Latin America

It’s been a fascinating few days. Early in the week, Nate Hagens and Sharon Astyk were suggesting that perhaps the term ‘peak oil’ has outlived its usefulness, given that we have almost certainly peaked, and that the peak oil movement needs to shift its focus. It echoed something I wrote a while ago, likening ASPO and the wider peak oil movement to a Loch Ness Monster Society, dedicated to establishing the existence of this fabled creature. They organise conferences, scientific searches of the loch, write papers and journals, and then one day, an entire, intact Loch Ness Monster washes up on the shore. Then what? They have no reason to exist any longer, their whole raison d’etre vanishes overnight.

-Ecuador, Indians trade blame for bloody clashes
-Greenpeace protesters target Alberta oilsands again
-Nigeria's oil rebels name mediators

As someone who has spent the past quarter of his life in the lower latitudes, the fancy footwork and the tropical rhythms still present a bit of a challenge on the dance floor. All the same, when I see my peak oil-aware brethren struggling to define and implement the best way to achieve a lower carbon future, I feel a bit of confidence that in this corner of the world, we are a couple of steps ahead of our temperate climate cousins. At times the contrasts are striking, at times comic.

La Revolucion Energetica: Cuba's energy revolution
Global warming: send in the tanks (the magic of immersion heaters)
Urban energy innovation in the global South

Viva la Vegolución! Che Guevara's Granddaughter stars in PETA ad
New allies for food reform (American Medical Association)
1.02 billion people hungry
Detroit: Food fighters (special food issue)
The campesino struggle for sustainable agriculture in Paraguay

Globesity: How climate change and obesity draw from the same roots
Marijuana and Cocaine Should Be Legalized, Says Latin American Drugs Commission
Stand up for rural America while you still can

'We are fighting for our lives and our dignity'
Heinberg on resource conflicts and the Peru oil standoff
Fighting over oil and water (oil shale)
The coming U.S.-Saudi fight over "energy independence"

When President Clinton made his first of six trips, Brazil was a poor nation that needed to borrow money from its wealthy brother. Today the roles are reversed. The USA now borrows money from the entire world while Brazil has money in its “piggybank”. The decisive change is that Brazil is on the way to becoming self-sufficient in oil and that they export ethanol, while the USA is becoming increasingly dependent on imported energy. Access to energy is decisive for a nation’s future.

Why Obama Should Take Notes from Cuba on a Green Energy Revolution
Solar Carbon Payback
Resourceful Guy Builds Solar House, Solar Power, Solar Car

Colin J. Campbell interview: "Time for solutions is running out"
Former CIBC chief economist Jeff Rubin: Peak-nik
Mexico oil exports plummet

Healing Mother Earth: E.O. Wilson talk
Glaciers go, leaving drought, conflict and tension in Andes
The flawed logic of the cap-and-trade debate
From ‘alarmed’ to ‘dismissive’: the six ways Americans view global warming

Las noticias acerca del desabasto de agua en la Ciudad de México, nos vuelven a recordar una vez más una emergencia en puerta, la cual se está manifestando no solo en la capital, sino en todo el país (especialmente en el norte y centro). La crisis del agua puede ser interpretada como una de las múltiples consecuencias de los dos “fenómenos gemelos” de la actualidad, que se llaman cambio climático y descenso energético.

Report: "Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops" (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Biochar good news, bad news
Brazil slave labor complaints rise (sugarcane ethanol)
Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu

Ban Carbon Emissions, Don’t Price them: Why Cap and Dividend is the Best Approach
Why CEOs want carbon laws
Panama rainforest growing back?

Top scientists to gather at "350 Climate Conference" at Columbia U. May 2 (registration open)
Trees may dry up with global warming
Retreat of Andean glaciers foretells global water woes
Dry taps in Mexico City: a water crisis gets worse