Yves here. This post by Gaius not only reports on the latest rumors surrounding the Fukushima clean up (such as it is) but also the huge danger the site poses to Japan and the US if it is not stabilized.
Read more...A last look at the lovely contact list of scammers’ friends, Carbon Neutral Investments Limited
Read more...Yves here. This article is a portrait of official denial, which is then dutifully taken up and amplified by the media (well, not universally, but widely, as Ilargi’s post also demonstrates). It corroborates one of my pet theories: that we are at the end of an economic paradigm. The powers that be lack the will and imagination to do anything other than patch it up and put it back into operation. That simply assures more frequent breakdowns until the system is beyond repair.
Read more...On the Lotus Formula 1 team’s unfortunate entanglement with Advanced Global Trading of Dubai.
Read more...Naked Capitalism notes that Carbon Neutral Investments, subject of a consumer warning by the UK’s FCA, has deals with Formula 1 teams McLaren and Sauber, Lord Heseltine’s publishing firm Haymarket, Newcastle United Football Club, and a host of PR and events companies, and wonders what the hell is going on.
Read more...Carbon Neutral Investments and the ‘recovery room’ scam
Read more...The Gumball 3000 event is helping a deeply dodgy British firm with its marketing.
Read more...Yves here. This post is important not just in and of itself but also as an example of the methods and costs of rent-seeking.
Read more...The Sauber F1 team and their dodgy partners, Carbon Neutral Investments
Read more...Yves here. Given the almost innate bullish bias of equity investors, when they start worrying about something, that means it actually has non-trivial odds of happening. So the idea that investors think it’s possible that a lot of current proven fossil fuels won’t be lifted is an unexpected bit of good news on the climate change front. Whether this comes to pass soon enough to save our collective bacon is another question entirely.
Read more...Mayor Bloomberg stitched up by Italian Vogue and a dodgy financial firm: his image and words are being exploited to market carbon credit scams
Read more...Nothing like watching a captured regulator like the Fed use a public hue and cry to execute a big bait and switch. Here the ploy is to change rules to further disadvantage the parties making complaints. But it takes finesse to make the finger in the eye look plausible and reasonable, so that when the well-understood bad effects show up later, the perp can pretend to be mystified.
Read more...For years, energy analysts had been anticipating an imminent decline in global oil supplies. Suddenly, they’re singing a new song: Fossil fuels growing scarce? Don’t even think about it! The news couldn’t be better: fossil fuels will become ever more abundant.
This movement from gloom about our energy future to what can only be called fossil-fuel euphoria may prove to be the hallmark of our peculiar moment.
Read more...Yves here. This report by David Vine describes how the US has been shifting its operations in Europe since 9/11 away from Germany and to the south, most of all to Italy. While geographic proximity to the Middle East is a superficial explanation for this shift, the bigger driver is that less wealthy countries are more compliant that Germany, which is becoming even more influential in Europe. Another factor could be that Germany imports most of its gas, and Russia is its biggest supplier. Russia is not only no longer a Cold War enemy, but some factions in Germany even favor cultivate closer ties to Russia.
But aside from the political calculus, this article also gives Americans a better sense of the sheer weight of our military spending abroad.
Read more...For U.S. climate activists to succeed, they must demand serious government spending on energy efficiency and renewables—spending comparable to the current war budget. Calling for hundreds of billions in annual green public investment has potential for the popular appeal needed to build a powerful grassroots climate movement. That investment would be the best policy as well. Massive clean energy spending would not only provide jobs and economic growth on a grand scale. It is the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
Read more...