For a journalist, making fun of California is a fish-in-a-barrel sort of thing, especially when it comes to water. But this piece from the AP takes the fun an extra mile. Love the picture: Cookie Smith was surprised to learn the fake lawn that earned her a home-beautification award violated a city ban on artificial …
FAO thinks we should not be sanguine about falling global food prices: [T]he gradual return to equilibrium in food markets should not be taken to assume that the world’s food problems have been fixed, neither in the short-run nor with a view to the longer-term challenges. Cereal stocks still need to be replenished and lower …
From a bunch of guys in suits, likely not wearing Birkenstocks: Members of the Journal’s CEO Council tasked with discussing priorities for the U.S. economy and finance offered several fairly uncontroversial suggestions to the incoming administration: implement a fiscal stimulus plan without worsening the long-term deficit, appoint a panel to address financial regulation, create an …
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The leaves are falling away from the trees out back, and Sunday afternoon I spied a nuthatch hopping up and down the trunk of the neighbor’s elm, poking around for bugs. I think it was the red-breasted variety, though I didn’t get a good look. (Picture courtesy Cornell bird lab folks.)
“China National Nuclear Corp., the nation’s biggest nuclear plant builder, said a decline in the spot price of uranium will affect the country’s exploration for the fuel at home and overseas.” – Bloomberg “Petro-Canada, the country’s third- largest oil company, has delayed the C$25.3 billion ($20.6 billion) Fort Hills oil-sands mining project in Alberta because …
You know when you’re a blog-writin’, energy wonkin’ wonk when you go bike riding with friends, and the whole thing turns into an energy policy riff. On the Internet. I’ll let Scot tell it: I see at Bloomberg this morning that oil is $55 a barrel. $85 dollars down from $140, carry the one….that’s…a 61% …
The Washington Post thinks you’re not paying enough for gas*: In a perfect world, we’d like to see a gas tax that was the equivalent of oil at $100 per barrel. This would send a loud-and-clear signal to drivers to continue eschewing gas guzzlers for fuel sippers and mass transit. Automakers would get the message …
Paul Collier, writing in the current Foreign Affairs, argues thus about climate change and food prices: In recent years, the increase in demand resulting from gradually increasing incomes in Asia has instead been matched with several supply shocks, such as the prolonged drought in Australia. These shocks will only become more common with the climatic …
I wrote a piece for this morning’s Albuquerque Journal trying to address what I think is a misunderstanding afoot in New Mexico about the future of Los Alamos and Sandia labs – the idea that they can shift to energy reserach as support for nuclear weapons spending declines. It ain’t gonna be easy: During the …
Jim Baca shares a delightful letter from his sister, traveling in Bhutan: I was in a temple yesterday for a festival and observed about 60 nine-year old monks in training. The adult monks allowed the 4 of us to lean against the wall and watch. One of the teachers walked by me and whispered, “You …