t r u t h o u t | $130 Oil: Is That a Tipping Point?

"We may finally have crossed the line where the price of crude actually matters for most companies," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at New York financial firm Miller Tabak & Co. "The stock market has been in la-la land when it comes to oil, but they got a pretty good dose of reality the last few days."

The ill effects of the latest price hikes would not be so surprising if it were not for the fact that the nation's economy and financial markets remained blissfully unruffled by oil's upward march during most of the last five years. Until this week.

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t r u t h o u t | $130 Oil: Is That a Tipping Point?

t r u t h o u t | Mazzocchi, Speth and Capitalism's Future

t r u t h o u t | Mazzocchi, Speth and Capitalism's Future: "

"Capitalism as we know it today is incapable of sustaining the environment."

Winds of Change

A stunning new report just issued by the Bush administration finds that for under 2 cents a day per household, Americans could get 300 gigawatts of wind by 2030. That would:

* Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 25 percent in 2030.
* Reduce natural gas use by 11 percent.
* Reduce cumulative water consumption associated with electricity generation by 4 trillion gallons by 2030.
* Support roughly 500,000 # jobs in the U.S.

The report doesn't mention that this would require adopting policies the Bush administration opposes. But that's what elections are for.


Read More here

Climate change regulations will generate $3 trillion. - May. 15, 2008

Climate change regulations will generate $3 trillion. - May. 15, 2008

(Fortune) -- A climate-change bill that has widespread support as it heads to the Senate floor will create an estimated $150 billion of new assets in the first year it takes effect. Between now and 2050, regulating greenhouse gases could easily generate $3 trillion worth in value in the United States.

Should that value go to utility companies, electricity customers who will face rising rates, government investments in new technology or tax cuts? Or should it be returned to all Americans?

Five Ways To Make Bike Commuting Easy | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Five Ways To Make Bike Commuting Easy | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Today is Bike-to-Work Day. We know what you're thinking. Biking to work is great and all, but it's just not practical, right? Wrong. Think of the advantages. No wasted gas, no searching for a parking spot, no waiting in traffic jams. In fact, the bike could end up getting you to work quicker. But there are some things a car does better and so, in honor of the day, we've put together a list of things you can add to make two wheels just as comfortable as four.

OneWorld U.S. Home / Today's News - Pedaling Toward Cleaner Cities

OneWorld U.S. Home Pedaling Toward Cleaner Cities

WASHINGTON, May 13 (OneWorld) - What single silver bullet can simultaneously reduce air pollution and oil dependency, roll back urban congestion, and fight obesity?

It's not a pill, nor a complicated formula concocted by the World Bank. People around the world are turning to bicycles by the millions, as governments rush to create incentives for the low-tech transport alternative to gas-glugging, smog-making, traffic jam-producing automobiles.

Down With the Sickness

Like a liver badly transplanted, the planet is rapidly rejecting the human species. While the global economy seems to be geared towards infinite growth, spewing toxins into the environment with gay abandon and finding ever more harmful means of despoiling ecosystems, it is becoming more and more clear that we, as a complex society, are reaching a point of decision, and not any old decision: stop now, or collapse. Mend your ways, or descend into a somewhat more primal state of affairs. The smart money, is on the latter."

read more Down With the Sickness: "A Review of Stan Cox's Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine

Peak Oil Is a Problem We Can Solve Now | Environment | AlterNet

"Many people are expecting unconventional oil -- such as the tar sands and liquid coal -- to make up the supply shortage. That would be a climate catastrophe, and I (optimistically) believe humanity is wise enough not to let that happen. More supply is not the answer to either our oil or climate problem."

Read more at Peak Oil Is a Problem We Can Solve Now | Environment | AlterNet:

Those Who Control Oil and Water Will Control the World | Environment | AlterNet

The scramble for energy is shaping many of the conflicts we can expect in the present century. The danger is not just another oil shock that impacts on industrial production, but a threat of famine. Without a drip feed of petroleum to highly mechanised farms, many of the food shelves in the supermarkets would be empty.

read more in Those Who Control Oil and Water Will Control the World | Environment | AlterNet

Take note of a very pertinent comment:

TS Eliot where are you?

Posted by: talkville on Apr 7, 2008 2:47 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"There is no alternative to continuing growth..." What can this mean??

The assaults on Latin America, once again beginning; the assault on Africa, never really ended. The US led IMF WTO assault on just about every majority-world country in raiding state assets and resources and privatizing them all (which include land, water, air-space, and mineral holdings) in this rapidly progressing Wasteland called Earth simply cannot either ecologically, economically or humanly continue under this thoroughly ideologized blob-word called 'growth'. Alternatives exist, just as several different meanings and senses are available when referring to 'growth'; and lest we forget: sometimes allowing the atrophy of certain things and ways of thinking can do marvels for saner 'games' as well as for sanity. [my emphasis added]

Let's not forget: The Club for Growth is a VERY exclusive one.

Climate target is not radical enough - study | Environment | The Guardian

One of the world's leading climate scientists warns today that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.

In a startling reappraisal of the threat, James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, calls for a sharp reduction in C02 limits.

Hansen says the EU target of 550 parts per million of C02 - the most stringent in the world - should be slashed to 350ppm. He argues the cut is needed if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed".

Climate target is not radical enough - study | Environment | The Guardian

CLIMATE CHANGE: A Game With Too Many Free Riders

By Stephen Leahy*

BROOKLIN, Canada, Apr 4 (IPS) - The evidence is piling up that climate change threatens to bring a chaotic future unlike anything ever known. Taking collective action in time to avert the worst means rewarding climate-safe behaviour, punishing climate transgressors and publicly praising those who are trying to protect the environment, a new study suggests.

The nations of the world will come together to set a target and timeframe for reducing emissions from burning fossil fuels at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Scientists have repeatedly stated the 2020 target must be 25 to 40 percent emission reductions from the 1990 emission baseline. Can the global community reach this collective target through individual efforts when everyone suffers individually if the target is missed?

The short answer: No.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A Game With Too Many Free Riders

This is the last in a four part series:

Part One - CLIMATE CHANGE: The Future Is Now
Part Two - CLIMATE CHANGE: The Fault Lies Not in Our Cars but in Ourselves
Part Three - CLIMATE CHANGE: A Vision Worth Fighting For

climate catastrophe has already begun to reshape human civilisation.

Annual emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) are three times higher today than in the 1990s. Even if the impossible could be done -- cease all CO2 emissions today -- the average global temperature will continue to increase from the present 0.8 degrees C above normal to 1.6 - 1.8C, data shows. And that new global average temperature would remain higher than normal for the next 500 years because of the time it will take for the warming oceans to cool.

CLIMATE CHANGE: The Future Is Now

The God of Consumption = Irrevesible Climate Change

The question is often asked these days if humanity will be able to get its act together to formulate an effective response to climate change.

The transition must be one not only from a fossil-fuel based economy but also from an overconsumption-driven economy.

The end-goal must be adoption of a low-consumption, low-growth, high-equity development model that results in an improvement in people's welfare, a better quality of life for all, and greater democratic control of production.

more from Radical Left :: Capitalist Fundamentalism; The God of Consumption

Logical Science | Corn Ethanol: The Great Boondoggle

Logical Science | Corn Ethanol: The Great Boondoggle

Harvard and Columbia University’s Professor Michael McElroy writes:The balance in terms of emission of greenhouse gases is close to a wash for the United States: the reduction in net emissions of carbon dioxide obtained by using corn rather than petroleum as a "feedstock" for motor fuel is largely offset by additional emissions of the several hundredfold more potent greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, formed as a byproduct of the nitrogen fertilizer used to grow the corn.


This is while we are using natural gas to make the corn. If we switch to coal for the distillation process then the situation will only get worse.

If We Want to Survive the Climate Crisis We Must Change | Environment | AlterNet

If We Want to Survive the Climate Crisis We Must Change | Environment | AlterNet

Either we build real community -- with mass transit and local food -- or we will go down clinging to the wreckage of our privatized society.

... really, we need to change our sense of what we want from the world.

Do we want enormous homes and enormous cars, all to ourselves? If we do, then we can't deal with global warming. Do we want to keep eating food that travels 1,500 miles to reach our lips? Or can we take the bus or ride a bike to the farmers' market? Does that sound romantic to you? Farmers' markets are the fastest growing part of the American food economy; really, we need to change our sense of what we want from the world.

Only zero emissions can prevent a warmer planet - climate-change - 29 February 2008 - New Scientist Environment

Only zero emissions can prevent a warmer planet - climate-change - 29 February 2008 - New Scientist Environment:

"Greenhouse gas emissions will have to be eliminated completely to stabilise the Earth's climate and prevent temperatures from rising. That’s the conclusion of climatologists in the US who say that our current efforts to merely stabilise emissions will not be enough."

Send email replies to: hlbumpkin.anybody@blogspot.com

World can 'afford' to solve its environmental woes: OECD - Yahoo! News UK

World can 'afford' to solve its environmental woes: OECD - Yahoo! News UK:

"The suggested measures would cost just over 1.0 percent of the predicted global gross domestic product in 2030, meaning world wealth would grow on average 0.03 percentage points less per year over the next 22 years, the organisation said.

If nothing is done however, global greenhouse gas emissions could rise by over 50 percent by 2050, while 'one billion more people will be living in areas of severe water stress by 2030 than today, and premature deaths caused by ground-level ozone worldwide would quadruple by 2030,' the OECD report said."

Send email replies to: hlbumpkin.anybody@blogspot.com

'Enjoy life while you can' | Environment | The Guardian

'Enjoy life while you can' | Environment | The Guardian

For decades, his advocacy of nuclear power appalled fellow environmentalists - but recently increasing numbers of them have come around to his way of thinking. His latest book, The Revenge of Gaia, predicts that by 2020 extreme weather will be the norm, causing global devastation; that by 2040 much of Europe will be Saharan; and parts of London will be underwater

Peak Oil: Life After the Oil Crash

Peak Oil: Life After the Oil Crash

Oil jumps to new record on dollar's fall - Yahoo! News

Oil jumps to new record on dollar's fall - Yahoo! News

See the Science Behind Climate Change : Yahoo! Green

Good Site to know about to keep up on climate news.

See the Science Behind Climate Change : Yahoo! Green

Scoop: Low-Carbon Economy 'Makes Good Business Sense'

Scoop: Low-Carbon Economy 'Makes Good Business Sense':

"'You are here today because you recognize climate change as an opportunity as well as a threat,' Mr. Ban told the large gathering at UN Headquarters in New York which brought together 450 participants, who together control $10-15 trillion in investment capital. 'You understand that the shift to a low-carbon economy opens new revenue streams and creates new markets.'"

Send email replies to: hlbumpkin.anybody@blogspot.com

Peter Schwartz - The Threat of "Abrupt Climate Change"

Bush's 2009 Budget Shouldn't Be Ignored | OurFuture.org

Bush's 2009 Budget Shouldn't Be Ignored | OurFuture.org:

"But just because significant parts of it will be rewritten does not mean that it should be dismissed as politically irrelevant. It is, in fact, very relevant to what should be the core political debate of 2008: Do we want a government that supports the needs and aspirations of ordinary Americans or one that turns its back on them?"

Send email replies to: hlbumpkin.anybody@blogspot.com

Michael T. Klare | How Oil Burst the American Bubble

or how gullible Americans but the big lie.

The great economic mega-bubble arose in the late 1990s, when oil was cheap, times were good, and millions of middle-class families aspired to realize the "American dream" by buying a three (or more) bedroom house on a decent piece of property in a nice, safe suburb with good schools and various other amenities. The hitch: Few such affordable homes were available for sale - or being built - within easy commuting range of major metropolitan areas or near public transportation. In the Los Angeles metropolitan area, for example, the median sale price of existing homes rose from $290,000 in 2002 to $446,400 in 2004; similar increases were posted in other major cities and in their older, more desirable suburbs.

The rest of the story: Michael T. Klare | How Oil Burst the American Bubble

It's a bleak future for Britain's future leaders - Telegraph

It's a bleak future for Britain's future leaders - Telegraph:

"The Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, Peter Madden, said: 'This generation of students has a heavy burden to bear. They're the first to be fully aware of the damage that human beings are doing to the planet and the last with a chance to save it. That's quite some burden, but one that our future leaders seem confident they can carry.'"

Send email replies to: hlbumpkin.anybody@blogspot.com

Developing State Solar Photovoltaic Markets

The full report (pdf)

Solar photovoltaic energy is an established technology that has proven its ability to improve our national security and boost the economy. Photovoltaics produce energy that is both domestic and emission-free, making it key to weaning the United States of our dependence on polluting fossil fuels and helping to curb the effects of global warming. Solar PV also bolsters our economic security by creating more new jobs than any other energy technology.

We’ve Got 99 Problems, But A Human-Animal Hybrid Ain’t One

A Look at the Biggest Winners and Biggest Losers Under the Bush Administration"


As President Bush’s days of power draw to a close, one thing is clear: We’ve got a lot more problems now than we did seven years ago.

Germany shows renewable fuels can provide 100% of electrical power Needs

Rich countries owe poor a huge environmental debt | Science | guardian.co.uk

"The environmental damage caused to developing nations by the world's richest countries amounts to more than the entire third world debt of $1.8 trillion, according to the first systematic global analysis of the ecological damage imposed by rich countries."

read the story "Rich countries owe poor a huge environmental debt" | Science | guardian.co.uk: