It’s this. America, the UK and Iceland have all been bailed out by the taxpayer. You see it and you hear it: “Taxpayer to pump billions of squidoos into financial system” etc.

Except it’s a bald and blatent lie. The USA’s bailout was $700bn. The UK’s bailout has been estimated at $400bn. Iceland is more tame, at about $5.4bn.

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Last year, Russian authorities gave Exxon the green light to build a pipeline across a lagoon on Sakhalin Island that is a crucial feeding ground for the world’s last surviving colony of Western Gray Whales.

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That is, if the US Congress helps him by trashing George Bush’s deal with India before he can sign it into law. And the urgency means it is a critical time for both Washington and New Delhi. This might be easy if there’s no deal before the November presidential elections.

Here are the stakes: India seeks out partners to co-develop its nuclear energy potential, worth about US$ 80 billion. By 2032 the government plans to quadruple total generating capacity, to 700 gigawatts, with nuclear accounting for 63,000 megawatts.

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On Sept. 23, President Dmitri Medvedev told his Security Council to start drafting plans for governmental policy in a huge area of the Arctic Shelf. The area is one of huge deposits of natural gas and shelf hydrocarbon. The area is also home to the Northern Sea Route, the quickest way to get from Europe to the Americas and Asia.

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Venezuela is currently one of world’s largest oil producers.  In an ongoing effort to reduce their dependency on oil exports to the United States, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has signed a deal with China that could easily triple the amount of oil exported to that country by 2012.  That would bring their oil exports to China up to one million barrels a day.  Recognizing the thirst for oil in a gigantic, developing country such as China, Chavez told the media:  “While the world enters an energy crisis, we are investing.”

Currently the Unites States still buys about half of the total oil exported from Venezuela.

Chavez is now off to Russia, on his 3rd visit to the country in two months.   It is thought that Chavez is seeking to strengthen energy alliances in Russia as well.

And Chavez’ evolving relationship with Russia doesn’t stop there.  The BBC states that in the past few years, Venezueala has signed arms deals with Russia that equal 4 billion dollars.  In fact just last week, Russia sent a navy squadron to Venezuala for “joint manuevers.”  The Associated Press called the move: “an unprecedented deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War and an obvious snub to Washington.”

Photo Credit: Wikepedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Brazil

A Georgian train station in Abkhazia has fallen into disrepair — or is it natural repair? — since the years that the elite of Soviet society used it en route to luxurious retreats. It is The World Without Us in action.

Related post:

The Case of the Missing Humans: Alan Weisman’s ‘The World Without Us’

Sources: Design Under Sky and Environmental Graffiti

It may sound simplistic, but Israeli President Shimon Peres makes a good point;  “The problem itself (terror and Iran), is like a swamp with mosquitos.  It’s preferable to dry out the swamp than try to kill every single mosquito.”

While meeting with representatives of the students’ village in the town of Dimona, Peres said;

“When the price of oil rises, the terrorist organizations feel better; the feeling needs to be brought back down.  The way to bring Iran, Venezuela and even Russia in some respects down, is to lower the price of oil.  Attacking oil fields is foolish.  We can attack with energy, meaning create alternative energy.”

Peres made the statement during a celebration of his 85th birthday Dimona, Israel, a town he described as, “one of the most beautiful towns in Israel, a town that is number one in education and urban development.”  He said residents of the community have excelled in turning the desert wilderness into a “beautiful and wonderful town unparalleled in Jewish history.”

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Source

Image: ynet news.com

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A government-run US Geological Survey found that 90 billion barrels of oil and a vast quantity of natural gas is waiting beneath the Arctic Circle. These results came to light late last week, once again reenergizing publicity for the future of Arctic drilling.

According to the study, 90 billion barrels of crude, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of gas and 44 million barrels of natural gas liquids, are all just waiting for humans to come and extract them at any cost. Those humans will probably be representatives of the six countries that own – for a given value of “own” – stakes in the Arctic; Russia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Greenland and the US.

“The Alaska platform really looms as the most obvious place to look for oil in the Arctic right now,” said USGS geologist Donald Gautier.

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North American Environmental News

CANADA — Ontario Bans Lawn and Garden Pesticides

Canada has proven once again that it is way ahead of the rest of world with its progressive government. Ontario has banned the use and sale of lawn and garden pesticides for homeowners. Quebec instituted a similar ban on 20 some pesticide products back in 2006.

The new ban is set to take effect by spring of 2009. Home Depot has already agreed to stop selling the pesticides by the end of 2008! This is a huge victory for anti-toxic supporters all over the continent. If only someone in the United States government could take such affirmative action we could all be spared. Ontario will basically phase out some 80 different chemicals and over 300 products that contain them.

Continue reading this article at the Environmental Blog. Join the discussion about this article at Care2.

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1. World — Earth Hour 2008

As the clock struck eight in the evening, people across each time zone turned off their lights on March 29. It’s activism en mass and it’s called Earth Hour. The purpose: to inspire people to take action on climate change and to demonstrate that massive and immediate action is possible.

Earth Hour began as a city-wide voluntary blackout in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. This year, they’ve moved the date ahead two days and invited the world to join in. Even Google’s joined in. People from roughly 35 countries participated in this global event, which has become a yearly call to action. Read more: EcoWorldy, CNN.

2. Asia — Japanese Man Crosses Pacific with Wave-Powered Boat

A Japanese man named Kenichi Horie is attempting to be environmentally friendly by boating across the Pacific without sails and without fossil fuels.

How does he do it? With a wave-powered boat. Wave power has been discussed quite a bit recently, with a lot of applications including traditional grid energy generation. However, Kenichi is taking things to the next level by powering his ocean going vehicle with the very thing it bobs atop. Read more: Gas 2.0.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2008/03/30/10-top-environmental-headlines-of-the-week/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/03/10/depletion-of-cold-north-could-spark-new-cold-war/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/03/10/depletion-of-cold-north-could-spark-new-cold-war/#comments Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:53:21 +0000 Joshua S Hill http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/03/10/depletion-of-cold-north-could-spark-new-cold-war/ We’ve written often recently off the challenges soon to be faced by the continuing melt of the Arctic. Without a doubt, there are resources up there that someone will attempt to get their grubby little hands on. And, with the price of oil continuing to skyrocket with each passing month, if oil is found in the north – not an unexpected possibility considering the nearby reservoirs – all hell is going to break loose.

Scott Borgerson of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant commander, has just gone on record as saying that we could be facing a new cold war.

The analogy is both apt and humorously fitting, but is it in any way true? Instead of the historic face-off between the world’s two superpowers, we could be looking at something far different. Instead of just America and Russia, Arctic powers include Canada, Denmark and Norway, in addition to the original two.

Already tensions are rising, in a way that is eerily familiar. Russia is sending submarines and science ships north to investigate how far their continental shelf extends. They’ve planted a flag on the seabed underneath the North Pole, and for the first time since the Cold War, they’ve sent strategic bomber flights over the Arctic.

And yet a US official, who went on record under anonymity, believes that “There’s no ice cold war.”

Borgerson said in a telephone interview recently that “…planting a flag on the sea bottom and renewing strategic bomber flights is provocative,” and added that “I don’t think we’re [the United States] scrambling. We’re sleepwalking … I think the Russians are scrambling and I think the Norwegians and Canadians and Danes are keenly aware.”

Everyone’s scrambling for the best view. Russia isn’t the only one conducting scientific research. All of the Arctic powers are looking at just how far their continental shelves reach. Russia seems to have stepped on toes, and while they aren’t necessarily in direct conflict with the US as of yet, Norway and Denmark definitely have some issues with what Russia is claiming as hers.

Coastal nations, like the 5 involved, are generally happy with the 200 nautical miles that extend from their coastline as sovereign territory. But recent research coming out of the University of New Hampshire and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests that the US shelf might extend an extra 100 nautical miles further than previously thought.

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea is what gives the sovereign rights to coastal nations. And many believe that the US should sign the treaty soon. In addition, if a country can meet a set of conditions – scientific, etc – then their coastal boundaries can extend.

“Of course we need to be at the table as ocean law develops,” the U.S. official said. “It’s not like ocean law is going to stop developing if we’re not in there. It’s just going to develop without us.”

What saddens me the most is that you can get your bottom dollar that this does not bode well for the environment. Ask yourself what’s causing the melting of the Arctic, and then look at what they hope to extract. The answer to both questions, is fossil fuel.

Photo Courtesy of arcticroute.com via Flickr

]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/03/10/depletion-of-cold-north-could-spark-new-cold-war/feed/ http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/ http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:01:54 +0000 Shirley Siluk Gregory http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/
The Arctic is heating up in more than one way, as we saw last week when Russia planted its flag on the seafloor below in an apparent move to establish a claim to the ample oil and gas reserves buried beneath.

What’s disastrous for polar bears and Inuit subsistence hunters is emerging as a potentially huge — and destabilizing — fossil-fuel rush for the nations bordering the Arctic Ocean as the polar ice melts. How heated could disputes over the North’s buried oil and gas riches become? It’s still early, but I’ve already heard at least one theory that this could even spark conflict between the U.S. and, of all places, Canada. The ocean treaty regarding claims to seabed sovereignty might soon fall apart before the U.S. has even ratified it.

So how concerned should we be? What role should the Earth’s citizens play as the most fuel-hungry nations on the globe start a new race for buried energy? Is this the start of the next Cold War?

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

]]> http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2007/08/07/break-out-some-vodka-and-the-slip-slide-russians-welcoming-global-warming/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2007/08/07/break-out-some-vodka-and-the-slip-slide-russians-welcoming-global-warming/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:17:02 +0000 Noelle dEstries http://planetsave.com/blog/2007/08/07/break-out-some-vodka-and-the-slip-slide-russians-welcoming-global-warming/ Russians think Global Warming kicks ass.

Global climate change means “we’ll spend less on fur coats,” Russian President Vladimir Putin quipped in 2003.

But increasingly, Russia’s official stand on global warming seems to be: Why worry?

While global concerns about climate change conjure images of melting ice caps, submerged cities and massive droughts, some Russian experts are hailing global warming as the answer to Russia’s prayers.

As the long and dreary Russian winters become balmier, billions of dollars will be saved on heating and there will be fewer cases of depression, says Vladimir Klimenko, a professor at the Moscow Energy Institute, whose lab is funded by the state-run oil and gas company.

Agriculture ravaged by the cold and 70 years of Soviet collectivization will blossom, and watermelons could grow in Moscow, he said.

If you think our EPA is corrupt, check out what the Russian version thinks…

“For our great northern country, I don’t today see any imminent problems for the next 100 years at least,” said Konstantin Pulikovsky, who heads of Russia’s environmental regulatory agency.

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