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Thursday, April 03, 2003
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Richard Heinberg writes: The industrial world is now overwhelmingly dependent on oil for agriculture and transportation. ... Roughly three-quarters of the world's crucial remaining petroleum reserves lie within the borders of predominantly Muslim nations of the Middle East and Central Asia ... As I write this, the US is drawing up plans to bomb Baghdad, a city of 5 million people, and to pour in twice as many cruise missiles during the first two days of the assault as were used in the entirety of the first Gulf War. Depleted uranium shells and bullets will again be employed, leaving much of Iraq a radioactive wasteland and condemning future generations of Iraqis (and American soldiers and their families) to birth defects, sickness, and early deaths. It is difficult to imagine that the spectacle of so much unprovoked death and destruction could help but inspire thoughts of revenge in the hearts of millions of Arabs and Muslims. American geopolitical strategists will call the effort a success if the war ends quickly, if production from Iraqi oil fields is soon ramped up, and if other OPEC nations are bullied into maintaining the dollar as their currency of account. But this operation (one cannot really call it a war), undertaken as an act of economic desperation, can only temporarily stem a rising tide. What are the long-term consequences for the US and Eurasia? Many are unpredictable. Forces are being unleashed now that may be difficult to contain. The more reliably foreseeable long-term trends are not favorable. Resource depletion and population pressure have always been predictors of war. China, with a population of 1.2 billion, will soon be the world's largest consumer of resources. In times of plenty, this nation can be viewed as immense opening market: there are already more refrigerators, mobile phones, and televisions in China than in the US. China does not wish to challenge the US militarily and recently gained trade privileges by quietly backing American military operations in Central Asia. But as oil—the basis for the entire industrial system—grows scarcer and its reserves more hotly disputed, China cannot be expected to remain docile. (04/03/03) | |
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James F. Moore writes: As the United States government becomes more belligerent in using its power in the world, many people are longing for a “second superpower” that can keep the US in check. Indeed, many people desire a superpower that speaks for the interests of planetary society, for long-term well-being, and that encourages broad participation in the democratic process. Where can the world find such a second superpower? No nation or group of nations seems able to play this role, although the European Union sometimes seeks to, working in concert with a variety of institutions in the field of international law, including the United Nations. But even the common might of the European nations is barely a match for the current power of the United States. There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the “will of the people” in a global social movement. The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this second superpower is the worldwide peace campaign, but the body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, environmentalism, health, and human rights. This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole—and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world—and not just the members of one or another nation. Consider the members of Amnesty International who write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience, and the millions of Americans who are participating in email actions against the war in Iraq. Or the physicians who contribute their time to Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres. (04/03/03) | |
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BBC Science -- The latest research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused on a "prion" protein produced by a type of yeast. In humans, it is a corruption of the prion protein which is blamed for vCJD. The prion protein was chosen for this research because of its natural toughness. It is far more difficult to break down than many other proteins. The prion protein does not conduct electricity naturally, so this version was genetically modified so its surface layer would retain a thin layer of gold. The resulting fibres were approximately 100 nanometres in diameter. One nanometre is a billionth of a metre, and in comparison, a human hair is approximately one tenth of a millimetre. ... Experts in nanotechnology, who are trying to come up with ways of wiring the next generation of microscopic electronic circuits, believe that protein folding could hold the key to progress. Research teams from universities in the US and Germany believe that certain arrangements of protein fibres could be produced reliably over and over again in an industrial setting. These could be "coated" in gold or silver, potentially producing wires thousands of times smaller in diameter than the tiniest available currently. (04/03/03) | |
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BBC Science -- Since the last Gulf war, several high-resolution satellites have been launched with the aim of providing detailed views of the Earth for town planning, pollution monitoring and environmental management. Now, these spacecraft are turning their lenses on Iraq and their images show the conflict zone in remarkable detail, revealing bomb damage, burning oil trenches and sandstorms. A series of images of central Baghdad taken over the past few days has just been released by Digitalglobe, the company that manages the Quickbird satellite. (04/03/02) | |
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BBC Science -- Radar monitoring of the space shuttle in orbit revealed an object separating from Columbia on flight day two. The observation has led to speculation about the nature of the object and whether it was connected with the shuttle. To determine what it might have been, the US space agency (Nasa) has sent 29 leading edge components and tiles from the space shuttle to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for testing to see if their radar signatures compare with the debris seen leaving Columbia. A leading edge carrier panel is the only item that has not been eliminated. ... The carrier panels connect the edges of the U-shaped reinforced carbon panels that make up the wing's leading edge and heat-resistant tiles stuck to the wing's lower surface. ... It was a breach in that region of the wing that allowed superheated gases to leak into the shuttle's airframe, ultimately causing the orbiter's destruction. (04/03/04) | |
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New York Times -- The Bush administration said today that it would raise fuel economy regulations for light trucks — S.U.V.'s, pickups and minivans — by 1.5 miles a gallon, or about 4.5 percent, by the 2007 model year. (04/03/03) | |
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New York Times -- The Colonial Pipeline Company, which owns a 5,500-mile underground pipeline that stretches from Texas to New York City, was charged in November 2000 with gross negligence that contributed to seven spills that released a total of 1.45 million gallons of oil. The largest, which took place in South Carolina in 1996, spilled almost a million gallons that traveled 34 miles down the Reedy River and killed 35,000 fish. ... The government announced today that an Atlanta-based pipeline company would pay $34 million in fines under the Clean Water Act, the largest civil penalty ever paid by a company in the 32-year history of the Environmental Protection Agency. The company paid a $7 million criminal fine in 1999. "There is a price to being a consistent violator," said Thomas L. Sansonetti, the assistant attorney general for the environment division at the Justice Department. Colonial Pipeline, which is privately held, transports more refined petroleum products than any other company in the world. It moves approximately 20 percent of what is produced in the United States. The pipeline, about 40 years old, snakes through 14 states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. (04/03/03) | |
6:51:27 AM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
5/1/2003; 8:14:10 AM.
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