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Vancouver mayor promises action on peak oil
Matthew Burrows, Georgia Straight
Mayor Gregor Robertson and Coun. Andrea Reimer are promising they will make Vancouver ready for peak oil.

“We have to address peak oil,” Robertson told the Georgia Straight at City Hall. “That’s a hard reality.…I think it could end up compounding the looming challenges we face with oil supply and an economy that’s totally dependent on cheap energy right now.”

Peak oil refers to the point at which the rate of global oil production maxes out, sending the supply of the resource into an inevitable decline.

In October, the U.K. Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security released a 43-page report entitled The Oil Crunch. The report anticipates peak-oil-related problems hitting the U.K. starting in 2011 and says the threat posed by peak oil is greater than that of terrorism.
(23 December 2008)

The year 2008 in photographs (part 1 of 3)
Boston Globe
2008 has been an eventful year to say the least - it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. That said, I will try to do what I've done with other photo narratives here, and tell a story of 2008 in photographs. It's not the story of 2008, it's certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Watch for part 2 and part 3 tomorrow and the next day. (40 photos total)
(17 December 2008)
No connection to energy, but these photos are truly stunning. Photojournalism is alive and well. Pointed out bu Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. -BA
Part 2
Part 3

Sarkozy fears spectre of 1968 haunting Europe
Leigh Phillips, EUobserver
As disparate but linked militant youth protests simultaneously erupt in a number of countries across the continent, French President Nicholas Sarkozy has retreated on two controversial pieces of domestic legislation out of fear that a spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of 1968.

Mr Sarkozy, the outgoing chairman of the six-month rotating European Union presidency, has dropped plans for changes to high school curricula and Sunday retail opening hours in dread that the "Greek syndrome" - the two-week-long youth riots that have rocked the Hellenic Republic in the country's most widespread unrest since the overthrow of the military junta in 1974 - could spread to France, or even across the continent.

"We can't have a European May '68 for Christmas," the French leader said to his cabinet, according to reports in Le Canard Enchaîné, referring to the left-wing student protests and general strike in France in 1968 that led to the eventual collapse of the government of Charles De Gaulle.

Similar protests took place that year around the world, particularly in the United States and Germany, but the 'événements' of '68 hold a unique place in the French political imaginary.
(23 December 2008)

New York Times beefs up environment coverage (DOC file)
Bill Keller (editor New York Times), memo via Knight Science Journalism Tracker
To the Staff:

      The Times has a long and distinguished record of covering the complex of issues loosely described as "the environment:" climate change, pollution, endangered lands and species, the husbanding of the earth's resources and all the related questions of business, politics, lifestyle and health. For some time we've been plotting a way to pull together the various reporters who work on aspects of the subject, under an editor who will wake up every day thinking of ways to push the story forward, to give it greater energy and focus.

      We've found that editor -- Erica Goode -- and we are now building around her a unit of talented reporters who will pool their wealth of experience and sources to take our coverage to new heights. She will coordinate environmental coverage across the paper. ...
(17 December 2008)
The New York Times has come under criticism from the peak oil community for their poor coverage of peak oil. It's nice to be able to sing their praises for a change, as they buck the trend of downsizing science/environment reporting.

(Knight Science Journalism Tracker Dec 4).
-BA

Scientists Find Increased Methane Levels In Arctic Ocean
Science Daily
A team led by International Arctic Research Center scientist Igor Semiletov has found data to suggest that the carbon pool beneath the Arctic Ocean is leaking.

The results of more than 1,000 measurements of dissolved methane in the surface water from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf this summer as part of the International Siberian Shelf Study show an increased level of methane in the area. Geophysical measurements showed methane bubbles coming out of chimneys on the seafloor.

“The concentrations of the methane were the highest ever measured in the summertime in the Arctic Ocean,” Semiletov said. “We have found methane bubble clouds abscove the gas-charged sediment and above the chimneys going through the sediment.”

The new data indicates the underwater permafrost is thawing and therefore releasing methane.
(18 December 2008)