New research predicts that over half the world’s major forests will be destroyed if temperatures rise by 3C or more by the end of the century due to climate change. In one of the most comprehensive analysis yet of the potential effects of global warming, scientists from Bristol University in the UK argue that floods, … Read More
Blog Post
More Oil Workers Kidnapped in Nigeria
The violence in Nigeria shows no sign of abating with the news that five oil workers were abducted from a notorious nightclub in Port Harcourt the oil capital of the Niger Delta in Nigeria at the weekend. The five were taken from the Goodfellas club on Sunday night as sporadic gun battles broke out across … Read More
When Pigs…
Chris Borrowman, meet Yuanhui Zhang. Chris is a pork producer in Illinois and he has a lagoon in his backyard the size of about 23 swimming pools that is filled with pig crap. Yuanhui is a professor at the University of Illinois that has developed a new process to turn pig manure into oil. This … Read More
BP Spins Alaska Story
Public relations trade magazine, PR Week has reported that BP has “more than doubled the number of external communications people” working in its Anchorage office due to its current problems in Alaska. According to PR Week, “the company’s image is taking a battering because advocacy groups are wondering how such an ‘eco-friendly’ company let something … Read More
BP: Only Itself to Blame For Alaskan Fiasco
I am back from holiday, so lets go straight back to BP. The news that BP had to shut over half of its vast Prudhoe Bay operations because of pipeline corrosion has made headlines across the globe. It has also sent the price of oil nearly $2 dollars a barrel upwards. As BP apologized for … Read More
Big Oil Rips You Off. Need more proof?
Here are two great recent reports detailing EXACTLY how oil companies rip us all off, from Consumers Union. Although its been woefully under-reported in both the traditional and alternative media, the conclusions of CU’s May report (“Debunking Oil Industry Myths and Deception: The $100 Billion Consumer Rip-Off”) are strong and clear, and the research is … Read More
Petro-Imperialism
“Few lies have wound up injuring Americans more” than the persistent denial that the war in Iraq is about oil and America’s failed energy strategy, according to author Kevin Phillips who reviews the evidence in the first section of his superb new book, American Theocracy. If that’s not on the top of your reading stack … Read More
Massive Oil Spill Continues to Spread in Lebanon
It has been almost a month since Israeli planes bombed the Jiyeh power plant 12 miles south of Beirut and triggered the largest oil spill in the history of the eastern Mediterranean. About two weeks ago the United Nations Environment Program warned that about 12,000 tonnes of oil had already leaked from the plant and … Read More
Biggest Polluter
Sunday’s local newspaper reported that gasoline sales in Vermont were 13 percent below prediction in February of this year and almost 15 percent low for May. I have no theories on the May swoon, aside from the toll continued high prices are having on us all, but I’m reasonably sure the February dip was due … Read More
“Crude Awakening”
In the latest issue of Ms. Magazine, Martha Burk’s “Crude Awakening” draws fresh connections between the United States’ oil interests and its willingness to overlook gross violations of women’s rights, especially in oil-rich nations. Writes Burk: “Whether supporting gender apartheid abroad, or sacrificing feeding programs for U.S. women and children so that ExxonMobil can get … Read More