From Juan Cole

The humanitarian impact of Israel’s electricity blockade of the Gaza Strip. Raw sewage in the streets, which will soon seep into houses; asthmatics choking; hospitals on the verge of switching off life support.

Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group is eloquent in the Boston Globe/ IHT on why this Israeli tactic is self-defeating.

But more important than whether it is practical or not, it is a war crime.

Punishing the innocent many for the actions of a few is indeed a war crime.

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The Oil Drum does a superb job of refuting that tired, gloomy prediction by some peak oil theorists that we will need to go back to small farms and hand farming. They show this is not based on fact, but on nostalgia for the past.

Industrial agriculture is likely to be stronger and more profitable when oil prices are high, not weaker. So the reversalist future of local food production on smaller farms with higher labor input will not come to pass as a result of peak oil.

Thus the industrialization of the land is not a reversible process any time soon - it is a fallacy to think so. The reversalists are expressing wishful thinking and nostalgia for the past, not a reasoned analysis of how the future is likely to play out.

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International markets are down anywhere from 3-6% today, with Dow futures down 350 points.

US markets are closed today. Tomorrow, it appears, will be a death ride down.

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A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government.

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One of six British households spends more than 10% of their income on utility bills, and prices are going up.

In New England, the soaring price of heating oil is creating the same problems. We keep our thermostat at 64 degrees during the day and lower it to 55 at night. Many others do the same. In a well-insulated house like ours this isn’t that big deal - even if 70 degrees would be nicer!

For those on fixed incomes or with low incomes, the price of keeping a house warm becomes prohibitive. Food has to come before heat as a priority, so they probably stay cold (or bundled up.)

There are no easy answers here. Price caps on heating oil would be impossible to implement and don’t work anyway. Smarter heating systems that use less fuel and better insulation on homes are long term solutions. But none of that helps for those who can’t afford to heat their homes now.

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Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), launched in 2003, is the world’s first and North America’s only active voluntary, legally binding integrated trading system to reduce emissions of all six major greenhouse gases (GHGs), with offset projects worldwide.

Reductions achieved through CCX are the only reductions made in North America through a legally binding compliance regime, providing independent, third party verification.

I’ve been skeptical of this, but apparently it does get results. Emissions trading has been successful in phasing out lead from gasoline and in reducing acid rain.

Wikipedia explains how it works.

The buyer [of the emissions credit] is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions by more than was needed. Thus, in theory, those that can easily reduce emissions most cheaply will do so, achieving the pollution reduction at the lowest possible cost to society.

This assumes that the system can’t be gamed and that it operates transparently and openly. It is also important for the controlling body to continually be reducing the number of emission credits available over a period of time to force the price up.

The system can scale, at witness the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, the largest greenhouse gas trading system in the world. It appears to be mandatory for large emitters, unlike the US market which is voluntary.

In order to make sure that real trading emerges (and that CO2 emissions are reduced), EU governments must make sure that the total amount of allowances issued to installations is less than the amount that would have been emitted under a business-as-usual scenario.

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