EcoRadio

Author: Geoff Ebbs

  • Russia and China leave US dollar in the cold

    Russia and China leave US dollar in the cold

    Image copyright The Bell
    The Bell believes the dollar will collapse

    The Russian decision to disconnect its currency from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and return to a sovereign currency will have far reaching implications for the USA and its allies according to Bloomberg and The Bell this week.

    The impact of Russia’s decision to go it alone will be exacerbated by the Chinese decision to join the IMF. According to The Bell, the relative strength of the Chinese economy will lead investors to prefer bonds payable in Chinese RMB than in US dollars.

    The joint effect of Russia protecting its currency by separating from the IMF and China competing with the US dollar in the same market is likely to make it difficult for the US to raise funds by printing more money, a practice known as quantitative easing.

    http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/dollar-disaster-looms-as-china-and-russias-currencies-break-away/

  • Loggers use fire to wipe out Amazon tribes

    Loggers use fire to wipe out Amazon tribes

    Amazon fires
    Loggers are using fire to destroy the Amazon and indigenous people

    Huge forest fires raging in the Amazonian rainforest are threatening to wipe out the Awa tribe, one of the last uncontacted indigenous groups on Earth.

    The neighbouring Guajajara Guardians have been fighting to protect the Awa tribe from violence by loggers, disease and land clearing. Despite promises by the Brazilian government to assist, the Guardians have been fighting the forest fires without support from emergency services.

    Last year, loggers lit fires which wiped out forest cover across 50% of the region.

    http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/19/amazon-fires-threaten-to-wipe-out-uncontacted-indigenous-people/

  • US Feds to phase out private gaols

    US Feds to phase out private gaols

    A private US prison
    Private prisons in the US are abusive, ineffective and more expensive than those run by the state

    The US Department of Justice has announced it will phase out corporate operation of federal prisons after A director General’s reports revealed ongoing abuse and failures of the system. This will not affect State penitentiaries or prisons run by other federal policies.

    Recent reports reveal that California has built one university and 22 prisons in the last thirty years. Independent reports of widespread institutional abuse and increasing rates of recidivism point to a widespread failure of outsourcing punishment.

    The Sentencing Project, an organization working for a fair prison system wrote that the decision, “signals a major milestone in the movement away from mass incarceration.”

    http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Justice-Dept-to-End-Private-Prison-Use-After-Scathing-Report-20160818-0014.html

  • Ocean hot-spots killing Pacific

    Ocean hot-spots killing Pacific

    Map of ocean temperature
    Hot spots in the North Pacific wreak havoc on marine life

    Research released this week reveals that massive blobs of hot water have moved around the Pacific Ocean, since 2011, killing marine ecosystems in their wake.

    Last year, thousands of seals, whales and starfish died on the West Coast of North America, due to the disruption of ecosystems as the result of warm water. This year the largest “hot blob” has moved to Mexico, causing similar devastation there.

    The same phenomenon is behind the three systems that caused major marine death incidents off the Australian Coast earlier this year. Near death incidents have damaged beyond repair: the Great Barrier Reef; a huge kelp forest in the Coral Sea and the mangroves in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

    http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/08/15/are-climate-related-hot-blobs-spreading-and-killing-marine-life-worldwide

     

  • World’s largest wind farm to go ahead in UK

    World’s largest wind farm to go ahead in UK

    Hornsea windfarmThe second stage of a massive wind-generation project, larger than most nuclear power stations, was approved in the UK parliament this week.

    The world’s largest wind farm is in the North Sea at Hornsea and will power 2.5 million homes. This stage brings the capacity of the wind farm up to 3 gigawatts of electricity, larger than most nuclear power plants in the UK.

    A third stage will expand the project to 4gigawatts, equivalent to 4 percent of the UK energy requirements when it comes online. The UK currently gets around 10 percent of its electrical energy from wind.

    https://thinkprogress.org/uk-biggest-offshore-wind-project-approved-dd1b90d6593a#.y15cp73o9

  • Electric car without batteries trialed in Japan

    Electric car without batteries trialed in Japan

    Taisei plant Japan
    Japan’s Taisei is trialling an electric car without batteries

    Japanese car manufacturer Taisei, this week demonstrated an electric car without batteries running on an electrified road.

    The proof-of-concept car was developed with Toyohshi University and traveled only a hundred metres at 10 kilometres per hour on a specially prepared road. A spokesperson for Taisei Corp said that the production version will come with batteries so that it can be used “off expressway.”

    There are no immediate plans to retrofit existing expressways with the required electric tracks. So far, the economic model for the provision of electricity to the car is not clear.

    https://www.rt.com/news/336116-japanese-electric-car-vehicle/