Happy New Year 3. One of the world’s leading experts on climate change has warned that the Earth is being turned into a “different planet” because of the continuing increase in man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. In an interview with The Independent newspaper, Jim Hansen, who was one of the first scientists to warn of … Read More
Blog Post
Oil Outlook “Frightening”
Happy New Year 2. The Seattle Times reports gloomily: “Food shortages, cars abandoned, another depression. It’s the stuff of nightmares — and the type of future an eclectic group of engineers, computer experts and others in Seattle believe could await us”. “Members of Seattle Peak Oil Awareness expect world production of oil and gasoline to … Read More
2007 Will Be Hottest Year Ever
Happy New Year 1. A combination of climate change and the El Niño is set to make 2007 the warmest year on record, one of Britain’s leading climate experts has warned. The warning comes from Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. The forecast for the next … Read More
Canadian Ice Shelf sets sail
Scientists studying satellite imagery from the Canadian Arctic have just discovered that the Ayles Ice Shelf broke free of Ellesmere Island sixteen months ago. In an AP story running widely this morning, Warwick Vincent of Laval University said: “This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the … Read More
NYT: Incentives on Oil Barely Help U.S., Study Suggests
Great article from the New York Times last week, fyi. Original here. Or read on for pasted text.
Whither Peak Oil?
Originally posted at http://www.markfloegel.org If you’re a long time reader of these commentaries, you may have noticed the recurrence of a limited repertoire of subjects – the Iraq war, global warming, the evisceration of civil liberties in the U.S. and peak oil. As detrimental as I believe the administration of George W. Bush has been … Read More
Dictator’s Death May Spark Gas Contest
The death of Saparmurat Niyazov, the idiosyncratic dictator of Turkmenistan, the former Soviet republic, could trigger a new round in the fierce battle between the United States and Russia for control of Central Asia‘s huge oil and gas reserves. Turkmenistan is the second-largest natural-gas producer in the former Soviet Union, after Russia. The country holds … Read More
Now Russia Turns Heat on BP
Hot on the heels of the Kremlin taking back ownership of Shell’s Sakhalin-2 project, the Kremlin has issued a chilling warning to BP about its future in the country. A key Kremlin official has warned BP that it has no choice but to accede to Russian demands with its latest project, or face crippling sanctions.
Iran Asks Oil Buyers to Pay in Euros
The world’s fourth largest oil exporter, Iran, is seeking payment for oil sales in euros as it shifts currency reserves out of dollars. The State-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), acting under instructions from the Central Bank of Iran, has inserted a new clause in oil supply contracts that allows it to request payment in … Read More
Brown Bears Stop Hibernating
Bears in the mountains of northern Spain have stopped hibernating, scientists have revealed in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world. Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen … Read More