News from February 2011

China has 1.34 bn people

Wondering how many people does the world’s most populous country have? Well, China has a mind-boggling 1.34 billion people, latest official statistics show. Neighbour India stands second in the global population tally with an estimated figure of 1.2 billion. China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Monday said that preliminary data showed the country had 1.341 [...]

Vermont has become a legal Cayman Islands for the insurance sector

A number of commentators have raised the question of whether the low-interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve are stoking global inflation in commodities, food and energy. The answer to that question seems to be yes, but the inflationary pressure caused by the Fed’s purchases of US Treasury debt and zero short term interest rates [...]

Peak Oil — New York Times’ Op-ed Gets it Right and Wrong

On Friday, two weeks after I discussed the issue at length in the Huffington Post (“WikiLeaks Brings Misguided Joy to Preachers of Peak Oil“) the New York Times found the wherewithal to present us with Michael Lynch’s op-ed, “Drilling For an Oil Crisis.” TheTimes piece covers virtually the same territory, namely that the WikiLeaks revelation of [...]

Oil prices are rising fast and it’s come at the worst possible time for the West

In 2008, oil prices approached $150 per barrel. Shortly afterwards, the global economy collapsed. There were, of course, other problems at the time – an imploding US housing market, the beginnings of a securitisation crisis, the collapse of Lehman Brothers – but events three years ago nevertheless offer plenty of evidence that substantial changes in [...]

Peak Oil Blues: Depression isn’t Sadness

Clinical depression is one of those illnesses that, despite the increasing evidence of its absolutely devastating impact on the physiology of the brain, continues to be thought of as a failure of fortitude or spirit. Depression is “contagious,” and is not only hard on those who are depressed, but everyone who cares about them, as well. [...]

Vertical Farming : The Future Of Our Food

As the human population continues to grow, the United Nations predicts that in 2012 the human population will approach seven billion, food will become less available. With overpopulation becoming an increasing threat, food sources are sure to grow scarce. www.verticalfarm.com One man has an idea that could help – Vertical Farming. Vertical Farming is the [...]

Lower second tier oil producers – Norway, Brazil, Iraq and Algeria

This current series of posts is aimed at an overview of the top oil producing nations, seeking to establish how the ranking of the countries is changing from the original table that EIA put out in 2008, After looking at the conditions governing the top six, this was followed last week when I looked at the condition [...]

U.S: Environment Agency Moves to Regulate Carbon Dioxide

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun the initial stages of a process that may lead to the federal agency’s first regulations to limit emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants and oil refineries. The agency has held four of five “listening sessions”, including one attended by IPS in Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 15. [...]

Michael Lynch: Just how vast are Saudi Aramco Reserves?

WikiLeaks trove of diplomatic dispatches continue to trickle out. A recent release has excited the the “peak oil” theorists because it suggests that Saudi Aramco reserves are overstated by 40% and production may collapse. The Saudi official estimate of proved reserves is 267 barrels. Over the decades, recovery factors have advanced from 10% to 35% [...]

Max Keiser – Peak oil story

The oil depletion will have severe results for everyone, back to the stoneage…but war first.