Sometimes researchers are blamed of being alarmists stirring up fears of a fictional dystopia by the business-as-usual crowd. But it seems a forewarning of conflict over oil in Peru is proceeding according to exactly such a warning. The news first…

40+ dead at protest

In extension of free trade agreements the Peruvian government has plans for ‘developing’ the Amazon homelands of many indigenous communities – opening it for oil, mineral, logging, and agricultural exploitation. Locals have been protesting some of these initiatives claiming they are unconstitutional and in violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. When police intervened fighting erupted. Body counts wary; one is as high as 81.

President Alan Garcia Perez is claimed to have been behind a massacre on suspects of being Maoist guerrillas in 1986. A former army colonel turned politician is siding with the protesters. An arrest warrant has been issued on protest leader Alberto Pizango who has gone into hiding.

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Photo credit: blmurch

Kristin Halvorsen, Finance Minister in Norway, has together with her Socialist Left Party proposed a plan that would forbid the sale of new cars that run solely on gasoline after 2015 in the country.

According to her proposal new cars, bought after 2015, which only uses gas as their power source would be illegal. New hybrids, cars that run partially on gas, on the other hand would still be allowed to be sold in Norway. And cars already on the road would be unaffected by the new proposed law.

“The financial crisis also means that a lot of those car producers that now have big problems … know that they have to develop their technology because we also have to solve the climate crisis when this financial crisis is over,” Halvorsen was quoted as telling Reuters.

The proposal has already met some resistance in Norway where the skeptics say the proposed ban would undermine the country’s economy (Norway is the world’s number six oil exporter). But Halvorsen says that won’t be the case:

“Not at all … we know that the world will be dependent on oil and gas for many decades ahead but we have to introduce new technologies and this is a proposal to support that,” she said.

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Yesterday the new climate change movie “The Age of Stupid” had premiere in the UK. The movie stars Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in the devastated world of the future, asking the question: “Why didn’t we stop climate change when we still had the chance?” He looks back on footage of real people around the world in the years leading up to 2015 before runaway climate change took place.

The movie has already received positive reviews in the press and celebrities, politicians and environmentalists have all praised it. The Guardian has said the movie is “fascinating”. And that “the message, never stated but constantly emerging, is that we all have our self-justifying myths. These myths prevent us from engaging with climate change.” The New Statesman says the movie is “anything but a good-guys-versus-bad-guys polemic. It is angry but nuanced, despairing but strangely motivating.”

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In a speech at the Department of Energy yesterday Barack Obama said he and the American people is serious about energy independence. Obama also said his proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan “will begin to end the tyranny of oil in our time.”

In the speech Obama said the renewable energy industry “will create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years” and “millions more after that”. Obama said he will invest in a “better, smarter electricity grid” that can deliver clean renewable electricity from one end of the country to another. Obama also said he will “lead a revolution in energy efficiency” saying it will create jobs and save taxpayers $2 billion each year and “billions of dollars more on their utility bills”. He said his investments in the US mass transit system will be “a significant down payment on a cleaner and more independent energy future.”

Obama also criticized the Republicans who have spoken out against his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan: (more…)

Yesterday Barack Obama delivered a speech about jobs, energy independence, and climate change as he “will direct federal regulators to move swiftly to grant California and 13 other states the right to set strict automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards,” the NYT reports.

“The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Mr. Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.”

In the speech Obama said that “no single issue is as fundamental to our future as energy” and that the dependence on oil is “one of the most serious threats” USA has faced.

“At a time of such great challenge for America, no single issue is as fundamental to our future as energy.

America’s dependence on oil is one of the most serious threats that our nation has faced. It bankrolls dictators, pays for nuclear proliferation and funds both sides of our struggle against terrorism. It puts the American people at the mercy of shifting gas prices, stifles innovation, and sets back our ability to compete.

These urgent dangers to our national and economic security are compounded by the long-term threat of climate change, which, if left unchecked, could result in violent conflict, terrible storms, shrinking coastlines, and irreversible catastrophe.”

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What is equality and development? And what kind of influence has the environment on both of these relations? For me, environmentalism has always been about caring about the well-state and equality of everyone and everything. Al Gore said, during the annual World Economic Forum Meeting in 2008, that you can’t solve climate change or poverty in the developing world “without dealing with the other”:

“Earlier this year, Bono and I spoke about the intersection between the extreme poverty in the developing world – especially in Africa – and the climate crisis. It is impossible to solve one of these issues without dealing with the other (Gore, 2008)”.

So if we are to solve the equality in the world, our uneven development and environmental problems we just can’t work on one of them. They are all connected and thus we have to deal with all of them at once.

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In this video George Monbiot, Britain’s leading green commentator, meets with Jeroen van de Veer who is the chief executive of oil giant Shell. Monbiot asks the oil giant about ethics, greenwash advertising, renewable energy investments and gas-flaring in Nigeria.

Click here to watch the interview on the Guardian!

Related News: The latest deadline set by the Nigerian government to stop flaring natural gas from oil wells in the Niger Delta has passed without stopping the flames, which campaigners say are poisoning local people.

In his second and third interview George Monbiot meets Fatih Birol, the International Energy Authority’s chief economist, and Shaun Spiers, head of the “anti environmental” organisation the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Britain’s leading green commentator tackles the International Energy Authority’s chief economist, who reveals for the first time a startling and worrying prediction for the date of peak oil.

Watch the second interview on the Guardian!

In the third of his groundbreaking encounters with the figures whose decisions shape our environment, George Monbiot gives the head of the countryside watchdog, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, an unforgettable grilling, asking why it opposes windfarms – but not opencast coal mines

Watch the third interview on the Guardian!

Be also sure to check out the very first interview with Yvo de Boer, the current Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Photo credit: | spoon |

With the arrival of the New Year, we are in the mood to organize and clear out the clutter in our homes, offices and closets.  The same needs to happen for your beauty regimen.

Most of us have way too many products in our bathroom cupboard and probably use too many of them in any given day.  For freshness and effectiveness, the less you have on hand at one time, the better.

There is something very liberating about paring down on your beauty routine.  In our busy, hectic days it seems we need to let go here and there, and if you can shed a few minutes off of your get-ready-time in the morning you are off to a great start.

You really only need a handful of good beauty products to keep your skin happy and healthy, starting with a good cleanser.  You may need to switch to a more moisturizing cleanser in colder months, like a milk or cream cleanser.  The lowest cost and most effective cleanser for dry skin is an oil.  Only a small amount is needed to remove makeup, dirt and impurities and if you are especially in need of more moisture, simply forgo any toner. (more…)

In his first interview since the election Barack Obama talked with 60 Minutes about the economy, energy and about the failing auto industry in USA.

In the interview Obama said that “the challenges that we’re confronting are enormous” and many, and that he sometimes asks himself “where do I start?” Obama also said that the American people are looking for “action” instead of “a lot of speeches”.

I would just like to add that the whole world is looking for action, not just the American people. Watch the interview below:

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