deeply critical of REDD. Much of the criticism focusses on carbon trading, but through interviews with communities in Chiapas, Mexico, the video illustrates the perverse impacts that REDD can have on the ground
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 25th January 2012
A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests
The scientist: Jim Hansen risks handcuffs to make his research clear
NASA's chief climate scientist built his career studying Earth's atmosphere and modeling humans' potential impacts on climate. Then he realized that laboratory work was only part of the equation
Interview conducted and condensed by Douglas Fischer | DailyClimate.org | Jan. 24, 2012
Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists
Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts
By Mario Osava* | Inter-Press Service | Jan 24, 2012
Environmental activists from around the world will be gathering in Porto Alegre this month. Credit:Clarinha Glock/IPS
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In Famatina, Water Is Worth Far More Than Gold
Thousands of people in the northwest Argentine province of La Rioja are mobilising to stop an open-cast gold mining project in the Nevados de Famatina, a snowy peak that is the semi-arid area's sole source of drinking water
By Marcela Valente | Inter-Press Service | Jan 24, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content25 January 2012
In Brazil, Fears of a Slide Back for Amazon Protection
Brazil has made great strides in recent years in slowing Amazon deforestation and showing the world it was serious about protecting the mammoth rain forest
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO | The New York Times | January 24, 2012
Deforestation in Brazil, driven largely by clearing land for cattle, as in Mato Grosso, above, has lessened. But there has been a shift under President Dilma Rousseff. Damon Winter/The New York Times
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FAO/UNEP Asia-Pacific Forest Meeting Identifies Climate Change Adaptation Strategies
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and RECOFTC - The Centre for People and Forests have released a policy brief resulting from a meeting on forests and climate change adaptation in Asia, held in October 2011
International Institute for Sustainable Development | 18 January 2012
Complications of Hacking the Planet
As scientists, with some reluctance, begin to study the idea of “geoengineering” the planet to slow or halt global warming, they are finding that any such program would quite likely have a complex array of effects, not all of them to humanity’s benefit
Green Blog NY Times | January 23, 2012
Laborers in Suchate Garh, India, near the border with Pakistan, planting rice seedlings. European Pressphoto Agency
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23 January 2012
Featured video: music in Madagascar to protest illegal logging
A new video highlights the plight of Madagascar's protected tropical forests, which are falling prey to illegal logging and foreign contractors. Featuring Razia Said, Malagasy singer and songwriter, the video shows concerts to raise awareness about illegal logging, especially near Maosala National Park
Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | January 22, 2012
In February 2007, musician Razia Said returned to Madagascar to reconnect with the land she left as an eleven year-old child. For 6 weeks Razia and her band traveled around the island, and discovered the environmental damage taking place as the result of unfettered slash and burn agriculture, illegal logging and climate change
Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable
7 signs the corporatocracy is losing its legitimacy ... and 7 populist tools to help shut it down
by Sarah van Gelder | YES! Magazine | Jan 20, 2012
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A parody of corporate personhood in D.C.
22 January 2012
Wind Power Without the Blades: Big Pics
Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving
By Alyssa Danigelis | January 22, 2012
Why are convicted criminals driving the EU’s defence agenda?
Spare a thought these icy days of January for the arms industry. Recession has had such a devastating effect on makers of tanks and warplanes that the European Defence Agency is holding a conference later this month to mull over what can be done
David Cronin | New Europe | JANUARY 21, 2012
The future of food
By 2050 there will be another 2.5 billion people on the planet. How to feed them? Science's answer: a diet of algae, insects and meat grown in a lab
John Vidal | The Observer | 22 January 2012
Seaweed harvesting in Bali. From seaweed to slime, algae is the future of food, says Professor Mark Edwards Photograph: Ed Wray/AP
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21 January 2012
Theme and variations
State capitalism is not all the same. It is easy for a casual visitor to China to be fooled into thinking that he is in a normal capitalist country. The big cities are dotted with Starbucks and Kinkos. The newspapers run stories about small businesspeople falling prey to loan sharks
The Economist | Jan 21st 2012
Why now? What’s next? Naomi Klein on Occupy
Naomi Klein in discussion with Occupy Wall Street activist Yotam Marom
Naomi Klein, Yotam Marom | Red Pepper | January 2012
From Davos to Dystopia
Not long ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) found itself in the sights of the global economic justice movement. At the turn of the last century, before anyone was “occupying” public spaces in protest at the growing inequalities between the top strata of society and the rest, a broad global coalition of environment, development, and peace activists were targeting the public meetings of major institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and the G8
By Ben Zala | Foreign Policy in Focus | January 19, 2012
World Economic Forum in Davos
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Indonesia to set aside 45% of Kalimantan for conservation
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Thursday announced a regulation that would protect 45 percent of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, according to a statement issued by his office
mongabay.com | January 19, 2012
Rainforest in West Kalimantan
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FAO-EC project to promote climate-smart farming
Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia will benefit from collaborative effort
FAO | 16 January 2012
Farmers participating in an FAO land and water management project in Guthi, India, check a new drip irrigation system
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Fossil fuel subsidies: a tour of the data
Fossil fuels are subsidised in much of the world, causing billions of tonnes of addition CO2 emissions
by Duncan Clark | guardian.co.uk | 19 January 2012
Fossil fuels are subsidised in much of the world, causing billions of tonnes of addition CO2 emissions. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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Greedy Lying Bastards: US filmmaker attacks oil industry
Craig Rosebraugh's new documentary highlights the 'influence, deceit and corruption' of fossil fuel industry
by Leo Hickman | guardian.co.uk | 20 January 2012
Provocative, frank and impossible to ignore. And that's just the title
UK 'subsidising nuclear power unlawfully'
Green energy campaigners are attempting to block new nuclear power stations in the UK by complaining to the European Commission that government plans contravene EU competition regulations
By Richard Black | BBC News | 20 January 2012
The Fukushima accident illustrates why governments pick up the bills for nuclear disaster
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Gas no good to bridge coal and renewables, says study
The amount of greenhouse gases released by unconventional gas drilling ''exceeds that of oil or coal'', an American study says in contradiction of some claims made by Australia's growing coal-seam gas industry
Ben Cubby | Sydney Morning Herald | January 21, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentExxon Mobil to Pay $1.6 Million in Penalties for Yellowstone River Oil Spill
Exxon Mobil has reached an agreement with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to pay $1.6 million in penalties over the Yellowstone River oil spill, according to the Associated Press
Rachel Bogart | Yahoo! News | Jan 2, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content20 January 2012
Rejecting Pipeline Proposal, Obama Blames Congress
President Obama on Wednesday rejected, for now, the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, saying the $7 billion project could not be adequately reviewed within the 60-day deadline set by Congress. While the president’s action does not preclude later approval of the project, it sets up a baldly partisan fight over energy, jobs and regulation that will most likely persist through the November election
By JOHN M. BRODER and DAN FROSCH | The New York Times | January 18, 2012
House Republican leaders — Jeb Hensarling, Eric Cantor and Speaker John A. Boehner — said the decision would cost thousands of jobs. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
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Rainforest in Transition: Is the Amazon Transforming before Our Eyes?
A review suggests that the Amazon rainforest may be changing, courtesy of human impacts on the region's weather
By David Biello | Scientific American | January 18, 2012
RAINFOREST TO PASTURE: Deforestation, among other human impacts such as climate change, are having a rainforest-wide impact on the Amazon.Image: Courtesy of Compton Tucker, NASA GSFC
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The Dark Side of Serbia's Oil Shale Fairy Tale
According to an old Serbian fairy tale, God tells a poor man who enters a gold mine that no matter what he chooses to do inside, he'll be sorry when he leaves. If he takes some gold, he'll be sorry for not taking more; if he doesn't, he'll be sorry for not taking any at all
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic | Inter-Press Service | Jan 19, 2012
19 January 2012
Cheap Chinese Panels Spark Solar Power Trade War
There's a solar trade war going on inside the U.S., sparked by an invasion of inexpensive imports from China
by CHRISTOPHER JOYCE | NPR.og | January 19, 2012
Contractors with SunEdison install more than 1,000 Chinese-made solar panels on top of a Kohl's Department Store in Hamilton Township, N.J., in 2010. Energy generated by the solar system will cut the store's usage, on average, by 25 to 30 percent. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
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McKinsey’s bad influence on REDD is decreasing – at least in Papua New Guinea
Consulting firm McKinsey has played a key role in pushing a version of REDD that underestimates the role of industrial logging and agriculture on forest destruction, while painting local communities as forest destroyers. McKinsey’s advice, if taken seriously, would have had serious implications for local livelihoods and would do little to reduce deforestation
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 18th January 2012
17 January 2012
One company behind U.S.'s top three biggest greenhouse gas emitters
The Atlanta-based Southern company owns the top three biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. according to recent data released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | January 16, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentThe Long Slow March to Nuke Abolition
"We want a nuclear weapons free world." More than 80 percent of people around the globe have expressed this overwhelming desire to authors of a new report
By Jamshed Baruah | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis | Jan 16, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content16 January 2012
The Law Of Putin’s Jungle
The Russian leader may be in for a surprise: he misjudges his adversaries
The Daily Beast in Newsweek Magazine | Jan 16, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentIs Latvia an Example to Other States in Economic Crisis?
Latvia is the model economy that can teach the world how to survive the financial crisis
By Julia Heath | Foreign Policy in Focus | January 16, 2012
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Latvian bank run.
1% increase in forest cover
Since the adoption of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the government took measures to enhance forests cover from 5% to 6% including approval of forestry mega projects at the cost of Rs12 billion, said Muhammad Javed Malik, Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Disaster Management
The News International | January 13, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentSomali famine 'will kill tens of thousands'
The UN in Somalia says tens of thousands of people will have died of starvation by the time the famine in the Horn of Africa ends
BBC News | 15 January 2012
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Many Somalis have fled across the border into Ethiopia to seek aid
German funds plan $2-bln Oman solar project
Private investment funds Terra Nex of Switzerland and Germany's Middle East Best Select (MEBS) plan to build 400 megawatts (MW) of solar power generating capacity in Oman, the European investors said on Sunday
Reuters | Jan 15, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content15 January 2012
Mexico pipeline oil spill may take month to clean
Two weeks after a pipeline leak in coastal Mexico sent oil gushing into a river, state oil monopoly Pemex has recovered about two-thirds of the spilled crude, but the full clean-up could take another month
By Julie Gordon | Reuters | Jan 14, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWith $116 Million Pledged, Ecuador Moves Forward With Plan to Protect Rainforest
After receiving pledges totaling more than its goal of $100 million by a year-end deadline, the Ecuadorian government last week announced that it would move forward with the so-called Yasuni ITT Initiative, an innovative plan to leave untapped more than 900 million barrels of crude oil beneath a pristine Amazonian nature reserve, in exchange for annual international donations
by Eric Marx | Science Insider | 13 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentBiofuels Land Grab: Guatemala's Farmers Lose Plots and Prosperity to "Energy Independence"
Across the globe, local farmers are being displaced to make way for energy crop plantations
By Eitan Haddok | Scientific American | January 13, 2012
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THE DISPOSSESSED: In Guatemala, peasants have been evicted--often forcibly--from land where they had been living, like this young couple and their son taking shelter in a maize field and subsisting on gourd seeds.Image: © Eitan Haddok
Power Plants Accounted for 72 Percent Of Greenhouse Gases Reported in 2010
Power plants emitted 2.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) in 2010, 72.3 percent of reported emissions nationwide, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency Jan. 11
By Andrew Childers and Avery Fellow | Daily Environment Report™ in Bloomberg News | January 12, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentBulgarians protest, seek moratorium on shale gas
Thousands of Bulgarians protested throughout the Balkan country on Saturday against exploration for shale gas, worried it would poison underground waters, trigger earthquakes and pose serious public health hazards
Reuters | Jan 14, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content14 January 2012
Oil's Trouble Spots
At a time of rising dependence on oil, the potential for supply disruptions and the stability of energy-rich regions pose major concerns. While disruptions can happen anywhere along the supply chain, certain areas are particularly vulnerable
Toni Johnson | Council on Foreign Relations | January 13, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWill New Zealand be the first developed country to evolve a steady-state economy?
New Zealand will inevitably make a transition to a steady-state economy. The onset of energy descent — having less and less energy to use with each passing decade — will push it to do so sooner rather than later. The critical question is whether the transition to a steady-state economy will be by design or disaster
by Jack Santa Barbara | Jan 11 2012 by Feasta in Energy Bulletin | Jan 13 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentEnergy Resources Saudi oil output 'stretched to the limit'
Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, has for decades used spare production capacity to cover shortfalls in output by other oil states and prevent prices spiraling in times of crisis
United Press International | Jan. 13, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentMetal tissue holders contain radioactivity
12 metal tissue box holders containing low levels of cobalt-60 radioactivity were removed from four store
United Press International in Disasater News Network | January 13, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentScientists scrutinise first draft of Rio+20 agreement
The starting document for negotiations ahead of the Rio+20 summit ― the 'zero draft' ― contains more references to science than was expected by the scientific community, but still falls short on the specifics and avoids mentioning some critical, science-related issues
Mićo Tatalović | Science and Development Network | 12 January 2012
Local scientists should be supported to develop green technologies, says the zero draft. Flickr/Sustainable_Sanitation
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Tanzania: Funding for Carbon Trading Projects Halted
Funding for a carbon trading system known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) has been suspended until further negotiations between poor countries and powerful industrial nations
Ludger Kasumuni | The Citizen (Dar es Salaam) in AllAfrica.com | 12 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentChina orders 7 pilot cities and provinces to set CO2 caps
China has ordered seven provinces and cities to set caps on greenhouse gas emissions in preparation for the launch of local pilot carbon markets, according to a notice issued by the country's state planning agency on Friday
Reuters | Jan 13, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content13 January 2012
IRENA Releases Renewable Energy Profiles for Pacific Countries
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released a publication titled “Renewable Energy Country Profiles: Pacific.” The country profiles consider where renewable energy can contribute significantly to combating climate change
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 12 January 2011
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentNewly Elected ECOSOC President Outlines Priorities
Slovak Ambassador Miloš Koterec has been elected to serve as President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Addressing the Council in New York, US, after his election, Koterec called for a new approach to development, including changing old perceptions about development and finding new ways to optimize cooperation among donor and aid recipient countries
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 10 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentFAO Guidebook Highlights Carbon Finance Options for Smallholder Farmers
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has published a guidebook titled "Climate Change Mitigation Finance for Smallholder Agriculture - A guide book to harvesting soil carbon sequestration benefits," which underscores the role of agriculture in global climate change mitigation efforts and describes approaches for participating in carbon financing opportunities
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 10 January 2011
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWorld’s largest investors issue guidelines for company action on climate change
The world’s largest investors have issued a document detailing their expectations of how companies should approach responding to climate change
Institutional Asset Manager | 12/01/2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content12 January 2012
The Blood of the Earth, or Pulp Nonfiction
Some of my readers have wondered aloud why it is that I’ve devoted so much time in recent weeks to the current flurry of 2012 prophecies and their close equivalents. One reason is that there’s good reason to think that we’re going to hear quite a bit more about these prophecies in the months to come; unless I miss my guess, the apocalyptic bubble that’s inflating now, and will pop this coming December 22, is going to be one for the record books. Still, there’s at least one more reason to pay close attention to that bubble just now
by John Michael Greer | Jan 11 2012 by The Archdruid Report in Energy Bulletin | Jan 11 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentFree trade or bioregional security?
Word reached me yesterday that Colin Hines is writing again about the destructive nature of the global trade system and the need to protect our security of supply. In standard economic theory protectionism is a dirty word, the impulse to be resilient and self-reliant undermining the ability of merchants to achieve arbitrage profits
by Molly Scott Cato | Jan 12 2012 by Gaian Economics in Energy Bulletin | Jan 12 2012
How European Banks Fuel Hunger
A new report by Friends of the Earth Europe has faulted European banks, pension funds and insurance companies for increasing global hunger and poverty by speculating on food prices and financing land grabs in poorer countries
By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepth NewsReport | January 11, 2012
The Faustian bargain that modern economists never mention
Historically people have shifted their belief systems in various ways. The Greeks and Romans believed in numerous gods and goddesses and attributed all kinds of powers to them. Then the great monotheistic religions came along and people began to believe in just one god, though they honored him under different names
by Dr. Gary Peters | Jan 9 2012 by Our Finite World in Energy Bulletin | Jan 11 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content11 January 2012
Natural gas is clean, cheap — and risky
Political leaders from both parties argue that natural gas could save our economy and the environment and promote our national security. Is this so? Or is it just a dream?
By Hal Harvey | Centre Daily | Jan 11, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentThe Not-About-Iraqi-Oil Iraqi Oil Map
Dahr Jamail's report on energy majors in Iraq reminds us of one of the other, other, otherreasons for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the one nearest and dearest to neoconservatives' political action committees: oil
By Paul Mutter | Foreign Policy in Focus | January 10, 2012
Aljazeera.
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Canadian natives warn against pipeline to Pacific
Aboriginal leaders opposed to a C$5.5 billion ($5.4 billion) oil sands pipeline backed by Canada's government warned on Tuesday that the project could devastate fishing and traditional life on the rugged Pacific Coast and called for it to be stopped
By Jeffrey Jones | Reuters | Jan 10, 2012
Hereditary Chief of the Haisla First Nation, Sam Robinson (L), testifies next to Henry Amos, a band councillor, before the Enbridge's Inc's Northern Gateway pipeline Joint Review hearing in Kitamaat Village, British Columbia, January 10, 2012. Aboriginal leaders opposed to a C$5.5 billion ($5.4 billion) oil sands pipeline backed by Canada's government warned on Tuesday that the project could devastate fishing and traditional life on the rugged Pacific Coast and called for it to be stopped. Credit: Reuters/Robin Rowland
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The return of "The Limits to Growth"
The return of interest in "The Limits to Growth" continues. After decades of ridicule and insults, the value of the 1972 study and of its sequels is more and more recognized. The latest item in the series of revisitations is the article published by Debora McKenzie in the New Scientist on Jan 10, 2012 and titled "Boom and Doom, revisiting prophecies of collapse" (can be read on the New Scientist site after registration)
by Ugo Bardi | Jan 10 2012 by Cassandra's legacy in Energy Bulletin | Jan 10 2012
The main results of the "base case" scenario of "The Limits to Growth" study, from a recent article on theNew Scientist by Debora McKenzie (available upon registration)
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Climate change and the USA
The EPA and Congress fought bitterly in 2011 to ensure the government did/did not pass carbon permitting policy. Cities throughout the US have thwarted congress in many cases by enacting their own initiatives, but business and the public still view the enactment of climate change legalities as a distant ideological objective
by Dave Armstrong | Earth Times | 10 Jan 2012
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New York now has not only the lungs of Central Park, but it has also reduced energy consumption inside buildings via Shutterstock
Industrial palm oil production expands at expense of rainforests in Peru
Intensive palm oil production is expanding at the expense of biolologically-rich lowland rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon, reports a study published in Environmental Research Letters
mongabay.com | January 10, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWhither environmentalism?
In the latest issue of Orion Magazine, environmental activists Derrick Jensen and Paul Kingsnorth both express their frustrations with the current environmental movement
by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez | CommonDreams | Jan 8 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWarm and Fuzzy on Geothermal?
The Earth started its existence as a red-hot rock, and has been cooling ever since. It’s still quite toasty in the core, and will remain so for billions of years, yet. Cooling implies a flow of heat, and where heat flows, the possibility exists of capturing useful energy
Tom Murphy | Do the Math | January 10, 2012
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Geysers and volcanoes are obvious manifestations of geothermal energy, but what role can it play toward satisfying our current global demand? Following the recent theme of Do the Math, we will put geothermal in one of three boxes labeled abundant, potent, or niche (puny). Have any guesses?
Danger waters
Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy “chokepoint” could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk. With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch -- the Geo-Energy Era -- in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs
by Michael Klare | Jan 10 2012 by TomDispatch in Energy Bulletin | Jan 10 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content10 January 2012
NEGOTIATIONS: Can a new structure based on the notion of 'equity' replace the Kyoto pact?
U.S. diplomats returned from last month's global climate summit in Durban, South Africa, crowing that they had cracked the armor shielding China, India and other emerging nations from accepting binding emission cuts
Lisa Friedman | ClimateWire, January 9, 2012 in E&ENews.net | Jan 10, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentThe Reality of Extreme Weather, Part 1
Editor’s note: This report is the first in a two-part series chronicling recent findings about climate change. Part 2, to be published in our Jan. 19 issue, examines “What Can Be Done.” Gov. Jerry Brown requested the Scripps Institution of Oceanography meeting as part of a series of events focusing on climate change that the State of California is undertaking over the next several months with the goal of guiding contingency plans for extreme-weather disaster response.
By Lynne Friedmann | Del Mar Times | Jan 10, 2012
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Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, Senior Development Engineer Douglas Alden conducts fieldwork in the southern Sierra Nevada.
Obama bans uranium mining around Grand Canyon
The Obama administration banned new uranium mining claims around the Grand Canyon for the next 20 years, a move hailed by conservationists on Monday as key to the president's environmental legacy but slammed by opponents as a job-killer
By Deborah Zabarenko | Reuters | Jan 9, 2012
As Fukushima cleanup begins, long-term impacts are weighed
The Japanese government is launching a large-scale cleanup of the fields, forests, and villages contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But some experts caution that an overly aggressive remediation program could create a host of other environmental problems
by Winifred Bird | Jan 9 2012 by Yale Environment 360 in Energy Bulletin | Jan 9 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentRevisiting the Deepwater Horizon Plumes
Maybe the plumes were really clouds. I am talking about the famous plumes from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the event that roiled the Gulf Coast and scrambled energy politics in mid-2010. Many readers will remember reports, first carried in this newspaper, that a considerable volume of hydrocarbons released in the spill did not reach the surface of the gulf. Instead they dissolved into deep water, forming what appeared at the time to be enormous plumes of dissolved oil and gas
By JUSTIN GILLIS | The New York Times | January 9, 2012
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ReutersOil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in June 2010.
Possible U.S., China trade dispute looms
Strained trade relations between the world's largest economies will be further tested this year as the U.S. weighs anti-dumping duties on a range of Chinese products
By Kathy Chu | USA TODAY | Jan 9, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentEnergy Resources China plans tax on carbon emissions
China, the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, plans a tax on carbon emissions
UPI.com | Jan. 9, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content09 January 2012
Technological progress for dummies
Not you, CASSE signatory. You’re no dummy. You already know that the fundamental conflict between economic growth and environmental protection can’t be overcome with technological progress
by Brian Czech | Jan 9 2012 by The Daly News in Energy Bulletin Jan 9 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentNigeria's oil disasters are met by silence
The global media have had little to say on Nigeria's latest oil spill and the hundreds of others that have destroyed so many lives
Michael Keating | guardian.co.uk | 9 January 2012
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A man covers his hands in crude oil during a Nigerian protest against Shell after last month's spill. Photograph: George Esiri/EPA
Time to Worry: World Oil Production Finishes Six Years of No Growth
As oil prices rose ever higher in the last decade, the optimists kept predicting rising production capacity and plummeting prices. Looks like they got it wrong
By Kurt Cobb | SCITIZEN | 2 Nov 2011
08 January 2012
Heinberg, Kunstler, Foss, Orlov & Chomsky on A Public Affair
Richard Heinberg joins James Howard Kunstler, Nicole Foss, Dmitri Orlov and Noam Chomsky in a panel discussion. The discussion begins after the news bulletin and lead-in music (about 7:00 into the audio)
Jan 2 2012 by WORT-FM in Energy Bulletin | Jan 6 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentGerman solar market stable in 2011: industry body
Germany's solar market remained stable last year compared with 2010, the country's main industry association BSW said, suggesting demand for modules remains high despite large cuts in support for the sector over the past two years
Reuters | Jan 7, 2012
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Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit (R) assembles a solar panel during his visit to the Solon solar panel company in Berlin July 18, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch
06 January 2012
China Increases Target for Wind Power Capacity to 1,000 GW by 2050
The National Energy Administration of China has set a series of development goals for the country's renewable energy sector during the 12th Five-year Development Plan, which shows that by 2015 the country's wind power capacity will reach 100 GW, based on the current capacity of 40 GW
By Liu Yuanyuan | Renewable Energy World.com | January 5, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content12 reasons you'll be hearing more about the Commons in 2012
The commons is essential to our health, security and survival, indicated by a shift from “Me” to “We” in modern society
by Jay Walljasper | Jan 4 2012 by On the Commons in Energy Bulletin | Jan 5 2012
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(Credit: Photo by Jaxxon under a Creative Commons license from flickr.com)
Co-operative renewable energy in the UK: a guide to this growing sector (report)
Co-operatively-owned energy generation is a vibrant and growing sector in the UK. The first co‑operatively-owned wind turbines, Baywind in Cumbria, started turning in 1997. Since then, over 7,000 individual investors have ploughed over £16 million into community-owned renewable energy
by Rebecca Willis and Jenny Willis | Jan 5 2012 by Cooperatives UK in Energy Bulletin | Jan 5, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentThe climate change message is not being heard. Here's how to change tack
Focus on the economic case, drop the activist-speak, talk about solutions rather than doom – and don't rely on politicians
Sunny Hundal | guardian.co.uk | 5 January 2012
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Preaching to the converted? A climate march in London, December 2010. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters
05 January 2012
US energy analysts: Iran’s nuclear fuel rod is not for atomic weapons
According to energy analysts in the US, Iran’s development of a nuclear fuel rod for medical research isn’t a milestone in a quest for atomic weapons. Iran is the world’s third-biggest oil exporter and that moreover it denies pursuing atomic weapons and climes it’s developing nuclear technology for civilian purposes
By Gobby Wang | Taiwan News | January 5, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentInvesting in global climate solutions
The recent United Nations climate change conference in Durban — described by the New York Times newspaper as “the 17th in a series of habitually quarrelsome and mostly unproductive gatherings since the same countries met in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro” — predictably did not achieve many results
by Jacob Park | OurWorld 2.0 | January 4, 2012
Ecuador court upholds $18 billion ruling against Chevron
An Ecuadorean appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that Chevron Corp should pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused the U.S. oil giant of polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging their health
By Victor Gomez | Reuters | Jan 3, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentClimate Change Models May Underestimate Extinction, Study Shows
Climate change projections may “grossly” underestimate the extinction of animal and plant varieties because the models don’t account for species movement and competition, U.S. researchers said
By Rudy Ruitenberg | Bloomberg | Jan 4, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentRenewable Sources Continue Explosive Growth
Renewables now provide 12% of domestic energy production, 14% more than 2010; and renewable electrical output increased 25%, which contributes to 13% of U.S. power
By Ken Bossong | SUN DAY Campaign in Renewable Energy World.com | January 4, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentBig Oil Threatens President Obama
American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard today announced the oil and gas industry’s latest election-year scare campaign to threaten the demise of the U.S. economy unless Big Oil gets its every wish in Washington
By Brendan Demelle | DeSmogBlog in OilChange | January 5, 2012
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