Tom Engelhardt of Tom Dispatch.com writes: These days, the price of oil seems ever on the rise. A barrel of crude broke
another barrier Wednesday — $123 — on international markets, and the
talk is now of the sort of “superspike” in pricing (only yesterday
unimaginable) that might break the $200 a barrel ceiling “within two years.” And that would be without a full-scale American air assault on Iran, after which all bets would be off.

Considering that, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, oil
was still in the $20 a barrel price range, this is no small measure of
what the Bush administration years have really accomplished. Today,
it’s hard even to remember not 9/11, but 11/9 — November 9, 1989 –
the day that the Berlin Wall fell, signaling that, soon enough, after
its seventy-odd year life, that Reaganesque Evil Empire, the Soviet
Union, was heading for the door. In 1991, it disappeared from the face
of the Earth without a whimper. Until almost the last moment, top
officials in Washington assumed it would go on forever; and, when it
was gone, most of them couldn’t, at first, believe it. Soon enough,
however, the event was hailed as the greatest of American triumphs –
“victory” not just in the Cold War, but at a level never before seen.
Finally, for the first time in history, there was but a single
superpower on the planet.

At the dawn of a new century, the administration of George Bush the
younger, packed with implacable former Cold Warriors, came to power
still infused with that sense of global triumphalism and planning to rollback what was left of the old Soviet Union, an impoverished Russia, into an early grave.

Almost seven and a half years later, as Michael Klare so vividly
indicates below, an observer might be pardoned for wondering whether
there hadn’t been two super losers in the Cold War. Had the Soviet
Union, the weaker of the two great powers of the second half of the
last century, simply imploded first, while the U.S., enwreathed in a
cloud of self-congratulation, was almost unbeknownst to itself also
slowly making its way toward an exit? And, as a final irony, Klare –
author of the not-to-be-missed new book Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet — points out, energy has refloated Russia, even as it’s sinking us. (05/13/08)
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Herman E. Daly writes: Recent increased attention to global warming is very welcome. But much of it is misplaced.

We focus too much on complex climate models, which ask things like how
far emissions will increase carbon dioxide concentration, how much that
will raise temperatures, by when, with what consequences to climate and
geography, and how likely new information will invalidate model
results. Together these questions can paralyze us with uncertainty.

A better question for determining public policy is simpler: “Can we
continue to emit increasing amounts of greenhouse gases without
provoking unacceptable climate change?”

Scientists overwhelmingly agree the answer is no. The basic scientific
principles and findings are very clear. Focusing on them creates a
world of relative certainty for policy.

To draw a parallel, if you jump out of an airplane you need a crude
parachute more than an accurate altimeter. And if you take an
altimeter, don’t become so bemused tracking your descent that you
forget to pull the ripcord. …

We have moved from a world relatively empty of us and our stuff to a
world relatively full of us, in one lifetime. In the empty world
economy the limiting factor was manmade capital; in the full world it
is remaining natural capital. Barrels of petroleum extracted once were
limited by drilling rigs; now they are limited by remaining deposits,
or by the atmosphere’s ability to absorb the products of combustion.

But we continue to invest in manmade capital rather than in restoration of natural capital.

In addition to this supply-side error, we have an equally monumental
error on the demand side. We fail to take seriously that beyond a
threshold of income already passed in the United States, happiness
depends not on what we have, but on what we have relative to what our
friends, co-workers and neighbors have.

What we need is a stiff severance tax on carbon as it emerges from the
well and mine. Besides discouraging everyone’s use of climate-altering
fossil fuels, this would enable us to raise enough tax dollars to
replace regressive taxes on low incomes. Let’s tax the raw material,
not the value added to it by processing and manufacturing. Higher input
prices bring efficiency at all subsequent stages of production, and
limiting depletion ultimately limits pollution.

Setting policy by first principles still leaves some uncertainties. It
will require provision for making midcourse corrections. But at least
we would have begun moving in the right direction. To continue business
as usual while debating the predictions of complex models in a world
made even more uncertain by the questions we ask is to fail to pull the
ripcord. (05/13/08)
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BBC Behavioral Science –
France’s cabinet is to hear a proposal to make breathalysers mandatory
at late-night clubs and cafes from this summer when it meets on Monday.

The ecology and health ministers are due jointly to present a draft
decree that applies to all such establishments remaining open until
0200.

Some 350 cafes and bars in western France have already run trials, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said.

The move comes after a weekend of road accidents, some alcohol-related.

The Pentecostal holiday weekend saw at least 17 deaths in seven accidents, AFP news agency reports.

“Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot and I will present a decree to make
electronic breathalyser tests obligatory in drinking establishments
open until 0200 so that everyone can check their level, their condition
upon leaving,” Mr Borloo said on the France 2 television channel.

“I hope that by this summer, it will be obligatory in all such places.” (05/13/08)
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BBC Behavioral Science — People are needlessly throwing away 3.6m tonnes of food each year in England and Wales, research suggests.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that salad,
fruit and bread were most commonly wasted and 60% of all dumped food
was untouched.

The study analysed the waste disposed of by 2,138 households.

Environment Minister Joan Ruddock said the findings were “staggering”at a time of global food shortages and WRAP added it was an
environmental issue.

The study found that £9bn of avoidable food waste was disposed of in
England and Wales each year. It is mostly food that could have been
consumed if it had been better
stored or managed, or had not been left uneaten on a plate.

Much of that food waste goes into landfill rather than into council food disposal and composting programmes, it said. …

Using the same extrapolation, they also estimated the average UK
household needlessly throws away 18% of all food purchased. Families
with children throw away 27%. The study also suggested £1bn worth of
food wasted in the UK was still “in date”. Nearly a quarter, in terms
of cost, was disposed of because the “use by” or “best before” date had
expired. …

Ms Ruddock said: “This is costing consumers three times over. “Not only
do they pay hard-earned money for food they don’t eat, there is also
the cost of dealing with the waste this creates. And there are climate
change costs to all of us of growing, processing, packaging,
transporting, and refrigerating food that only ends up in the bin.” (05/13/08)

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BBC Medical Science — Breathing in air pollution from traffic fumes can raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, a US study says.

Exposure to small particulates – tiny chemicals caused by burning
fossil fuels – is known to increase the chances of heart disease and
stroke.

But the Harvard School of Public Health found it also affected
development of deep vein thrombosis – blood clots in the legs – in a
study of 2,000 people.

Researchers said the pollution made the blood more sticky and likely to clot.

The team looked at people living in Italy – nearly 900 of whom developed DVT.

Blood clots which form in the legs can travel to the lungs, where they
can become lodged, triggering a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism.

The risk of DVT is known to be increased by long periods of immobility.
In particular, passengers on long-haul flights have been shown to be
vulnerable, but so are people who spend long periods of time sitting at
their office desk without exercising, or walking around.

Researchers obtained pollution readings from the areas they lived and
found those exposed to higher levels of small particulates in the year
before diagnosis were more likely to develop blood clots.

The Archives of Internal Medicine report said for every 10 microgrammes
per square metre increase in small particulates, the risk of developing
a DVT went up by 70%. (05/13/08)
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