Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Panama Canal is a conduit for 6% of the global maritime traffic. But climate change is disrupting that trade. While high temperatures and little rain are the primary causes, four hurricanes over seven years have been equally devastating. The Panama Canal is in the midst of Panama’s rainforests, which cover 68% of its land or nearly 12.7 million acres. Both depend on precipitation for survival. If the rainforests do not get ample rainfall, it trickles down to the canal. The bad news is that the canal’s authorities say that 2019 was the fifth most arid in 70 years, with rainfall 20% less than the average, all compounded by depleted reservoirs. Indeed, water levels fell in 2015 and 2016 , and shippers had to reduce the amount of cargo on their vessels — money down the drain. “The Panama Canal is the only interoceanic commerce route whose operation depends on the availability of freshwater, making it the most … [Read more...] about Climate Change Threatens Panama Canal And Global Maritime Trade
Make a poster concerning how to fight climate change global warming
This New Talent Marketplace Aims To Better Connect Workers With Climate Careers
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Covid-19 pandemic and the related fundamental shift in how people live and work have led many individuals to seek purposeful careers . According to a 2021 Gartner study , the Great Resignation saw 56% of American employees want to contribute more to society as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. LinkedIn's LNKD 2022 Global Green Skills Report has found that as climate change begins to have adverse effects around the world and countries look to mitigate its impacts, more people are starting to acquire new skills and pursue ventures that equip them for careers in tomorrow's green economy . A recent McKinsey report mentioned that businesses are also actively looking to position themselves and advance their long-term commercial interests in the green economy, with increasing venture capital investments flowing into cleantech and zero-emissions technologies. Despite the growing interest in … [Read more...] about This New Talent Marketplace Aims To Better Connect Workers With Climate Careers
Joe Biden Shifts To A Realistic Fracking Stance
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin I have always viewed politicians that promise to ban hydraulic fracturing — commonly known as “fracking” — with some level of suspicion. In fact, a year ago as candidates were making these promises I explained Why A Ban On Fracking Will Never Happen . Those promises have always signaled one of three things to me. The Significance of Fracking First, the candidate may not understand the significance of fracking to U.S. oil and gas production. So let’s review that significance. Fracking has actually been around since the late 1940s and has been used extensively to promote higher production rates from oil and gas wells. Fracking involves pumping water, chemicals and typically sand down an oil or gas well under high pressure to break open channels (fractures) in the reservoir rock trapping the deposit. Oil and gas do not travel easily through these shale formations, which is why they need to be fractured. The … [Read more...] about Joe Biden Shifts To A Realistic Fracking Stance
Why U.S. Natural Gas Prices Will Remain Low
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Gallery: The 93 Global Billionaires In Oil And Energy, 2016 87 images View gallery The incredibly powerful combination of fracking and horizontal drilling has sent U.S. natural gas supplies through the roof and prices through the floor. With marketed production increasing about 35% since 2008 to ~78 Bcf/d, prices have plummeted over 60% to around $3 per MMBtu. Check this U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) graphic to see just how historically low our gas prices really are, here . Last year brought the lowest gas prices we have seen since 1999 - and prices will remain low for as far as our modelers forecast. EIA just projected here that U.S. gas production will increase 1-2% per year in the coming decades, surging to 85 Bcf/d in 2020 and onto more than 100 Bcf/d by 2035 and even more in the subsequent years. This unstoppable rise in U.S. gas production stems mostly from an … [Read more...] about Why U.S. Natural Gas Prices Will Remain Low
Russia Threatens, EU Reduces, US Industry Helps To Untangle The Natural Gas War In Europe.
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Both oil and gas exported from Russia bring in significant revenue that can be used to support the Russian war in Ukraine. But the export revenue from oil sales is much greate r than export revenue from gas sales. If the West stops buying oil this really hurts Russia – more than if the West stopped buying gas. Back in May, the EU agreed to ban all Russian oil imports by the end of 2022, at least those that are delivered by sea. That was a good move. Russia threatens to cut gas supplies to the European Union. Russia has realized that cutting natural gas doesn’t affect their export revenue (like oil does) but it affects the economies of EU countries a lot more. Russia supplied the EU with 40% of its gas last year , with Germany, Italy, and Netherlands the top three importers in actual volumes of gas. Germany had imported more than 50% of its gas from Russia via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. By the end of June, … [Read more...] about Russia Threatens, EU Reduces, US Industry Helps To Untangle The Natural Gas War In Europe.
Hydrogen A Winner As Manchin Forces A Diverse Energy Transition Policy Approach
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin As this energy transition continues to move forward in a somewhat halting fashion, prodded along by energy and climate policy decisions, it is becoming increasingly apparent that displacing a substantial percentage of current fossil fuel usage on a global scale will require a far more diverse set of solutions than just more subsidies for wind and solar. Not that such subsidies are being abandoned, of course: Quite the opposite, in fact. Robert Bryce reported Sunday at Forbes that the Manchin/Schumer cornucopia of climate spending (cynically titled the “Inflation Reduction Act”) passed on a strictly partisan vote by the Senate would direct another $113 billion to just those two rent-seeking industries over the coming decade. Fortunately, the bill also recognizes that subsidies for those two industries alone won’t do the trick. Manchin’s own statement on the huge tax and spending package recognizes that reality, stating … [Read more...] about Hydrogen A Winner As Manchin Forces A Diverse Energy Transition Policy Approach
China, Taipei battle over projecting soft-power through Mandarin
US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (left) with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. (Image: AP) As tension rises in the Taiwan Strait following China’s threatening live-fire drills in the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s visit, a tussle between Taiwan and the mainland to influence the world through Mandarin learning centres has come back in focus. Mandarin is spoken widely on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. But as Sino-American relations became strained over trade and technology in the past few years, Washington made a conscious effort to curb Chinese cultural activities in the United States and encouraged Taiwan to fill that space, especially for learning Mandarin. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, the US Congress in 2018 passed a bill to cut funding for Chinese language and culture programmes offered by Confucius institutes at universities that host them. The US State Department labelled the institutes `foreign missions’ of the People’s Republic of China, and part … [Read more...] about China, Taipei battle over projecting soft-power through Mandarin
In crowded city races, Denver’s new fair election fund will face first test
Overhauling Denver’s campaign finance rules was popular with voters in 2018. More than 70% of Denverites who cast ballots that year voted for Referred Measure 2E. The sweeping change to the city’s campaign rules ratcheted down contribution limits for candidates seeking every seat from mayor to the city auditor, banned direct corporate and union campaign contributions and established a fair elections fund to provide public financing for candidates who agreed to abide by even lower contribution limits and other rules. Participate in the fair elections fund and receive a 9-to-1 public funding match on contributions from Denver residents between $5 and $50. In other words, a $50 donation becomes $500 with taxpayer money so long as the donor hails from the city and county. A lot has happened since then. First, the measure’s backers struck a deal with the City Council to delay the law’s effective date until after the 2019 municipal election instead of trying to enact the changes … [Read more...] about In crowded city races, Denver’s new fair election fund will face first test