By Ben Raderstorf and Michael Shifter26 June 2016 (Slate) – Venezuela faces a disaster. Over the past month, food riots have broken out across the country as mostly empty supermarkets are looted. Its capital, Caracas, is now the most violent city in the world. The economy is in a tailspin, set to contract 10 percent […]
21 June 2016 (CBC) – The outlook for Venezuela appears to be dimming every day, and it’s not just because of the country’s daily four-hour mandatory blackouts. The oil-exporting South American country is caught in a perfect storm of droughts, food and power shortages, and devastating inflation and recession caused by plummeting crude prices. “We’re […]
By Dom Phillips 17 June 2016 RIO DE JANEIRO (Washington Post) — Just weeks before it stages the 2016 Olympic Games, the state government of Rio de Janeiro has declared a “state of public calamity in financial administration” and warned that the situation is so dire it impedes the locale’s ability to meet Games commitments. […]
By Robert Rapier8 June 2016 (Forbes) – Each year in June two very important reports are released that provide a comprehensive view of the global energy markets. The highlight of the recently released Renewables 2016 Global Status Report was that the world’s renewable energy production has never been higher. But the biggest takeaway from this […]
[cf. Our leaders thought fracking would save our climate – ‘Methane emissions are substantially higher than we’ve understood’] By Blaine Friedlander2 June 2016 (Cornell Chronicle) – As methane intensifies greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – propelling average global temperatures higher toward the brink of no return – Cornell’s Robert Howarth briefed the White House’s Office […]
EDMONTON, Alberta, 31 May 2016 (AP) – A phased return of more than 80,000 residents of the fire-damaged oil sands city Fort McMurray will begin Wednesday as planned, Alberta’s premier announced Tuesday. Rachel Notley said that the wildfire is no longer an imminent threat to the city and critical infrastructure has been repaired. The massive […]
By Matt Meuse 30 May 2016 (CBC News) – International climate change experts have decried plans for a liquified natural gas industry in B.C., but Environment Minister Mary Polak says LNG has a key role to play as a transition fuel — and that those experts haven’t taken a wide enough view of the industry. […]
By Daniel Cusick12 May 2016 (ClimateWire) – Rapid economic growth in China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and other emerging countries will drive global energy consumption to nearly double by 2040, according to new projections released yesterday by the Department of Energy. But the associated rise in carbon emissions will not keep pace with overall energy consumption, […]
[cf. Leave fossil fuels buried to prevent climate change, study urges – ‘We’ve binged to the edge of our own destruction’] By Megan Darby24 May 2016 (Climate Change News) – Total is slashing expensive oil ventures in line with international efforts to hold global warming below 2C. The French oil major is reducing its exposure […]
By Rod Nickel, Liz Hampton, and Jeffrey Hodgson, with additional reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto; Editing by Digby Lidstone and Mary Milliken7 May 2016 LAC LA BICHE, Alberta, May 7 (Reuters) – A raging Canadian wildfire grew explosively on Saturday as hot, dry winds pushed the blaze across the energy heartland of Alberta and […]
