President Barack Obama pushed drilling for gas in shale rock and support for cleaner energy sources to boost the economy in his final State of the Union address before facing U.S. voters in November. He also pledged more oil drilling. “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy,” Obama said. --Jim Snyder and Katarzyna Klimasinska,
Bloomberg, 25 January 2012
Shale gas could help solve Britain’s energy crisis for the next three centuries. Dr Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Foundation says: “Shale gas is the big game changer because it has previously been argued that fossil fuels are near to running out. There could now be enough gas for 200 or 300 years. In Britain we might be sitting on a massive gold mine. –-Adrian Lee,
Daily Express, 25 January 2012
The shale gas and oil production is the energy story of the last decades; the technological advances of hydraulic fracturing (fracking in the recent vernacular) its chief sub-text. But, as when you’ve read the first part of Stieg Larsson’s ‘The Girl With...’ trilogy, or any good thriller series, you are left wondering what drama is coming next. Well the technological ingenuity of the American ‘authors’ of fracking does not disappoint. Part II – Super-fracking – already has the markets abuzz with anticipation. --Peter Glover,
Energy Tribune, 24 January 2012
Representatives from around the world gather in Rio in June to try to hammer out goals for sustainable development at a U.N. conference designed to avoid being tripped up by the intractable issue of climate change. But there is concern in the lead-up to the conference, known as Rio+20 or the Earth Summit, that it risks ending up as all talk and little action. In an attempt to avoid too much confrontation, the conference will focus not on climate change but on sustainable development. --Deborah Zabarenko and Nina Chestney,
Reuters, 24 January 2012
Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts. A repeat of the failure of recent conferences to negotiate an international climate change pact seems inevitable, said Cândido Grzybowski, the director general of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) and one of the founders of the World Social Forum, the largest global civil society gathering. --Mario Osava,
IPS News, 24 January 2012
Lord Lawson had barely removed his microphone when the vitriolic attacks began. The veteran politician had just taken part in a calm debate about the merits of extracting gas from shale. During the discussion on the BBC’s Today programme he stated his firmly held view that there has been no global warming so far this century. It was the catalyst for an outpouring of venom on message boards and social networking sites. Yesterday there was an apparent campaign by green activists to have him banned from the BBC. --Adrian Lee,
Daily Express, 25 January 2012
The frightening thing about apocalyptic thinking is that it tends to feed off itself and breed the conditions for its own fulfillment. Paranoia, ill-advised overreaction to perceived threats, and a general climate of fear all contribute to a more unstable world. This is a reality; the world is on a wild and unsettling ride in our times, and even sober and level headed people can have a hard time distinguishing between rational concern and hysterical fear. The Age of Apocalypse isn’t going away anytime soon; the prospect of some kind of ultimate catastrophe will remain an element in our politics and culture. --Walter Russell Mead,
Via Meadia, 24 January 2012
