Recently in Resources Category

Unease over Guatemalan gold rush. Bill Law. BBC. 8/21/08.

With gold prices skyrocketing, the Mayans of Guatemala find themselves caught up in a new rush for the precious metal.

MEXICO: Peasants Seek Ways to Block Canadian-Run Mine. Diego Cevallos. InterPress Services. 8/31/2008.

The Canadian mining corporation Minefinders has explored a rural area of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua for 14 years. But as it gets ready to begin mining gold and silver there, its plans are threatened by peasant farmers' protests.

Amazon Rainforest Threatened By New Wave of Oil and Gas Exploration. Iam Sample. Guardian/UK. 8/13/2008.

With over 35 multinational companies racing to tap into oil and gas reserves situated in peak biodiversity spots, conservationists urge an environmental impact assessment

Mumbai's slum solution?. Mukul Devichand. BBC. 8/14/2008.

Mukesh Mehta wears a crisp shirt and tie as he picks his way past makeshift shacks and stinking open gutters in Dharavi, Asia's largest slum.

Behind the growing instability in Nigeria. Eugene Puryear. Intelligence Daily. 8/20/08.

As oil prices continue their dramatic rise, public interest in oil-producing countries is growing. Nigeria--the world's sixth largest oil producer--is of particular interest.

World Water Crisis Underlies World Food Crisis. Environmental News Service. 8/20/08.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The world's supplies of clean, fresh water cannot sustain today's "profligate" use and inadequate management, which have brought shrinking food supplies and rising food costs to most countries, WWF Director General James Leape told the opening session of World Water Week in Stockholm [on Monday].

KENYA: Water Studies - But Where Are the Water Supplies?. Rosalia Omungo. Inter Press Services. 6/02/2008.

The road leading to the informal settlement of Korogocho is narrow and winding. Here, in Nairobi's third largest slum, up to 150,000 people are crammed into an area of just over one square kilometre, their shanties made of cardboard, wood or metal.

AFRICA: Critics Target U.S. Military Command. Lawrence Delevingne. Inter Press Service. 6/02/2008.

In just a few months, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) -- Washington's latest military oversight structure for the continent -- is expected to be fully operational.

Got Water? Elizabeth de la Vargas. Mother Jones. 7/22/2008.

"Lisa, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we don't have to think all the time. Just like that rainforest scare a few years back. Our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didn't they?"--Homer Simpson

On June 24, 2008, Louie and I curled up on the couch to watch seven of the nation's foremost water resources experts testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

New fight for Congo's riches. Nick Mathiason. Guardian/UK. 6/29/2008.

Scores of lucrative mining concessions handed out by President Joseph Kabila are in doubt after a report questioned their legality. Will a programme of renegotiation finally allow a beleaguered nation to exploit its huge mineral wealth?

Indonesia's answer to rising food prices. Simon Montlake. Christian Science Monitor. 7/14/2008.

A top rice importer last year, Indonesia's government is allocating more land to grow it and other food crops.

Biofuel Land Demand Puts Peasants at Risk: Report. Reuters. 6/02/2008.

ROME - The rise of biofuels is not only adding to the global food price crisis but also poses a risk for peasants, pushed off their land to make way for energy crops, a report prepared for this week's food summit said.

Human cost of Brazil's biofuels boom. Patrick J. McDonnell. LA Times. 6/16/2008.

The country is a key producer of ethanol. Many of those cutting the sugar cane used to make the fuel are said to endure primitive conditions.

World crude production has peaked: Pickens. Jasmin Melvin & Missy Ryan. Reuters. 6/17/2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World crude oil production has topped out at 85 million barrels per day even as demand keeps climbing, helping to drive a stunning surge in prices, billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens said on Tuesday.

Destroying African Agriculture. Walden Bello. Foreign Policy in Focus. 6/03/2008.

Biofuel production is certainly one of the culprits in the current global food crisis. But while the diversion of corn from food to biofuel feedstock has been a factor in food prices shooting up, the more primordial problem has been the conversion of economies that are largely food-self-sufficient into chronic food importers. Here the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) figure as much more important villains.

Bioenergy: Fuelling the food crisis?. Stephanie Holmes. BBC. 6/04/2008.

The biofuel debate is electrifying the UN food price crisis summit in Rome, pitting nations against each other and risking transforming bioenergy - once hailed as the ultimate green fuel - into the villain of the piece, the root cause behind global food price spikes.

Turning Los Angeles wastewater to tap water. Rich Connell. LA Times. 6/07/2008.

Politics killed a 1990s plan to recycle, but drought, technology and Orange County's success offer hope.

Some rural communities pushed to the edge by high cost of fuel. Tom Kizzia & Tom Hopkins. Anchorage Daily News. 5/16/2008.

Last winter, old people in Emmonak sometimes brought six-gallon plastic jugs to the tank farm at 20 below. They would pull the jug home on a sled, carrying enough stove oil to heat their house for the rest of the week.

Nigeria power shortage to persist. BBC. 5/30/2008.

Nigeria will not be able to generate enough electricity for its population until at least 2015, President Umaru Yar'Adua has said.

Trade boss criticises financial mess. Steve Schifferes. BBC. 5/30/2008.

The boss of one of the world's most important economic organisations has said the lack of regulation in world markets was the root cause of the financial crisis which has hit world economic growth.

Food crisis talks set to begin. BBC. 5/30/2008.

Envoys from 26 Latin American and Caribbean countries meet on Friday to discuss the rising cost of food and draw up a united policy for the region.

Q&A: 'Biofuels Must Include the Poor'. Interview with Ali Mchumo. IPS. 5/30/2008.

ROME, May 30 (IPS) - Biofuels are being criticised for contributing to the rise in commodity prices, but their energy potential can be developed too, on condition "that the poor are part of the production chain."

Is Water Becoming 'The New Oil'?. Marc Clayton. Chrisitan Science Monitor. 5/30/08

Population, pollution, and climate put the squeeze on potable supplies - and private companies smell a profit. Others ask: Should water be a human right?

Coal in the United States: America Approaching Peak Coal. Richard Heinberg. IntelDaily. 5/30/2008.

With oil and natural gas prices rising and coal prices still relatively low, the return of the US to a greater reliance on coal might seem inevitable. However, several recent reports suggest that coal reserves, which have shrunk dramatically during the past century, may still be overstated. Coal prices are likely to rise precipitously during the next two decades due to transport bottlenecks and higher transport costs, falling production trends in many current producing regions, and the lack of suitable new coalfields. This information should give pause to any agency planning new coal power plants today.

Guerrilla gardener movement takes root in L.A. area. Joe Robinson. LA TImes. 5/30/2008.

Stealth growers seed or plant on land that doesn't belong to them. The result? Plants that beautify or yield crops in otherwise neglected or vacant spaces.

Economic Toll Mounts From High Oil Prices. Graham Bowley & David Jolly. NY Times. 5/23/2008.

Oil prices leaped above $135 a barrel in overnight trading on Thursday, a new record that underscored the growing pressures that runaway energy prices are placing on some of the biggest names in global industry.

Oil: A Global Crisis. Geoffrey Lean. Independent/UK. 5/25/2008.

The invasion of Iraq by Britain and the US has trebled the price of oil, according to a leading expert, costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy prices alone.

Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch. 5/22/08 King & Fritsch, WSJ

The world's premier energy monitor is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, a shift that reflects deepening pessimism over whether oil companies can keep abreast of booming demand.

ENERGY-AFRICA: From Kerosene to the LED, O-HUB and O-BOX. Stephen Leahy. Inter Press Service. 5/08/2008.

ACCRA, May 8 (IPS) - In many of Africa's towns and villages, smoky kerosene lamps are all that keeps the darkness at bay after sunset. However, kerosene is a dangerous and increasingly expensive source of light for Africans who do not have access to electricity -- about three-quarters of those living on the continent, according to the World Bank.

ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Controversy Over Indigenous Land and Biofuels. Mario Osava. Inter Press Service. 5/08/2008.

BRASILIA, May 8 (IPS) - The legal status of an indigenous territory in the far north of Brazil, and biofuels, are two hot potatoes at the Third National Conference on the Environment being held in the capital city, which is focusing on climate change.

"Literally, This Is Energy From Dirt". Inter Press Service. 5/10/2008.

Interview with Lebônê founder Hugo Van Vuuren

ACCRA, May 10 (IPS) - You've heard of solar power, and also wind power. Now, you might start hearing about soil power as well.

US confession: Weapons were not made in Iran after all. Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII). 5/10/2008.

In a sharp reversal of its longstanding accusations against Iran arming militants in Iraq , the US military has made an unprecedented albeit quiet confession: the weapons they had recently found in Iraq were not made in Iran at all.

Where Every Meal Is a Sacrifice. Anthony Faiola. Wa. Post. 4/28/2008.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania Even before he took a butcher knife to the she-goat's throat, Likbir Ould Mohamed Mahmoud knew it would only make things worse.

Emptying the Breadbasket. Dan Morgan. Wa. Post. 4/29/2008.

For decades, wheat was king on the Great Plains and prices were low everywhere. Those days are over.

RIGHTS: Native People Warn U.N. of Biofuels Disaster. Haider Rizvi. Inter Press Service. 4/30/2008.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 (IPS) - Growing demand for biofuels by the world's rich nations is propelling attacks on indigenous people and destroying their lands and forests, according to native leaders attending a three-week international meeting here.

UN: Biofuel Production 'Criminal Path' to Global Food Crisis. Environmental News Service. 4/29/2008.

GENEVA, Switzerland - The United States and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices through using food crops to produce biofuels, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food said today.At a press conference in Geneva, Jean Ziegler of Switzerland said that fuel policies pursued by the U.S. and the EU were one of the main causes of the current worldwide food crisis.

Oil Majors Rapped Over Secrecy, Corruption. Abid Aslam. International Press Service. 4/30/2008.

WASHINGTON - Leading oil firms impede efforts to stamp out poverty and corruption by shrouding their financial dealings in secrecy, says a global watchdog.

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World. Josh Gerstein. NY Sun. 4/21/2008.

Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

Load Up the Pantry. Brett Arends. Wall Street Journal. 4/21/2008.

I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

Biofuels starving our people, leaders tell UN. Allegra Stratton. Guardian/UK. 4/28/2008.

The leaders of Bolivia and Peru have attacked the use of biofuels, saying they have made food too expensive for the poor.

As income gap widens, recession fears grow. Tami Luhby. CNN. 4/09/2008

Incomes fell for poor and stagnated for middle-class families since late 1990s, making it tougher for them to weather economic downturn.

Polar Cities a Haven in Warming World?. Andrew Revkin. NT Times. 3/30/2008.

Danny Bloom, a freelance writer, translator and editor living in Taiwan, is on a one-man campaign to get people to seriously consider a worst-case prediction of the British chemist and inventor James Lovelock: life in "polar cities" arrayed around the shores of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in a greenhouse-warmed world.

Asian rice crisis starts to bite. Hannah Belcher. Al Jazeera. 3/29/2008.

Cambodia has become the latest Asian country to impose restrictions on exports of rice - the staple food for half the world's population.

High Rice Cost Creating Fears of Asia Unrest. Keith Bradsher. NY Times. 3/29/2008.

HANOI -- Rising prices and a growing fear of scarcity have prompted some of the world's largest rice producers to announce drastic limits on the amount of rice they export.

Hopes fade for Tanzanian miners. Al Jazeera. 3/30/2008.

Hopes are fading for dozens of miners trapped by floods in a pit in northern Tanzania, with the rescue operation being criticised as inadequate.

Grain prices soar globally. Daniel Ten Kate. Christian Science Monitor. 3/25/2008.

Bangkok, Thailand - - Rice farmers here are staying awake in shifts at night to guard their fields from thieves. In Peru, shortages of wheat flour are prompting the military to make bread with potato flour, a native crop. In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week.

The Military-Petroleum Complex. Nick Turse. Foreign Policy In Focus. 3/24/2008.

In November 2002, before the invasion of Iraq, then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld told Steve Kroft of CBS that U.S. saber-rattling toward Iraq had "nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil." In 2003, Rumsfeld called the assertion that the United States had invaded Iraq to get at its oil "utter nonsense." ("We don't take our forces and go around the world and try to take other people's . . . resources, their oil. That's just not what the United States does.") In 2005, speaking to American troops in Fallujah, Rumsfeld reiterated the point: "The United States, as you all know better than any, did not come to Iraq for oil." Strong denials for sure, but were they true?

Food prices rising across the world. CNN. 3/25/2008.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- If you're seeing your grocery bill go up, you're not alone.

From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmets feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions. Freak weather is a factor. But so are dramatic changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India.

Mining forces out thousands in SA. BBC. 3/25/2008.

Nearly 20,000 South Africans have been displaced by mining giant Anglo American in its search for platinum, a BBC File on 4 investigation has found.

Mexico plans water supply boost. BBC. 3/25/2008.

Mexico is to make a major investment in water projects to try to guarantee that at least 95% of the population has access to clean drinking water by 2012.

BRAZIL: Growing Foreign Appetite for Land. Mario Osava. International Press Service. 3/24/2008.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 24 (IPS) - It is a question of "national sovereignty, not xenophobia," said the president of Brazil's land reform agency, INCRA, explaining the need to regulate foreign land ownership in Brazil.

Q&A: EU and U.S. Offering Special WTO Deal to Lure South Africa. International Press Service. 3/25/2008.

Interview with Rudi Dicks*

GENEVA, Mar 25 (IPS) - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has been an active civil society player in South Africa's decisions during the current World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Round of talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA).

UN food agency issues emergency plea for $500m. Owen Bowcott. Guardian/UK. 3/25/2009

· Malnourished millions at risk of cut in supplies
· 'Perfect storm' of rising prices and biofuel boom

Food rationing will shortly be imposed on millions in desperate need unless donor countries make good a $500m (£250m) shortfall, the United Nations agency that combats starvation warned yesterday.

Iraq Conflict Has Killed A Million Iraqis: Survey. Reuters. 1/31/2008.

LONDON - More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.

Ban Ki-moon Warns That Water Shortages Are Increasingly Driving Conflicts. UN News Centre. 2/06/2008.

Many of today's conflicts around the world are being fuelled or exacerbated by water shortages and climate change is only making the situation worse, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly today.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Pantanal Indians Threatened by Deforestation. Mario Osava. IPS. 2/09/2008.

CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil, Feb 9 (Tierramérica) - The indigenous peoples of the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul do not look like the tribes portrayed in film, decked out in colourful clothing and adornments and depending on their natural surroundings to survive in the Amazon jungle. But some of their problems are similar to their Amazonian counterparts, and in some cases even more serious.

True scale of C0₂emissions from shipping revealed. John Vidal. Guardian/UK. 2/13/2008.

Leaked UN report says pollution three times higher than previously thought.

The true scale of climate change emissions from shipping is almost three times higher than previously believed, according to a leaked UN study seen by the Guardian.

Overwhelmingly White, the Green Movement is Reaching For The Rainbow. Paula Bock. 3/10/2008. Seattle Times.

"What's a nice black guy like me doing in a movement like this?"Van Jones strides the stage at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, a charismatic lawyer who grew up in rural Tennessee, graduated from Yale Law, and founded the Ella Baker Center for jobs and justice in Oakland.

The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck. Nancy Cleeland. The Nation. 2/20/2008.

Feeling squeezed lately? It's not your imagination. Numbers just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirm that the value of a typical paycheck is shrinking at an accelerating pace.

Oil resources at stake in Chad conflict. Agence France Presse. 2/06/2008.

Underlying the Chad conflict is a struggle to control the country's oil resources, which while not extensive are nonetheless vital to the future of one of Africa's most impoverished nations.

Ban Ki-moon Warns That Water Shortages Are Increasingly Driving Conflicts. UN News Center. 2/06/2008.

 Many of today's conflicts around the world are being fuelled or exacerbated by water shortages and climate change is only making the situation worse, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly today.

Central Africa: War without borders. Economist.com. 2/06/2008.

BODIES lay in ditches and on the streets; the injured nursed their gunshot wounds at home, too terrified to venture to hospital. Abandoned cars and burned-out tanks were scatted on the roadways. Phone lines were cut. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were said to be pouring from the city, many seeking sanctuary in camps and across the border in Cameroon. Several hundred expatriates, fleeing as bullets rang out, were whisked away by French soldiers. The chaotic and bloody scenes in Ndjamena, Chad's capital, in the past few days are sadly familiar. The conflict which brought rebels to the capital, in an effort to overthrow the government of Idriss Déby, is an extension of long-running violence in neighbouring Sudan.

Food prices: Cheap no more. Gerrit Buntrock. The Economist. Dec. 12, 2007.

Rising incomes in Asia and ethanol subsidies in America have put an end to a long era of falling food prices.

Oil Wars: Transforming the American Military into a Global Oil-Protection Service. Michael Klare. Tom Dispatch. 4/29/2004.

In the first U.S. combat operation of the war in Iraq, Navy commandos stormed an offshore oil-loading platform. "Swooping silently out of the Persian Gulf night," an overexcited reporter for the New York Times wrote on March 22, "Navy Seals seized two Iraqi oil terminals in bold raids that ended early this morning, overwhelming lightly-armed Iraqi guards and claiming a bloodless victory in the battle for Iraq's vast oil empire."

Food and Fuel Compete for Land Andrew Martin. NY Times, 12/18/07.

Shopping at a Whole Foods Market in suburban Chicago, Meredith Estes said food prices have jumped so much she has resorted to coupons. Charles T. Rodgers Jr., an Arkansas cattle rancher, said normal feed rations so expensive and scarce he is scrambling for alternatives. In Oregon, Jack Joyce, the owner of Rogue Ales, said the cost of barley malt has soared 88 percent this year.

World food stocks dwindling rapidly, UN warns. Elisabeth Rosenthal. International Herald Tribune.

In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.

Blackwater’s Loopholes. Jeremy Scahill. LA TImes. 11/15/07. Prosecuting private security contractors for shooting Iraqi civilians might be impossible.

CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July. Anthony Sampson. The Guardian. Nov. 1, 2001.

Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.

By: S. Rowan Wolf, Ph.D. August 15, 2007

Abstract

The global movement of populations is going through an increasingly tumultuous and conflicted period. While the processes of globalization have in some ways made a smaller world, they have also increased the awareness of global inequality. The push and pull factors of migration have become complex and shifting as global economic streams shift, political conflict increases, and competition over shrinking resources intensifies. These changes raise the question of whether people are "immigrants" or "refugees." As climate chaos expands, so does the number of "climate refugees." This paper explores the economic, political and environmental sources of contemporary migration patterns; the ways immigrants are perceived and received, and poses suggestions for addressing the problems and possibilities.

By: S. Rowan Wolf, Ph.D.

Abstract

The global movement of populations is going through an increasingly tumultuous and conflicted period. While the processes of globalization have in some ways made a smaller world, they have also increased the awareness of global inequality. The push and pull factors of migration have become complex and shifting as global economic streams shift, political conflict increases, and competition over shrinking resources intensifies. These changes raise the question of whether people are "immigrants" or "refugees." As climate chaos expands, so does the number of "climate refugees." This paper explores the economic, political and environmental sources of contemporary migration patterns; the ways immigrants are perceived and received, and poses suggestions for addressing the problems and possibilities.

The International Forum on Globalization has released a short video on the false solution of going "green" while maintaining or increasing consumption. It does an excellent job of addressing a number of myths.

At YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ft5SSIfmeKU

Jeans blues in Mexico. Franc Contreras, Al Jazeera, 8/24/07

The Mexican government is keen to attract investors from abroad and promote itself as business-friendly.

But Franc Contreras, reporting for Al Jazeera from Mexico, found that many local people feel the authorities are not doing enough to protect them and the environment from the side-effects of industrial activities.

Rich World's Consumerism May Cause African Famines, Experts Warn

7/1/07 AFP

Food production in developing countries will halve in the next 20 years unless wealthy nations lower their rate of consumption, the Stockholm Environment Institute warned at a weekend conference.

No Oil Yet, but Tiny African Isle Finds Slippery Dealings
7/02/07 Barry Meier & Jad Mouawad. NY Times

A decade ago, geologists found signs that one of Africa's least-known countries, the tiny island nation of São Tomé and Principe, might hold a king's ransom in oil.

War in Iraq Propelling A Massive Migration - washingtonpost.com

Correction to This Article
A Feb. 4 article said that about roughly a third of Jordan's population of 5.9 million are Palestinian refugees. The proportion includes Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Wave Creates Tension Across the Middle East

Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, February 4, 2007; Page A01

AMMAN, Jordan -- Inside his cold, crumbling apartment, Saad Ali teeters on the fringes of life. Once a popular singer in his native Baghdad, he is now unemployed. To pay his $45 monthly rent, he borrows from friends. To bathe, he boils water on a tiny heater. He sleeps on a frayed mattress, under a tattered blanket.

Immigration, population and the environment

by The Weeden Foundation
The United States has been described as the world's most overpopulated country because we are the only one with massive population, massive growth and massive per-capita consumption.

No doubt, it is critical our society lower drastically the average American ecological footprint of 24 acres per person (a level far exceeding our nation's resources). But if the United States adds yet another 100 million residents during the next few decades as projected, any gains in reducing per-capita consumption - or promoting smart growth, or better managing water resources - are likely to be negated.

Iraq, Iraq-Syria: Call for aid as Iraqi refugees' misery compounds

www.reliefweb.int

Whose Oil Is It, Anyway? - New York Times

San Francisco

TODAY more than three-quarters of the world's oil is owned and controlled by governments. It wasn't always this way.

Until about 35 years ago, the world's oil was largely in the hands of seven corporations based in the United States and Europe. Those seven have since merged into four: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. They are among the world's largest and most powerful financial empires. But ever since they lost their exclusive control of the oil to th