With abject apologies to the Bard, this is just a note on the potentially enormous question of how much do we want to get at the vast amounts of shale gas available, worldwide, and what price is there to be paid. I’ve written about the implications for greenhouse gas reductions in exploiting the enormous reserves […]
After fifty years of intrigue, greed, and environmental obliviousness, can oil, gas and mining companies in developing world situations ever get it right? A new book by Luc Zandvliet and Mary B. Anderson of Boston-based CDA Collaborative Learning Projects suggests it is possible, if the corporate will is there. Getting It Right: Making Corporate-Community Relations […]
Last month, I talked to a man who works indirectly with one of the Native Corporations of Alaska. “The North Slope is going to be running out of oil in the not too distant future,” I said. “What will you do then?” He paused both considering the question and yet not understanding why I asked. […]
Pipelines used to be just a way to get oil or gas from Point A to Point B — mostly political locally, especially for environmental reasons. Sometimes, they are locally strategic, the way they are in Nigeria — want to get the government’s or the company’s attention? Blow up a pipeline. Increasingly, they are geo-strategic, […]
Just a quick note: A former student of mine jumped in the other day with some comment about the recent nuclear power announcement from the White House. Here is her take and my response. For a stunningly strong and incisive analysis, go to Kate Sheppard’s article yesterday at “Mother Jones.” One of the several eye-opening […]
A national food security assessment completed in December 2009 in Niger showed approximately 7.8 million people, totaling three-fifths of the country’s population, face moderate to severe food insecurity, say UN officials. Specifically, 2.7 million Niger citizens suffer from severe food insecurity and 5.1 million suffer moderate food insecurity. An irregular and shortened rainy season last […]
In the January/February 2010 edition of Foreign Affairs, Carlisle Ford Runge and Carlisle Piehl Runge wrote an article titled “Against the Grain, “ which questions if the current global balance between food prices (high) and food supply (low) invites a return of the theories of Thomas Malthus, who posited that overwhelming human population growth would be held back by a decreasing availability of food. […]
I’ve been trying to stay out of the thick of the vastly media-inflated controversy over the science. There are folks, in any event, who are much better grounded in the complexities of the arguments than I am. These include the very good minds at RealClimate, Skeptical Science, Stoat and Climate Feedback, among others. I have […]
On Friday, Haiti marked the one month anniversary of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which had left the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere in the dire situation of providing food and shelter to nearly 1 million displaced survivors. Following recent outbreaks of violence by Haitians seeking food aid and supplies, feelings of desperation among […]
I’ve been looking at energy and environmental policy for many years and I’m usually happily surprised when things take a smart turn. Even thoughtful, progressive policymakers like Barack Obama, though, wind up making bone-headed calls. Obama offers nuclear plant loan guarantee, as the FT reports, is one good example. I’m, to put it politely, less-than-sanguine […]
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, has changed his mind. He loves big oil companies after all. The history of Big Oil and Hugo Chavez reads like one of those dysfunctional relationships most of us have at least briefly been involved in: he or she only loves you when they […]
Thursday, New York Times columnist Gail Collins spent significant time mocking New York City councilman Larry Seabrook, who is charged with doctoring a receipt for a bagel sandwich from $7 to $177. Most people around the country aren’t too surprised (but remain disgusted) by such behavior in politicians. Gail Collins should see what I see. […]
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