A Balloon and Hosepipe as the Answer to Climate Change? – September 6, 2011

Increasingly Bizarre Attempts at Geo-engineering Simply Deflect Attention from the Fact we Need to Cut Emissions

By George Monbiot

It's atmospheric liposuction: a retrospective fix for planetary over-indulgence. Geo-engineering, which means either sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere or trying to shield the planet from the sun's heat, is an admission of failure, a failure to get to grips with climate change. Is it time to admit defeat and check ourselves into the clinic?

Image courtesy The Guardian

The question has arisen again with the launch of a new experiment funded by Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, injecting particles (in this case water droplets) into the atmosphere more

by: The Guardian UK

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Are Food Prices Approaching a Violent Tipping Point? – August 25, 2011

Provocative New Study Suggests Arab Uprisings are Linked to Global Food Price Spikes

By Damien Carrington

Seeking simple explanations for the Arab spring uprisings that have swept through Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya, is clearly foolish amidst entangled issues of social injustice, poverty, unemployment and water stress. But asking "why precisely now?" is less daft, and a provocative new study proposes an answer: soaring food prices.

Furthermore, it suggests there is a specific food price level above which riots and unrest become far more likely. That figure is 210 on the UN FAO's price index: the index is currently at 234, due to the most recent spike in prices which started in the middle of… more

by: The Guardian UK

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BP Admits Missing Warning Signs before Gulf Oil Disaster – September 9, 2010

By Suzanne Goldberg, Guardian UK

BP admitted today its managers on the Deepwater Horizon missed key warning signs in the hours before the explosion aboard the oil rig, but an internal investigation put much of the blame on other companies involved in the well.

A 234-page report described eight main causes for the blast, which killed 11 men and created an environmental disaster. But BP was accused of attempting to pass on the blame for its conclusion that Transocean, the rig owner, and Halliburton, which carried out cement work, shared much of the responsibility.

Mark Bly, the oil company's head of safety and the… more

by: The Guardian UK

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