In the new “Failed States Index” compiled by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, Somalia has displaced Sudan at the top of the list. Sudan is number two, followed by Zimbabwe and Chad. Iraq, which ranked second last… Read moreSomalia tops “Failed States Index”
A new Energy Department report says much about how elites view the oil shock—and why the US is in Iraq. It actually mentions the impacts of biofuels, but that’s a sideshow to the inexorable threat of China‘s economic rise. This synopsis does not… Read moreEnergy Department sees surging world consumption
The National Intelligence Council (NIC) has completed a new classified assessment that explores how climate change could threaten US security in the next 20 years, causing political instability, mass movements of refugees, terrorism, and conflicts over water and other resources…. Read moreNational Intelligence Council sees climate threat
The Supreme Court on June 25 dealt a blow to victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, cutting the $2.5 billion in punitive damages award for the worst oil spill in US history to $507 million. The court ruled 5-3… Read moreSupreme Court reduces damages in Exxon Valdez case
From the Global Forest Coalition, June 5: A Black Day for the Environment: False Solutions to Food Crisis will Escalate Starvation, Accelerate Climate Change and Devastate Biodiversity Rome — The Global Forest Coalition, a worldwide coalition of environmental NGOs and… Read moreEcologists blast Rome food summit
In the last six months, food riots in virtually every continent have made headlines, with angry protests reported in India, Mexico, Egypt, Indonesia, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, and the Philippines. Now impacts are being felt in… Read moreFood panic hits the First World
Gee, good thinking, science geeks. There’s too much junk in the atmosphere…so let’s throw even more junk into the atmosphere. Anything to avoid fat Americans having to give up their precious automobiles. From AP, April 24: Using chemicals to cut… Read moreGreenhouse techno-fix would kill ozone layer
Terrance Nelson, chief of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation in Manitoba, has sent a letter to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez asking for a $1 million donation or loan to hire lawyers to force two energy companies to share revenues… Read moreManitoba First Nation appeals to Chávez in pipeline fight
Just as the UN is warning of a global food shock (in part due to the diversion of croplands into production of “biofuels“), come reports of dangerous new fungus with the ability to destroy entire wheat fields spreading from Africa… Read moreWheat-eating fungus spreads to Iran, fueling “food shock” fears
On March 14, activist group “Agrofools” closed down the World Biofuels Market meeting in Brussels by sealing four sets of double doors with padlocks and chains and barring access with their bodies just before the official opening. A battle ensued… Read moreActivists protest at World Biofuels Market
With $100-a-barrel here for now, Goldman Sachs says $200 a barrel could be a near-term reality in the case of a “major disruption.” Goldman on March 7 also boosted by $10 the low end of its 2008-2012 projected range for… Read moreGoldman Sachs: oil “super-spike” forecast was too optimistic
Josette Sheeran, head of the UN World Food Program, warned that the global rise in basic food costs could continue until 2010, blaming soaring energy and grain prices—the effects of climate change and demand for biofuels. Some food prices rose… Read moreWorld Food Program warns of global food shock
