BY ALLISON MACFARLANE To address the climate change crisis we need both short term and long term solutions that will reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2). At the same time, there is a growing global need for more energy resources to provide for development of many of the world’s population. [...]
BY ERIN A. COX AND ARUN K. SOOD Who will foot the premium bill for your unexpected knee surgery? Who will pay the astronomical emergency room bill from the car accident that occurred while you were without health care? These are very realistic problems in American society today. Health care costs are at an all [...]
BY PHILIP AUERSWALD In the past century of dramatic political and technological change, the centrality of oil in foreign policy has been a constant. Political leaders and governments of all types have been compelled to ensure the reliability of oil supplies for military use, to reduce the potential vulnerability of their economies to fluctuations in [...]
BY LISA BREGLIA Across the frontlines of energy production in the Global South, an oil crisis is long simmering. This is not an oil crisis as we already know it: in other words, a crisis stimulated by market models of supply and demand, or a crisis abstractly negotiated by giddy futures speculators, or even a [...]
BY ERIC MCGLINCHEY The local impact of global climate change is suddenly acutely present in Central Asia. A coincidence of extended drought in Central Asia and Australia and the transfer of food crops to ethanol production have resulted in a dramatic spike in commodity prices throughout Eurasia. Importantly, Central Asia is not alone in confronting [...]
BY MARK N. KATZ Saparmurat Niyazov ruled Turkmenistan from its December 1991 independence that resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union until his death in December 2006. Although Turkmenistan has enormous natural gas reserves, Niyazov—who styled himself “Turkmenbashi” (leader of the Turkmen)—kept most of his citizens impoverished, uneducated and in fear of his security [...]
BY MARCEL KITISSOU China has forged extensive political, economic and military ties with most of the fifty-four African countries, in part to secure a stable oil supply. However, the implications of “petro politics” for the stability of the African countries concerned may not always be positive. China’s trade with the continent has tripled since 2000, [...]
BY PETER BALINT In the communal lands of Mahenye, in the southeast corner of Zimbabwe, traditional culture and hardscrabble subsistence mesh uneasily with trophy hunting, upscale tourism, and modern ideas of market-based conservation. This awkward mix is the result of a conscious plan to improve local living conditions, protect wildlife, and make money. For much [...]