Andy Rowell | The Price of Oil

Posts by Andy Rowell

Methane Leaks Alarm Scientists
Andy Rowell
Dec14
In the fallout from the Durban conference, one of the debates I have heard is people debating what keeping warming to 2 degrees means, rather than letting warming increase to 3 degrees or even 4 degrees. One of the answers was that if warming goes above 2 degrees the chances of a runaway greenhouse effect…
Continue reading ‘Methane Leaks Alarm Scientists’.
“Dirty” Canada Dumps Kyoto Protocol
Andy Rowell
Dec13
Finally the pretence is over. For years Canada said it cared about climate change at the same time as developing one of the most dirty fuels on the planet, the tar sands. But we knew it was a lie. For years Canada has told European politicians that it is committed to greenhouse gas reductions in…
Continue reading ‘“Dirty” Canada Dumps Kyoto Protocol’.
Picking over the “Corpse” of the Durban Deal
Andy Rowell
Dec12
The good news is that against all the odds, the Durban climate conference produced a deal. To some the deal is seen as historic, but to many it is once again far too little. But first let’s look at the good news. Many delegates were really pleased after their marathon negotiating session that they had…
Continue reading ‘Picking over the “Corpse” of the Durban Deal’.
“Time to Leave ‘Fossil’ Canada Behind”
Andy Rowell
Dec08
As Canada continues to push its pro-tar sands message out across North America, Europe, Asia, it was greeted by protests at the COP17 Climate talks in South Africa. Yesterday members of the Canadian Youth Delegation were ejected from the meeting as Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent delivered his opening address. Just as Kent began his…
Continue reading ‘“Time to Leave ‘Fossil’ Canada Behind”’.
“Liability” Don Young Faces Ethics Probe
Andy Rowell
Dec07
Alaskans are beginning to ask the multi-million dollar question about their veteran politician, and oil-industry stooge, Don Young. At the end of last month, one journalist writing for the Alaskan Dispatch newspaper asked “Are Don Young’s political antics an Alaska asset or liability?” The trouble for Alaskans is that Young, whose slogan is the “Congressman…
Continue reading ‘“Liability” Don Young Faces Ethics Probe’.
Record CO2 Emissions and a Deal by … 2020
Andy Rowell
Dec05
The daunting task of somehow creating a meaningful post-Kyoto deal at the Durban climate talks has been made even more urgent by the news that global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuels jumped by the largest amount on record last year. According to new research by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) emissions of CO2 rose…
Continue reading ‘Record CO2 Emissions and a Deal by … 2020′.
Tar Sands: “No Safe Way to Market”
Andy Rowell
Nov30
The top brass of BP and Shell will have not been amused this morning when they opened their Financial Times to see a half page advert staring at them about the ecological cost of the tar sands. The advert, entitled: “Tar sands – 23 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil” demands that…
Continue reading ‘Tar Sands: “No Safe Way to Market”’.
A Culture Beyond Oil
Andy Rowell
Nov29
“There is no money that is completely pure”, so says Nicholas Serota, the Director of the Tate gallery in London that is under fire once again for taking oil money from BP and Shell. Serota is right in many ways, there is no such thing as clean money but some funding is dirtier than others….
Continue reading ‘A Culture Beyond Oil’.
Tar Sands: Britain is “Canada’s Partner in Crime”
Andy Rowell
Nov28
Late last week on the eve of the Durban climate talks, the British Climate Change secretary, Chris Huhne boasted that Britain was showing “leadership” in the UN negotiations. But whilst Britain is bragging about leading the climate change fight, it is still leading the pro-tar sands charge in Europe; a somewhat hypocritical position. This dirty…
Continue reading ‘Tar Sands: Britain is “Canada’s Partner in Crime”’.
$camp_frack$
Shale Gas “Will Wreck Climate Commitments”
Andy Rowell
Nov23
Further to my blog earlier in the week criticising the Financial Times’ new “let’s happily drill the land of plenty” philosophy to oil shale and gas, of course there is downside to these new found reserves of oil. The big fat elephant in the room missed by the FT and ignored by the oil industry…
Continue reading ‘Shale Gas “Will Wreck Climate Commitments”’.