Planet Watch
Canada high court to hear prior consultation case
Canada's Supreme Court announced that it will review two decisions of the National Energy Board related to oil development and aboriginal consultation.
Tag: arctic
Planet Watch
Activists divided on Paris climate accord
Is the Paris climate agreement an historic step toward limiting global warming or a corporate scam based on technocratic pseudo-solutions?
Europe
Paris: police suppress climate protests
Police in Paris used tear-gas and batons to break up protesters who attempted to gather ahead of the UN climate summit in defiance of a state of emergency.
Planet Watch
Retreat on Arctic drilling —push to open ANWR
The Interior Department announced the cancellation of two pending Arctic offshore lease sales—as Alaska's governor makes a new push to open the ANWR to oil companies.
Greater Middle East
Syria war prompts ‘doomsday’ seed bank withdrawal
An Aleppo-based seed research center, forced by the war to flee to Beirut, has made an emergency request for seed stock from a "doomsday" vault on a remote Arctic island.
Planet Watch
Russia files revised bid for arctic territory
Russia’s Foreign Ministry submitted a new bid claiming over 350 nautical miles of oil-rich Arctic sea shelf before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Planet Watch
Ice Age fears: don’t believe the hype
Russia Today trumpets specious claims of a new Little Ice Age—convenient propaganda for Putin to go on exploiting Arctic oil without worrying about global warming.
Planet Watch
Obama’s new offshore plan: don’t believe the hype
Obama's five-year plan for offshore drilling opens up the Southeast coast and grandfathers Arctic leases—but the industry is still griping because it would keep ANWR off limits.
The Amazon
Carbon obfuscation in New York Times
Amid the current UN climate talks, the New York Times runs an op-ed entitled "To Save the Planet, Don't Plant Trees"—filled with bogus science and dishonest claims.
Central Asia
Next: Free Siberia?
In a little-noted irony, as Vladiimir Putin backs the "People's Republics" in eastern Ukraine, he has cracked down on a separatist movement that has emerged in Siberia.
Iraq
Low oil price: calm before the storm?
The new Iraq crisis sparked a brief oil shock, but prices have since stabilized. We are told this is due to the North American energy boom—but are prices set to surge again?
Europe
Great Game for Arctic in Ukraine struggle?
At the NATO summit called in response to the Ukraine escalation, a particularly hard line is being taken by Canada—now in a race with Russia to claim Arctic oil resources.