[_sluimers_]

Why is there such a lil' amount of fossils in Africa and so much in North America? And why is there so much oil in the Middle East and virtually none in the oceans? Why isn't there any coal in the oceans? Does anyone know?

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')eochemical and geological advances over the past 20 years have made it possible to understand the origin of hydrocarbon source rocks such as this Kimmeridge Clay. It was deposited in warm sunlit waters that allowed prolific blooms of algae. The Jurassic was a period of global warming. Britain was then closer to the tropics than now, due to plate tectonic movements.

[nailud]

OK, I'll take a shot at this one. Although I used to be a geologist, I left the field 20 years ago, so I'm not totally up to speed on the latest thinking. The optimum conditions for hydrocarbon source beds are warm, shallow water (to promote plenty of organic growth) and raesonably rapid depostion (to bury the organic material that sinks to the bottom). These conditions usually occure along continental margins, where sediments are constantly deposited by rivers and streams. Coal is typicallly a continental deposit, being derived from plants growing in ancient swamps.

[BabyPeanut]

http://tinyurl.com/6alwd
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')or better harvests, Africa's farmers need four things: nutrients for the soil, which can be provided by both mineral and organic fertilizers; small-scale irrigation and technologies for collecting rainwater; sturdier, higher-yield seeds; and a corps of master farmers, trained in up-to-date agricultural techniques, who could be posted in villages and would be able to provide advice. By introducing these measures, Africans could triple food production by 2015.

Unlike the Green Revolution of the 60's, an African Green Revolution doesn't have to be based on technologies and practices that hurt the environment. Land can be reclaimed not only through appropriate fertilization but through more environmentally sensitive techniques. For starters, there's agro-forestry, which involves planting trees that replenish the soil with nutrients like nitrogen. Farmers could also learn low-till or no-till farming techniques and be encouraged to plant pest-tolerant crops, which would cut down on insecticide and pesticide use.

[Jack]

I doubt it will be implemented. It would require an investment over time, and would yield only a modest return on that investment.

Further, the poverty in that area is extreme, so it is likely that the behavior would follow a greedy algorithm - i.e., do whatever it takes to survive today because tomorrow isn't a given. That seems unlikely to be an optimal environment for such a venture.

[duff_beer_dragon]

Fair Trade is already being implemented in many 'third world' countries, a lot of that incorporates organic agriculture already...

I think more people are realising that for-profit alone won't work - mainly because there won't be anything to buy anyway ;

it's a pity re-incarnation isn't being proven en-masse, then people would know they aren't helping themselves at all if they don't consider infinity....

Soil fertility can be maxed-up using rock dust applications, including from quarries.

Cloud-busters can make rain, nevermind just collect it.

Of course, rain-dancers can make rain too.

There's a huge amount of different seed types availible - this includes heritage seeds for example, and older crop varieties -

be aware that the EU for example outlawed various types of crops for commercial growing - so sometimes farmers cannot plant crops because the varieties are not allowed to be sold or they don't qualifiy for subsidies (these have nothing to do with crops considered to be drug or narcotic linked).

[tmazanec1]

What kind of dates are estimated for this? How fast is it rising to the peak (espcially compared to Saudi beginning to decline)?

[zed]

ASPO has some data on this:

http://peakoil.net/uhdsg/WORLD_SUMMARY_html.htm

They put both the production peak and depletion midpoint of Africa as 2006. Note that this includes North Africa (Algeria, Libya, etc). On that chart, Africa is considered to be the 5th (out of largest oil province, a little smaller than Latin America.

[ohanian]

Ever wonder what it feels like to be an African nation bullied by the IMF?

Now you can experience the same thing for yourself in the comfort of your own home.

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&n ... =/usatoday
/20050311/cm_usatoday/30interestratessoundbusinessorloansharking
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Squeezing consumers. By the time some debtors end up in court, they may already have paid more money than they originally borrowed. Take Ruth Owens of Cleveland. In 1997, she started trying to pay off a $1,963 balance on her Discover card. By 2003, she had paid $3,492. Yet her balance, pumped up by fees and interest, had grown to more than $5,500. Discover sued, but last year a Cleveland judge rejected its collection demand, saying Owens was the victim of "unreasonable, unconscionable" practices. Discover said Thursday that the judge's ruling was "inconsistent with the law."

[Ayoob_Reloaded]

What will US post-peak dieoff look like? Look at Africa now Africa
Let's take a peek at a few examples:

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that more than 9,000 refugees had been registered in Benin and around 7,500 in Ghana. Many of the most recent arrivals were from Be, said Rafik Saidi, the agency's regional representative.
Many of the refugees claimed they were harassed by security forces in Togo and some were suffering from bullet wounds.

The government last week put the casualty toll at 22 but a spokesman for the six-party opposition coalition, Yawovi Agboyibo, said this weekend that 106 people had died and hundreds had been injured.
At the offices of Togo's Human Rights League, one man told IRIN that his brother had been shot dead at 10 p.m. on Sunday "by men in fatigues". His wife and four children were beaten up so badly that one daughter was in hospital and his 14-year-old son could no longer see.

"We don't know why, they said nothing. They just stormed into the house. Now my brother is in the morgue," said the resident of the Lome suburb of Baguida, who did not want to be identified.

--------------------------------------------

THE SIZE OF KENYA'S ECONOMY will be at least 10 per cent smaller and per capita 14 per cent less by 2010 because of the macro-economic effects of HIV/Aids, a government planning paper says.

The paper was among the presentations made to donors at a recent consultative meeting in Nairobi. During the meeting, no new funding commitments were made to Kenya although a number of donors, including the governments of the United States and Canada, said they were willing to expand funding of Aids programmes.

---------------------------------------------

ASMARA, 4 May 2005 (IRIN) - An estimated one million Eritreans will go hungry unless the donor community can give the country further support, a senior government official in charge of food distribution, said on Tuesday.

"We are reaching less than 60 percent of the needy population," Teclemichael Woldegeorgis, deputy commissioner at the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission, told reporters in the capital, Asmara.

"We are appealing to the donor community to continue their assistance," he added. "Now the hunger season starts, and that is the time when the majority of food is required."

------------------------------------

Can't happen here, though. There's something magical about Africa that it naturally attracts violence... in fact it uses up the world's share so that none is visited upon North America at all! Thank God for Africa for being the buffer zone for all this misery.

[Doly]

You are assuming a fairly bad dieoff, aren't you? Can you post some figures that would be reasonable according to you?

[Ayoob_Reloaded]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', 'Y')ou are assuming a fairly bad dieoff, aren't you? Can you post some figures that would be reasonable according to you?

[johnmarkos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob_Reloaded', '
')Well, those would be the population numbers unless something happens to stop them from occurring.

Like what's happening in Africa right now.

[bruin]

Cuba is a much better example of a PO world.

[Raxozanne]

Who had all the babies?

[jato]

At least the safety is on!

[pea-jay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johnmarkos', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob_Reloaded', '
')Well, those would be the population numbers unless something happens to stop them from occurring.

Like what's happening in Africa right now.

[jato]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he crosshairs of their weapons will never find their true target. It is overseas in comfy boardrooms sipping on Pina Coladas.

[jaakkeli]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pea-jay', 'Y')es, if it werent for immigration, our country would be seeing stagnant growth right about now. Not to the same extent as Europe, but close. The growth is driven by newcomers.