Opinion: Polar Race.
Monday 28 July 2008
by: Guy Taillefer, Le Devoir

 http://www.truthout.org/article/polar-ra…

Guy Taillefer argues in Le Devoir that the US Geological Survey’s most recent evaluation of the polar depths - that they contain 412 billion barrels of oil, or a third of the planet’s proven reserves - will put additional strain on the already-fragile international understandings with respect to polar sovereignty and development.

The North Pole. Guy Taillefer writes, “Northern governments and oil companies have never salivated to quite the same extent over the Arctic, which becomes all the more hospitable to them as the ice melts … If one were a cynic, one would say that in this instance it is altogether to Ottawa’s advantage to drag its feet in the fight against greenhouse gases …”
Four hundred and twelve billion barrels of oil. A third of the planet’s proven reserves. That’s what the depths of the Arctic contain, according to the US Geological Survey’s most recent evaluation. One may count on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take advantage of the opportunity to reassert Canada’s “unquestionable” sovereignty over the North - and to reduce the debate over the development of the circumpolar world to a war of flags and icebreakers.
Last Wednesday, after four years of research, the US Geological Survey, the American scientific agency specialized in hydrocarbons, delivered the first exhaustive estimate of potential oil and gas situated north of the polar circle: 90 billion barrels of crude, three times as much natural gas, 20 percent of the probable global reserves of liquefied natural gas…. The news is guaranteed to have a strong impact, given the present context of tightening energy supplies, surging prices at the pump, and the extraordinary growth of demand in developing countries. Northern governments and oil companies have never salivated to quite the same extent over the Arctic, which becomes all the more hospitable to them as the ice melts…. If one were a cynic, one would say that in this instance it is altogether to Ottawa’s advantage to drag its feet in the fight against greenhouse gases.
Moreover, quite by chance, the US Geological Survey estimates were made public one year, almost to the day, after two little Russian sailors dove to a depth of 4,000 meters in the beginning of August 2007 to plant a flag on the North Pole. This striking gesture - without any legal effect, however - relaunched the debate on the subject of sovereignty over the Arctic in great style.

Cut to the quick, then-Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay decreed that the region Russia coveted was “unquestionably” Canadian.
Unquestionably? That remains to be seen. Experts from the UN, guarantors of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, will say between now and 2013 which between Ottawa and Moscow has the better-founded pretensions from a scientific perspective. At the moment, however, it seems that Russia is better placed to prove geologically that the Lomonossov Dorsal, a chain of undersea mountains that cross the Arctic, is the prolongation of the Russian continental plateau, and not of the Canadian plateau.
Politicians, unfortunately, don’t bother much with such scientific details in their communications with the electorate, preferring to play a nationalistic rhetoric that is easily digested. So the bad scenario would be that, in this race for the summit of the world, the sharing of the Arctic will be less the result of a UN judgment and multinational dialogue than of power struggles between the five countries involved - Canada, Russia, the United States, Denmark, and Norway. That scenario is altogether plausible.
“The Canadian Arctic is at the heart of our national identity,” Stephen Harper declared last year. He has announced, among other military measures in the last year, an investment of $7 billion over 25 years for buying naval patrol boats. A depressing prospect: that Canada seeks to take on its northern identity is laudable, that it proposes to get there by emphasizing military defense to the detriment of social, ecological and diplomatic initiatives, is much less so. It is difficult in any case to imagine that pugnacious Prime Minister-President Vladimir Putin will allow himself to be intimidated.
Nonetheless, the Harper way remains very questionable, in that it is a thousand leagues from the Canadian Way - based on dialogue and cooperation. Still, the most recent decades have demonstrated that it’s by balancing its own interests with those of its circumpolar neighbors - and not by sticking out its chest - that Canada has succeeded in preserving its Arctic sovereignty.
Moreover, in order to calm tensions, the five held a big meeting last spring, which ended in the participants’ commitment to settle any litigious question “in an orderly way,” to “strengthen their cooperation based on mutual trust and transparency” and to “assure the protection and preservation of the fragile marine environment of the Arctic Ocean.” Empty phrases? The future will show how these beautiful promises that we’d like to see kept will withstand the lust for 412 billion barrels of oil.
———————

We posted several days ago: “Reuters Reports That China Is Planting its Flag in the Arctic and Antarctic Regions. Actually they started already at least in 2003, so this is not just a reaction to the Russian Flag-posting of August 2007.”

Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 27th, 2008
by Pincas Jawetz ( PJ at SustainabiliTank.com)

So, face up to it - China is also in this game. And why should not Nauru or Grenada also be entiled to some of the profits? if they cannot afford the expense of drilling - bet you Brazil or Japan, even Korea and India, and who knows who else - can!

OK - Now Let Us Sit Down And Talk. For Once We Are Behind China and Expect The Dragon To Stand Its Ground.

The North Pole. Guy Taillefer writes, “Northern governments and oil companies have never salivated to quite the same extent over the Arctic, which becomes all the more hospitable to them as the ice melts … If one were a cynic, one would say that in this instance it is altogether to Ottawa’s advantage to drag its feet in the fight against greenhouse gases …” (Photo: NASA GSFC Direct Readout Laboratory / Allen Lunsford).

We find the story appalling - also the fact that someone was so inept as to release/sell (?) an indicting photo. But then, the Red Cross did nothing in the matter of these hostages, for so many years - neither did the Swiss officials - hosts of the Red Cross - their creation. The world press will now continue to dig in this surrealistic wound. Shame on all those that saw what we would rather not want to see - we would rather expect a word of wisdom from the Swiss Foreign Minister.

see it all at:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/world/…

Spanish primate rights proposition raises many questions.
Spanish lawmakers’ consideration of a bill that would grant some primates limited rights on par with rights normally associated with people has unleashed fierce debate. Some worry about the practicality, and folly, of guaranteeing primate rights when the rights of humans remain so poorly protected in many parts of the world.

IDEAS & TRENDS
When Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans.


David Silverman/Getty Images
ALMOST HUMAN A chimp at an Israeli wildlife park in April. Spanish lawmakers recently voted to grant apes some rights.

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: July 13, 2008, The New York Times
If you caught your son burning ants with a magnifying glass, would it bother you less than if you found him torturing a mouse with a soldering iron? How about a snake? How about his sister?

World Briefing | Europe: Spain: Life and Liberty for Apes Get Support of Parliament Panel (June 26, 2008)

In the Magazine: An Animal’s Place (November 10, 2002)

Great Ape Project Web Site

Readers’ Comments
“Any official recognition that the world is not simply the property of humans … is to be applauded.”
Doug, Beaumont, Texas
Read Full Comment »

Does Khalid Shaikh Mohammed — the Guantánamo detainee who claims he personally beheaded the reporter Daniel Pearl — deserve the rights he denied Mr. Pearl? Which ones? A painless execution? Exemption from capital punishment? Decent prison conditions? Habeas corpus?

Such apparently unrelated questions arise in the aftermath of the vote of the environment committee of the Spanish Parliament last month to grant limited rights to our closest biological relatives, the great apes — chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.

The committee would bind Spain to the principles of the Great Ape Project, which points to apes’ human qualities, including the ability to feel fear and happiness, create tools, use languages, remember the past and plan the future. The project’s directors, Peter Singer, the Princeton ethicist, and Paola Cavalieri, an Italian philosopher, regard apes as part of a “community of equals” with humans.

If the bill passes — the news agency Reuters predicts it will — it would become illegal in Spain to kill apes except in self-defense. Torture, including in medical experiments, and arbitrary imprisonment, including for circuses or films, would be forbidden.

The 300 apes in Spanish zoos would not be freed, but better conditions would be mandated.

What’s intriguing about the committee’s action is that it juxtaposes two sliding scales that are normally not allowed to slide against each other: how much kinship humans feel for which animals, and just which “human rights” each human deserves.

We like to think of these as absolutes: that there are distinct lines between humans and animals, and that certain “human” rights are unalienable. But we’re kidding ourselves.

In an interview, Mr. Singer described just such calculations behind the Great Ape Project: he left out lesser apes like gibbons because scientific evidence of human qualities is weaker, and he demanded only rights that he felt all humans were usually offered, such as freedom from torture — rather than, say, rights to education or medical care.

Depending on how it is counted, the DNA of chimpanzees is 95 percent to 98.7 percent the same as that of humans.

Nonetheless, the law treats all animals as lower orders. Human Rights Watch has no position on apes in Spain and has never had an internal debate about who is human, said Joseph Saunders, deputy program director.

“There’s no blurry middle,” he said, “and human rights are so woefully protected that we’re going to keep our focus there.”

Meanwhile, even in democracies, the law accords diminished rights to many humans: children, prisoners, the insane, the senile. Teenagers may not vote, philosophers who slip into dementia may be lashed to their beds, courts can order surgery or force-feeding.

Spain does not envision endowing apes with all rights: to drive, to bear arms and so on. Rather, their status would be akin to that of children.

Ingrid Newkirk, a founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, considers Spain’s vote “a great start at breaking down the species barriers, under which humans are regarded as godlike and the rest of the animal kingdom, whether chimpanzees or clams, are treated like dirt.”

Other commentators are aghast. Scientists, for example, would like to keep using chimpanzees to study the AIDS virus, which is believed to have come from apes.

Mr. Singer responded by noting that humans are a better study model, and yet scientists don’t deliberately infect them with AIDS.

“They’d need to justify not doing that,” he said. “Why apes?”

Spain’s Catholic bishops attacked the vote as undermining a divine will that placed humans above animals. One said such thinking led to abortion, euthanasia and ethnic cleansing.

But given that even some humans are denied human rights, what is the most basic right? To not be killed for food, perhaps?

Ten years ago, I stood in a clearing in the Cameroonian jungle, asking a hunter to hold up for my camera half the baby gorilla he had split and butterflied for smoking.

My distress — partly faked, since I was also feeling triumphant, having come this far hoping to find exactly such a scene — struck him as funny. “A gorilla is still meat,” said my guide, a former gorilla hunter himself. “It has no soul.”

So he agrees with Spain’s bishops. But it was an interesting observation for a West African to make. He looked much like the guy on the famous engraving adopted as a coat of arms by British abolitionists: a slave in shackles, kneeling to either beg or pray. Below it the motto: Am I Not a Man, and a Brother?

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: 100 CEOs OFFER CLIMATE RECOMMENDATIONS TO G8 LEADERS: MOST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE YET ON POST-KYOTO ARCHITECTURE: July 6, 2008

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 06 July 2008 — Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman and Founder of the World Economic Forum, presented a detailed statement to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan on how best to manage climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012

Professor Schwab made the presentation on behalf of the 100 international CEOs who have endorsed the “CEO Climate Policy Recommendations to G8 Leaders”, which is a groundbreaking statement that has taken 16 months and an international effort to prepare. In collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change as a resource partner, the Forum convened discussions with over 500 business executives and climate experts from around the world during 2006 and 2007 to help the business community develop its ideas.

This is the most detailed, global and high-level set of business guidance yet on post-2012 architecture.

The work has been produced through a specific process of public-private dialogue in cooperation with G8/G20 countries. It has created an unprecedented degree of consensus among developed and developing country business leaders.
What are they recommending?

Governments to agree on a long-term goal and support to G8 leaders, both domestically and internationally, if they take the first step toward deep cuts.
- “We urge governments to seek consensus on a long-term goal of at least halving global emissions against current levels by 2050.”
- “We seek leadership from the G8 to agree to deep cuts by 2050.”

A new geometry of international cooperation for the post-2012 architecture. Instead of just government-to-government, top-down emission reduction commitments (as in Kyoto), the CEO statement recommends a combination of top-down and bottom-up elements consisting of not only Annex 1 country emission reduction commitments but also:
- Bottom-up carbon abatement strategy development with the private sector to inform medium targets and strategies
- Explicit public-private financing instruments to spur new technology demonstration projects and uptake of low-carbon energy in developing countries
- Sector arrangements
- Policy and other commitments by major emerging markets that are enabled by each of the three preceding pieces

In short, this is a new, public-private vision of how to proceed on the future policy framework that for the first time places the private sector at the heart of its design and implementation.

Although the Bali Road Map contains the seeds of these concepts, this is the most practical vision yet presented by any group (government, business or civil society) of how the Bali vision can be translated into reality.
Who are the 100 CEOs?

They are a diverse and powerful group. Combined, their companies represent over 10% of the total global equities market

80:20 ratio headquartered companies of developed to developing countries

All regions of the world have companies that have endorsed the statement, including Australia, Hong Kong, Europe, India, Latin America, Japan, South-East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the US.

Represent leading brands from all sectors of the global economy: aviation, travel and tourism; automotives, chemicals; engineering and construction; energy; food and beverage; retail and consumer goods; financial services; IT and telecoms; logistics and transport; media; mining and metals; paper and pulp; and professional services.
CEO quotes:

“We all believe that these recommendations, prepared and signed by CEOs from many of the world’s largest companies, will serve as guidelines for G8 leaders and help them build a new model to tackle effectively the world’s environmental and energy issues.”

- Oleg V. Deripaska, Chairman, Supervisory Board, Basic Element Company, Russian Federation

“The Gleneagles CEO statement provides an essential framework for a market-based climate policy.”

- Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank, Germany

“I fully endorse the Gleneagles CEO statement and look forward to its role in informing an effective global strategy to combat climate change.”

- Phirwa Jacob Maroga, Chief Executive, Eskom Holdings, South Africa

“I am very happy to see the recommendations. These are eminently sensible solutions. The document aptly summarizes the issues and at the same time lays down a workable policy prescription.”

- Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, India

“It’s good to see that so many companies have come together to deliver a solid statement to the G-8 leaders and are ready to step up to their responsibilities.”

- Peter Bakker, Chief Executive Officer, TNT, Netherlands

“The Gleneagles CEO statement clearly shows how such a framework can send the right signals and allow business and competition to transform the global economy.”

- Lars G. Josefsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vattenfall, Sweden

“We know we must address climate change. We may not have sorted out every detail, but we are willing to take a leadership position and embrace open dialogue … that will get us all to our common goals of protecting our world for future generations.”

- Alain J.P. Belda, Chairman of the Board, Alcoa, USA

For more information, please contact:

Mark Adams, Managing Director, World Economic Forum: Tel.: +41 (0) 22 869 1212; E-mail:  mark.adams at weforum.org

***

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.  http://www.weforum.org).

—————-

www.SustainabiliTank.info - looking at the above finds here basically the position that could be acceptable to the present US Administration - that is putting the main decisions in the hands of big business, making it a “sectoral” issue to include all countries, not just the Kyoto annex, and leaving the quantitative figures to the National governments with a wishful halving of the CO2 emissions by 2050 - without any interim targets. Neither, including CEOs of big corporations from the South is not a major progress by itself.

This is simply not acceptable, also, those suffering from climate change are not necessarily the Worlds big business - that actually got where they are - by being a major part of the reasons for the problem. We would not look at them really as the vehicle for a solution. If the private enterprise is to be partner in the decision making process, the companies to be involved are either non existent yet, or small entrepreneurial entities that do not sit at the decision making table when WEC meets.

From:    michele.burrows at globescan.com
Subject: Survey of Climate Decision Makers Worldwide Released

A new worldwide survey of key climate decision-makers, by The WorldBank, IUCN, IDRC and Globescan, shows strong and consistent views that government leaders worldwide need to act quickly and agree on a set of clear, inclusive, and long-term policies in order to put climate solutions in place. The survey comes as countries and regions prepare for the crucial Copenhagen meeting of the UNFCCC and the G8 Summit.

The survey sought the views of 1,350 professionals in position to make or influence large climate-related decisions in their governments, companies, or other organizations across 120 countries.

Asked what their organizations most need to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the respondents most often mentioned the need for political support, policy development, and regulatory clarity.

Commenting on the survey results, GlobeScan president Doug Miller said, “The survey reveals a surprising level of global consensus on the broad outlines of an effective global response to the climate challenge, from policies to technologies. It suggests it is time for leaders to lead.”

Full results: http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/c…

For more information, please contact:
Doug Miller, GlobeScan President
+44 78 999 77 000
+1 416 230 2231

 doug.miller at GlobeScan.com

We received an e-mail showing how little costs to buy gasoline (in German called Benzin) and diesel fuel if you live in a so called developing oil-exporting country or in the USA

Date: July 4, 2008

1 Liter = 0.264174 gal (US Liq)
US$ 1 = Euro 1.5682 as of 7/4/2008

The Austrian e-mail evokes the following list. We went then and looked up other countries and found that Austria is actually a bargain when compared to other developed economies.

The Austrian 1.32 Euro/liter is 2.16 times what the complaining American sissies are paying, but only 78.7% of what Norwegians are paying or 80.7% of what the Dutch are paying.

On the other hand Japan at 0.99 Euro/liter is another chaeap-shot so is Canada at 0.88 Euro/liter.

And you know already what we think? Those that pay more for their gasoline have also decreased their dependence on oil by efficiency methods and conservation - they also developed alternatives to oil and have started building the economy of the future. So, it is actually the US that is falling behind while it transfers its funds to the Gulf States hoping that the increased National Debt will devalue the US$ to the point that it remains valueless paper in their hand.The problem is that they do not sit on the money anymore. They actually buy assets with that money - among that buying spree they also buy up chunks of America. So what then? Will they agree to American taxation without representation - or the US will eventually find out that Bush made a Faustian Deal with the US oil companies and with his Arab friends.

Our advice to our Austrian readers is thus - DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE TAX ON FUEL - BUT MAKE SURE THE MONEY IS USED SO THAT EVENTUALLY YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY LESS OF IT.

The following is what we got in the mail - then look at what we added for the sake of analysis. if our other readers want to get the actual numbers in US dollars, please use the above conversion factors.

BENZINPREISE INTERNATIONAL

Benzin that is Gasoline - but much of the posting is about Diesel - this because in Europe the motor-fuel of choice is high quality Diesel.

Afghanistan Normalbenzin € 0,43

Algerien Diesel € 0,11

Aserbaidschan Diesel € 0,31

Ägypten Diesel € 0,14

Ãthiopien Super € 0,24

Bahamas Diesel € 0,25

Bolivien Super € 0,25

Brasilien Diesel € 0,54

China Normal € 0,45

Ecuador Normal € 0,24

Ghana Normal € 0,09 !!!!!!!

Grönland Super € 0,50

Guyana Normal € 0,67

Hong Kong Diesel € 0,84

Indien Diesel € 0,62

Indonesien Diesel € 0,32

Irak Super € 0,60

Kasachstan Diesel € 0,44

Katar Super € 0,15

Kuwait Super € 0,18

Kuba Normal € 0,62

Libyen Diesel € 0,08 !!!!!!!

Malaysia Super € 0,55

Mexico Diesel € 0,41

Moldau Normal € 0,25

Oman Super plus € 0,20

Peru Diesel € 0,22

Philippinen Diesel € 0,69

Russland Super € 0,64

Saudi Arabien Diesel € 0,07 !!!!!!

Südafrika Diesel € 0,66

Swasiland Super € 0,10 !!!!!!

Syrien Diesel € 0,10 !!!!!

Trinidad Super € 0,33

Thailand Super € 0,65

Tunesien Diesel € 0,49

USA Diesel € 0,61

Venezuela Diesel € 0,07 !!!!!

Vereinigte Arabische Emirate Diesel € 0,18

Vietnam Diesel € 0,55

Weißrussland Diesel € 0,51

EU und dem Finanzminister sei dank ist der Österreicher bzw. Europäer dumm
genug sich abzocken zu lassen (Mineralölsteuer und Mehrwertsteuer auf
Benzin).

Bitte dieses E-Mail weiter zu schicken damit wenigstens einige Leute
erkennen wie stark Österreich geneppt wird.

Benzinpreise auf der eigenen Webseite

And looking at international prices for July 4, 2008 at - http://benzinpreis.de/international.phtm…

Land Normalbenzin in € Superbenzin in € SuperPlus in € Diesel in €

Österreich 1,26 1,29 * 1,28 1,32 *

UK 1,40 1,46 1,50 1,58

Finnland 1,47 1,50 1,50 1,36

Frankreich 1,39 1,34 * 1,44 1,37 *

Irland 1,26 1,26 1,15 1,43

Island 1,35 1,40 1,47 1,50

Israel - 1,05 - -

Italien 1,36 1,46 1,34 1,45

Japan 0,99 1,08 - 0,79

Kanada 0,88 0.87 0.82 0.90

Neuseeland 1,03 0,97 - 1,46

Niederlande 1,56 1,61 1,69 1,31 **

Norwegen 1,60 1,61 1,46 1,56

Schweden 1,37 1,39 1,36 1,47

Schweiz 1,24 1,21 * 1,23 1,37 *

Ungarn 1,29 1,26 1,20 1,31

From:    luca.taschini at unibg.it
Subject: Environmental Finance Course

The emergence of markets for carbon-dioxide emissions, signalled by the European Union’s launch of an emission-trading scheme in 2005, has had a knock-on effect for executive education courses on anticipated trade.

We are pleased to announce that the University of Zurich (Switzerland) now offers a one-semester course designed to give graduate students the knowledge and the theoretical tools for investigating the economic, financial and managerial impacts of market-based environmental policies such as the European Emission Trading Scheme and the Kyoto protocol.

The course will be a combination of theory, case studies and informal seminars with representatives from industry, the financial sector (such as banks and (re)-insurance companies), governmental
organizations and NGOs.

We would really appreciate to receive any comment and suggestion that could help in improving the course (course description and course outline are available at http://www.isb.uzh.ch/studium/courses08-… )

___________________________________

Luca Taschini
Swiss Banking Institute, University of Zürich
Plattenstrasse 32       CH - 8032 Zürich
TEL  +41 44  634 52 39  FAX +41 44  634 49 03

New email address:  taschini at isb.uzh.ch
Further papers are available on SSRN at: http://ssrn.com/author=605723

Know Hope – Tel Aviv, Israel

21-year-old Know Hope was born in California and currently resides in Tel Aviv, Israel. Wise beyond his years, the young artist has been working in the streets since his teens, as well as participating in exhibitions in Israel and the US. “I can’t exactly say what kind of social conscience I have, but I do like to think that I react to my surroundings, from some point of observing and suggesting recollections and some sort of subtle commentary on what I pick up,” he says. “From these observations, I try to figure out the most basic and even simplistic components and aspects that compose our reality and the forms of communication/miscommunication that are happening all around us at any given time.”

Know Hope is inspired by “the awkward struggle of everyday life as a common denominator and as something that happens in real time. The idea that everything is temporary,