Don't go cool on global warming
DISMAY and helplessness, however understandable, are the wrong reactions to the big environmental problems confronting us. Part of the problem is that environmental doomsayers have probably never had it so good. Wherever you look the environmental alarm bells are being sounded. Every day brings a new warning of catastrophe. It's not that these problems aren't real. They are. Global warming presents a clear and present danger to us all. Overpopulation threatens to place demands on the earth's carrying capacity that it is unable to meet.

The Politics of Dancing
Matthew Herbert's latest masterpiece sounds off against the oil industry. Legendary English electronic producer and composer Matthew Herbert is back in Chicago this week supporting his latest masterpiece, "Scale." Released earlier this summer, critics have gushed that it may be Herbert's most accessible and pop-friendly album to date, while at the same time still furthering his reputation as the master of collage and music concrete.

The more precious commodity in 2050: Water or oil?
"I'm sure most readers here are familiar with the concept of peak oil, and there's another article today on the increasing concern over the scarcity of fresh water. So I thought I would ask a simple question: by mid-century which commodity will be most precious - oil or water? The case for oil: This seems like the natural choice, with oil prices unlikely to fall below $70 a barrel any time soon. And if you subscribe to peak oil, which I somewhat do, then demand will soon exceed production capacity, perhaps within the next five years."

A Permanent Goodbye to the United States
"It was about a week before I left the United States forever that I watched Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. tell Charlie Rose something all of us already know in our hearts. “Today,” he said, “the United States is hated around the world far worse than it was at the height of the Vietnam War.” I remember the Vietnam War. I will never forget it. I opposed that war, and I still remember riots on the UCLA campus in May,1970 when four students were shot dead by National Guard troops at Kent State University in Ohio."

Bye Bye Petroleum
With demand for oil soaring yet supply stable at best, the idea that oil stocks have 'peaked' is increasingly influential. So what are the latest theories around peak oil? B Leamy reports. Around two hundred scientists, economists, analysts and academics attended the 5th International Workshop on Oil and Gas Depletion in Italy this month. Organized by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO), this event moved on from their previous conferences, which concentrated mostly on providing evidence and attempting to forecast an actual date.

Coal to oil conversion gaining interest in China, U.S.
High oil prices are spawning greater interest in technologies that convert coal into liquid fuel, according to an article published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, but the shift could have a significant impact on the environment. Heightened tensions in the Middle East combined with booming demand and political instability in other regions have put a premium on crude oil and forced China and the United States - the world's largest energy gluttons - to look towards secure sources of fuel.