A few months ago it was all boom in Alberta. There was a labour shortage, skills shortage and the dollars were pouring in. Not any more. One by one the investments are drying up, as the crunch hits and the oil price bounces around the $50 mark. Oil giant Shell has announced it is delaying … Read More
Month: November 2008
The Climate Sceptic About to Lead the EU
In January 2009, much of the world’s attention will focus on the shift of power from President Bush to Barack Obama. But the US is not the only place where there will be a significant power shift. The presidency of the EU also moves that month from France to the Czech Republic. So why does … Read More
Justice Begins at Home
In May 1998, 121 unarmed youths from the 42 communities of Ilajeland in the Niger Delta decided to join the waves of protests against the oil companies sweeping the region. Whereas many of the previous protests had been against Shell, the oil company operating in their area was Chevron. They got into boats and canoes … Read More
The Other CO2 Problem…
The other day I went to a lecture by one of Britain’s leading marine scientists. His talk was on the “Other CO2 Problem,” which is not the problem of rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere, but of rising acidity in the world’s oceans. The oceans absorb about a third of the CO2 released into the … Read More
Portugal Leads the “Green” Car Revolution ….
As the auto industry crisis continues in Washington after the impasse in Congress late last week, you could argue that the American car industry is paying a heavy price for ignoring the warning signs of a coming economic crunch and growing ecological consciousness. Contrast the image of the ailing big three American car companies begging … Read More
“I Will Point Out Hypocricy”
As the price of oil plummets below $50 a barrel, the price of gasoline falls too. The high oil prices and record gas prices of the summer now seem years away. As we fill up our cars, the temptation will be that cheaper motoring will mean more motoring. But not if the friendly folks from … Read More
Good Riddance, Uncle Ted
So ends a political era. The Alaskan senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history and a force on Capitol Hill for decades, yesterday finally conceded the re-election race to his Democratic rival, Mayor Mark Begich. This brings us to the end of the “Uncle Ted” era in Alaska, when billions of Stevens’s “pork-barrel” … Read More
A New Chapter but Same Old “Solutions” (maybe)
American President-elect Barack Obama sent a video-taped message to a conference on climate change in Los Angeles yesterday that, under his administration, he would to promise a “new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change”, leading to a “new era of global cooperation” on the issue. In his message, Obama pledged “a new chapter in … Read More
In its Dying Days, Bush Administration Promotes Oil Shale
Once an oil man always an oil man. Old George W might be a lame duck President, but he still has oil flowing through his veins. Whilst the world’s focus is on what the new Obama Presidency will do to combat climate change or energy security, old President Bush is making sure he makes the … Read More
Exxon: Betting on the Wrong Horse
It was Benjamin Franklin who once said: “Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” In these uncertain times, with a volatile oil price, rising temperatures and a sea-change of political will and ideology in the White House, who would envy the CEO of a leading Fortune 500 oil company, plot the … Read More