How will the american election yesterday reflect on the environmental issue? With the financial crisis at hand the climate issue has been pushed back into the shadows. A quick look at both candidates makes you think that the world outside USA does not exist. Yes Obama mentions it (it being the rest of the world). He will reengage with UN and the UNFCC. At least that's better than McCain who only talks about the national parks in USA (all important but lets face it, it won't save the world). So what will save us all?

Yesterday I woke up to the annoying sound of a leaf blower. The municipality were doing gardening work outside my apartment. I can't help but to think that the leaf blower is one of mankind's worst inventions.

The noise is just unbearable and the personnel is using both ear plugs and hearing caps to protect their hearing. Most of the leaf blowers run on gasoline which we now know is an energy source we will no longer have in 5 - 30 years depending on who you ask. And it's an obvious source of pollution.

Since the year 2000, the year of my high school graduation, I've been asking myself why the world is still in such a bad shape. I studied natural science and technology, everything from chemistry to computer programming. Even with my then very limited view of the world I thought we could do better. I knew instinctively something was very wrong.

I had been tricked, duped and indoctrinated. For some reason I felt like I was worthless, an insignificant piece of the world, not only insignificant but even a burden to the world. As my understanding of the world progressed I have become able to express those feelings in writing - but more significantly by talking to people.

Eight years ago I had a vision of a world were humans didn't work to receive income to pay for their food, or to pay mortgages on their homes.

What effects does the financial crisis have upon the climate change crisis and its associated movements and debates? Does the financial crisis have a beneficial effect on our planet wrecking activities? Or will it just cause less money in our collective pockets?

One thing is for sure, the media's earlier focus on the climate crisis is gone. Ever since the USA cried out load that the economic system was nearing collapse media has covered the financial crisis closely while all news about the health of the planet has been tugged nicely under the carpet.

The U.S. is home to 150 operational on-shore oil refineries, all of which produce vast amounts of oil each year for domestic use. Along with fuel production we see the inevitable production of air and water pollutants and the debate over whether or not it will be beneficial to consider alternative sources of energy and fuel.

There is another issue associated with U.S. oil refinery use, however, and that is the threat of exposure to asbestos, which is more than likely found in each of the 150 domestic refineries. Previous asbestos exposure is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a fatal type of cancer that has no cure and affects thousands of Americans each year.

Earlier this summer the 15 year old Swedish wind turbine Matilda was demolished. Matilda wasn't an ordinary wind turbine. She was a record-holder.

The wind turbine was constructed 15 years ago, and has supplied 15000 homes with electricity. Over the years she has produced 61.4 GWh - that is more renewable energy than any other single power plant has ever produced.

Gotland, an island on Sweden's east coast, has more wind turbines than any other area in Sweden. Matilda was the first wind turbine to be built there, and she will now be replaced by a modern wind turbine.

Gotland's municipality has ordered an electric car fleet for the services it provides for the elderly etc. The car fleet will run on the locally produced electricity from the wind turbines. So in a sense Matilda paved way for a more environmentally friendly way of living.

SVT Play has published a video of the demolition.

The United Arab emirates has started construction of it's 'green city' named Masdar City which will be carbon neutral. This is great news for the climate.

The city will use solar panels and wind turbines to generate the needed electricity. Water will be provided through a solar-powered desalination plant.

It is evident that a great deal of thought has been put into this project, as they have even developed modern city walls capable of steering of the hot desert winds and letting in the cooler northern breeze dynamically.

The usual comment section ruckus swept through The Register’s forum today as Steven Goddard published a quite entertaining article about the Arctic ice "refusing to melt as ordered".

Steve Goddard collected satellite images from NASA and used them to build a case against a National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) report. He used the "very convincing method" of counting the number of pixels in the images representing ice cover.

Immediately tens of comments appeared saying that Al Gore’s movie “An inconvenient truth” is inconvenient only to himself since nobody else believes in global warming or global climate change. The whole global warming scam is just a plan for the greedy government to raise taxes. Yes, this is the opinion of a lot of voters in our democracies and it is a problem.

The KunstlerCast is a weekly audio program about the tragic comedy of suburban sprawl.

The episodes have been produced by Duncan Crary, and are roughly 15 minutes long. To this date they have recorded 25 podcast shows, and they're all good.

They cover many implications of Peak Oil, and what the world might look like in the Post Oil Era.

I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work.
- James Howard Kunstler

Visit the Kunstlercast website

In an interview with Yahoo! News President Bush says that the best way to solve the high price of gasoline is to “increase oil supply” and “build new refineries”.

Although Mr Bush is right about the fact that the US hasn’t built any new refineries since 1976, he forgot to mention that the existing refineries have doubled their capacity since 1976.

The real problem isn’t refinery capacity; it’s in our way of life. A way of life that threatens not only the climate by global climate change, but also our very own existence.

Oil hovered around $130 per barrel today, the lowest price since the 5th of June over six weeks ago. It seems likely the price of oil is going to keep falling over the next few weeks, but the crew at The Climate Post is sure the price will continue to rise on the long term.

In the year of 2006 diesel became more expensive than gasoline. The demand for diesel fuel had simply risen faster than oil companies had been able to supply us and that is a relevant fact to remember. Supply and demand is what controls the price of any goods.

As old oilfields go into decline, and new oilfields struggle to meet that deficit only one thing is certain. The price of oil will go up, and will likely go up in an erratic way since our buffers are low. There is no such thing as spare capacity after Peak Oil that could cover for any production losses.