Environmental failures ‘put humanity at risk’

The future of humanity has been put at risk by a failure to address environmental problems including climate change, species extinction and a growing human population, according to a new UN report. In a sweeping audit of the world’s environmental wellbeing, the study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that governments are still failing […]

Oil prices top $92 a barrel

“$100 seems more and more likely” BANGKOK, Thailand – Crude oil prices spiked above $92 a barrel Friday on tensions in the Middle East and renewed concerns about supply. The United States announced new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, targeting the elite Revolutionary Guards, which Washington accuses backing Shiite militants in Iraq. A confrontation between […]

Not an environment scare story

A landmark assessment by the UN of the state of the world’s environment paints the bleakest picture yet of our planet’s well-being. The warning is stark: humanity’s future is at risk unless urgent action is taken. Over the past 20 years, almost every index of the planet’s health has worsened. At the same time, personal […]

Nigerian militants attack Italy-owned oil platform

LAGOS, Nigeria – Gunmen in speedboats attacked an oil vessel off the coast of Nigeria at dawn Friday and kidnapped six workers, Italian energy giant Eni SpA said. The Polish, Filipino and Nigerian workers were taken off the FPSO Mystras, Eni said on its Web site. One Nigerian was reported to have been wounded in […]

‘Food miles’ soared by 31% in a year, study reveals

Almost a third more food was flown into Britain last year than in 2005, embarrassing the Government which has promised to slash the pollution and congestion from “food miles”. Air-freight rose 31 per cent in the year to 2006, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which published the figures on its […]

Michael Klare: Beyond the Age of Petroleum

This past May, in an unheralded and almost unnoticed move, the Energy Department signaled a fundamental, near epochal shift in US and indeed world history: we are nearing the end of the Petroleum Age and have entered the Age of Insufficiency. The department stopped talking about “oil” in its projections of future petroleum availability and […]

Oil Rises to Record Above $91 on Supply Drop, Iran Sanctions

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose to a record above $91 a barrel in New York on an unexpected drop in U.S. stockpiles and concern that supply from the Middle East may be disrupted. Inventories last week fell 5.29 million barrels to 316.6 million, the lowest since January, the U.S. Energy Department said. New […]

Peak oil meeting mostly discouraging

Record high crude oil prices were a particularly hot topic at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas. In this podcast, John Kingston, director of oil, attended the ASPO meeting in Houston and reports on the theories of peak oil and the timeliness of the meeting in regards […]

OIL PRICES Up to no good

One fact appears clear: no-one really knows what’s happening Oil prices are, in real terms, flirting with highs not seen since the Iranian revolution in 1979. A psychological three-digit target for a barrel of oil has been set after futures prices traded through the US$90/bbl mark on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) last week. […]

Climate expert says drought, flooding threaten Texas

A top climate scientist warned Wednesday that Texas faces a dual threat from floods and drought if global warming is left unchecked. James Hansen, in Houston to speak before the Progressive Forum on Wednesday night, said predictions made two decades ago about the effects of a warming world are now beginning to come true. “Texas […]

Notes on the Looming Global Energy Crisis

In January, the average price for a barrel of oil was just above $50, by mid-October it had reached almost $90 a barrel, an impressive 70 percent increase without there having been a major catastrophe or war in between. International investment houses, such as Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, predict the average price will reach well […]

White House chided for editing testimony

WASHINGTON – Two chairmen of key committees in the House and Senate on Wednesday criticized the White House for editing testimony from a government expert about the health impacts of global warming and demanded documents involving the testimony he provided to Congress. “I am deeply concerned that important scientific and health information was removed from […]

Crisis in Canada’s oil industry

Can it really be true that the Canadian petroleum industry is almost in crisis with oil at $90 per barrel? It is true, and you should care. Traditionally ignorant about things Canadian, Americans in particular should understand the critical economic issues now facing Canada A kahuna is a priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister or expert […]

Outside View: Oil crisis lessons learned

MOSCOW, Oct. 25 (UPI) — Oil prices on the world’s commodity markets have topped $90 per barrel. “Black gold” now costs more than it did during the fuel crisis of 1973 (with a correction for inflation) and is just $10 below its 1980 record high. Analysts say a new record could be set before the […]

Oil prices sizzle to new highs on geopolitical jitters

NEW YORK (AFP) – Global oil prices soared to bold new highs Thursday amid US supply concerns and geopolitical strains in the Middle East, including Turkey’s military threat in Iraq and fresh US sanctions on Iran. New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, jumped by 3.36 dollars per barrel to […]

U.N. Warns of Environmental Threats

PARIS, Oct. 25

Growing demand for food stretches limits of the planet to produce

ALTHOUGH food prices have been a significant contributor to the jump in the consumer price index, increasing interest rates will not make a trip to the supermarket any cheaper. The Reserve Bank cannot make it rain to break the record drought and it cannot control the soaring global prices of agricultural commodities.Poor grain harvests around […]

Why water is becoming the new oil

Valuable commodity trades as futures contract in Chicago Albertans are set to increase oil royalties, causing a furor in the energy patch, but the New Oil is going to be water. It appears that water is about to become commoditized and be traded as a futures contract along with pork bellies, oranges or lumber.This is […]

Jeremy Leggett: Surrendering our future

While Germany races to deliver renewable energy, Britain’s sluggish policies will cost its citizens dear When Britain and Germany raced to scale up their aircraft industries for war in the 1930s, the British competed rather well. Recovering from a late start, we rapidly produced machines capable of winning the Battle of Britain.Today, the two nations […]

Be wary of complex carbon caps

The global-warming fight can’t wait to work out the kinks in a cap-and-trade scheme. Congress may move soon to tackle global warming. The boldest action in play would set limits on carbon emissions while allowing cleaner companies to sell “permits” to the worse polluters. But lawmakers should be wary: Europe’s record with “cap and trade” […]

Governments demand a bigger share of oil revenue

TORONTO: The oil industry is under assault globally by nations and even provinces who want companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Suncor to cough up more royalties they can use to address issues like poverty and education. First it was Venezuela. Now, Nigeria is reviewing its relationships with international oil companies and the oil-rich Canadian […]

Location, location, location

Placement of high density housing is critical As housing developments sprout across the United States, smart growth proponents have urged communities to cluster developments in concentrated pockets, instead of the more standard and familiar Charlotte Gonzalez-Abraham and Volker Radeloff (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and colleagues focused their study of housing patterns and habitat loss on Northern […]

Could Electricity Grid Become A Type Of Internet?

In the future everyone who is connected to the electricity grid will be able to upload and download packages of electricity to and from this network. At least, that is one of the transformations the electricity grid could undergo. Dutch researcher Jos Meeuwsen (Technical University Eindhoven) developed three scenarios for the Dutch electricity supply in […]

Beaufort crawl

The oil prize is huge, but recent renewed interest in the northern sea falls far short of being a stampede ALGARY -Imperial Oil Ltd. and Exxon Mobil Corp. turned heads in the oil industry in July with a nearly $600-million bid that won them a big exploration block in Canada’s Beaufort Sea. The hefty sum […]

Oil hits record above $90 on OPEC report

Oil futures jumped to a new record close of $90.46 a barrel Thursday on news that OPEC production increases aren’t coming as fast as expected and that the cartel won’t announce new output quotas when it meets next month. Prices were already higher on growing concerns about conflict in the Middle East and declining supplies […]

Endgame for Iraqi Oil? The Sovereignty Showdown in Iraq

… The oil game in Iraq may be almost up. On September 29th, like a landlord serving notice, the government of Iraq announced that the next annual renewal of the United Nations Security Council mandate for a multinational force in Iraq — the only legal basis for a continuation of the American occupation — will […]

DEVELOPMENT: Oil Prices May Impact MDGs – UN Report

BANGKOK, Oct 25 (IPS) – A new mechanism to measure the impact of rising oil prices on AsiaThe most vulnerable countries are those that have

Humans failing the sustainability audit

With its Geo-4 report, the United Nations tells us that most aspects of the Earth’s natural environment are in decline; and that the decline will affect us, the planet’s human inhabitants, in some pretty important ways. …More greenhouse gases, more widespread pollution, declining availability of fresh water, deforestation, degradation of farmland, ocean acidification – it […]

Peak Or Peaked Oil?

…Another subject that just won A bleak report today disagrees. The Energy Research Group says we

Shell chief blames speculators for oil price

Finance director says that speculation and political tension lies behind record oil prices as Shell limits profits slide to 8% A leading oil industry executive has blamed speculators for driving the price of oil to record highs. Peter Voser, finance director of Shell, said that he believed that soaring oil prices were being driven by […]

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