Petrodollar Seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wird der Handel mit Erdöl hauptsächlich in US-Dollar abgerechnet. Das hierfür verwendete Geld wird auch als Petrodollar bezeichnet. Folgen der Dollarfakturierung[Bearbeiten] Aus der Dollarfakturierung des Erdöls lassen sich drei Bedeutungen ableiten: Erstens hat die große und konstante Abhängigkeit der Weltwirtschaft vom Rohöl einerseits zur Folge, dass der Wechselkurs jedes Landes gegenüber dem US-Dollar eine entscheidende ökonomische Größe ist - schließlich beeinflusst er in großem Maß die Rohstoffpreise eines Landes. Zweitens verursacht die fast ausschließliche Dollarfakturierung andererseits bilanztechnisch Verbindlichkeiten der US-Zentralbank Federal Reserve gegenüber den erdölexportierenden Ländern in enormem Umfang, da diesen Ländern durch den Ölexport große Dollarbestände zufließen. Drittens fließen der US-Zentralbank in Höhe der Ölkaufpreise Devisen der ölkaufenden Nationen zu. Petrodollars und die Seigniorage-Einnahmen der USA[Bearbeiten] Film[Bearbeiten]
Companies & Organizations Forward, 26° FORWARD is an enterprise creating a positive future for our planet. We work exclusively on projects that synergise vibrant communities, a healthy environment, and a strong economy. Company in Design, Education, Energy Saving, Environment & Wildlife, Green energy, Media, Philosophy & Religion Peak Everything: Eight Things We Are Running Out Of And Why Getty ImagesWhy is everything running out at the same time? We did a series on Planet Green where we looked at why those basic things that we take for granted, like water, food and fuel are getting expensive and scarce, all at once.Peak Corn: Blame Earl Butz. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford's Secretary of Agriculture brought in the Farm Bill that dramatically increased the amount of corn produced in America. He encouraged farmers to "get big or get out," and to plant crops like corn "from fence row to fence row." Further billions in subsidies to farmers encouraged production, and soon America was awash in cheap grain, and with it cheap meat. Peak Oil In 1956, American geophysicist M. Peak Dirt Really, Peak Dirt- the world is losing soil 10 to 20 times faster than it is replenishing it. "The resulting organic matter feeds a whole underground ecology that aerates the soil, fixes nutrients, and makes it more hospitable for plant life, and over time the process feeds back on itself. Peak Gas
Alternative Socio-economic systems | The EOS Horizon by Enrique Lescure Introduction And so we came to this day. This treaty represents a morale booster for the western countries – France in particular – which have consistently failed to handle the Ukraine crisis, overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria or save the Schengen Area from an implosion caused by the refugee crisis. This created an atmosphere which saw it as paramount that a new treaty would come in place, not only because that the environmental situation is getting more dire, but also because of the aforementioned crises and the needs for political leaders to come back from Paris with successes. While 1,5 degrees indeed is an ambitious goal, especially as the treaty has arrived so late in the process since this issue became one of global importance. What is the Greenhouse Effect? The Greenhouse effect is not caused by humans, but something which has existed since time immemorial. Ice Age World Map by Fenn-O-maniC (Deviantart) Effects of antropogenic climate change The Elephant in the Room
Was bedeutet Earth Overshoot Day? Die Menschen verbrauchen innerhalb von acht Monaten die Kapazität der globalen Ressourcen eines ganzen Jahres. Am 20. August war Earth Overshoot Day, der Tag, an dem die Menschheit die natürlichen Ressourcen eines ganzen Jahres erschöpft hat. Momentan brauchen wir die natürlichen Vorräte auf. Für den Rest des Jahres erhalten wir unser Bedarf an natürlichen Ressourcen aufrecht, indem wir die Vorräte an lokalen Ressourcen reduzieren und mehr Kohlenstoffdioxid in die Atmosphäre befördern. Ähnlich wie die Banken Buchhaltung über Einkommen und Ausgaben führen, führt Global Footprint Network Buchhaltung über Angebot und Nachfrage an natürlichen Ressourcen und ökologische Leistungen durch die Menschheit. 1993 fiel der Earth Overshoot Day auf den 21. Das Konzept des Earth Overshoot Day wurde ursprünglich vom Britischen Think Tank new economics foundation gegründet. Der menschliche Verbrauch an globalen Ressourcen Die Folgen ökologischer Überbeanspruchung Methoden und Aussichten
Unexpectedly Widespread Permafrost Melting Could Set Off A Greenhouse Gas Timebomb Beneath much of the Arctic resides vast stores of greenhouse gases, locked up for millennia in icy soils. With this in mind, a pair of studies provides a double whammy of bad news: Not only are these frozen reservoirs thawing out more extensively than previously thought, but at this stage, there’s little that can be done about it. Carbon dioxide and methane are indubitably the two most potent greenhouse gases. Vast reservoirs of both exist within the world’s permafrost, which is hydrated soil that has remained below the freezing point for two or more years. Remarkably, these permafrost soils hold almost twice as much carbon than that found in the atmosphere – and one study, published in Nature Geoscience, shows them thawing all across the northern hemisphere. Permafrost is melting in even the coldest regions, and by 2100, massive amounts of greenhouse gases will be released skywards. Importantly, permafrost isn’t the only icy prison for greenhouse gases. Photo Gallery
What is Earth Overshoot Day? In 8 Months, Humanity Exhausts Earth's Budget for the Year August 20 is Earth Overshoot Day 2013, marking the date when humanity exhausted nature’s budget for the year. We are now operating in overdraft. Just as a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network measures humanity’s demand for and supply of natural resources and ecological services. In 1993, Earth Overshoot Day—the approximate date our resource consumption for a given year exceeds the planet’s ability to replenish—fell on October 21. Earth Overshoot Day, a concept originally developed by Global Footprint Network partner and U.K. think tank new economics foundation, is the annual marker of when we begin living beyond our means in a given year. The Cost of Ecological Overspending Throughout most of history, humanity has used nature’s resources to build cities and roads, to provide food and create products, and to absorb our carbon dioxide at a rate that was well within Earth’s budget.
what-if-carbon-dioxide-was-pink Written by Gregg Kleiner. Here’s one dads desperate attempt to slow climate change by thinking pink… As a father, I often lie awake nights tossing and twisting with worry about the climate crisis and how it will impact the lives of my children, their children, children all over the world. As a writer, my imagination fires easily, in full color, so I can easily envision the worst. On one of those sleep-deprived nights, I got to thinking about how I might use my gift for writing stories to help kids better understand climate change, and then take action. I talked to Green Diva Meg about it in a recent Green Divas Green Dude episode… It’s become very clear that we can’t wait for our politicians to ride in and slow climate change. Just last week, President Obama gave a green light to Shell Oil to begin drilling in the Arctic, and he still hasn’t decided whether or not to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to bisect the continent and carry tar sands oil to the Gulf of Mexico and then on to Asia.
Wir riskieren den Fortbestand unserer Zivilisation' – klimareporter° Klimareporter°: Professor Schellnhuber, Sie haben zusammen mit Kollegen vor einem "planetaren Notfall" in Bezug auf das Klima gewarnt. Die Menschheit sei dabei, Kippelemente des Klimasystems umzustoßen – mit verheerenden Folgen. Wieso diese dramatische Ansage? Hans Joachim Schellnhuber: Stellen Sie sich stark vereinfacht vor, Sie sind Fluglotse in einem Tower. Wenn die verbleibende Interventionszeit sich der Reaktionszeit annähert, dann sind Sie dabei, die Kontrolle zu verlieren. So ähnlich ist es mit den Kippelementen – nur, dass es nicht um Sekunden geht, sondern unser Handeln heute Auswirkungen auf die nächsten Hunderte von Jahren haben wird. Das heißt im Fall Erde konkret? Es besteht das Risiko, dass die globale Umwelt bei einer Erderwärmung um vier, fünf oder sechs Grad völlig aus den Fugen gerät und der Planet langfristig sogar in Teilen unbewohnbar wird. Sie haben neun Kippelemente des Klimasystems identifiziert, die möglicherweise bereits kurz vor der Destabilisierung stehen.
If Everyone Lived in an 'Ecovillage', the Earth Would Still Be in Trouble By Samuel Alexander / theconversation.com We are used to hearing that if everyone lived in the same way as North Americans or Australians, we would need four or five planet Earths to sustain us. This sort of analysis is known as the “ecological footprint” and shows that even the so-called “green” western European nations, with their more progressive approaches to renewable energy, energy efficiency and public transport, would require more than three planets. How can we live within the means of our planet? Only the brave should read on. The ‘ecological footprint’ analysis In order to explore the question of what “one planet living” would look like, let us turn to what is arguably the world’s most prominent metric for environmental accounting – the ecological footprint analysis. This method of environmental accounting attempts to measure the amount of productive land and water a given population has available to it, and then evaluates the demands that population makes upon those ecosystems.
The heat is on over the climate crisis. Only radical measures will work | Environment Drowned cities; stagnant seas; intolerable heatwaves; entire nations uninhabitable… and more than 11 billion humans. A four-degree-warmer world is the stuff of nightmares and yet that’s where we’re heading in just decades. While governments mull various carbon targets aimed at keeping human-induced global heating within safe levels – including new ambitions to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 – it’s worth looking ahead pragmatically at what happens if we fail. Climate models predict we’re currently on track for a heating of somewhere between 3C and 4C for 2100, although bear in mind that these are global average temperatures – at the poles and over land (where people live), the increase may be double that. Such uncertainty isn’t ideal, but for our purposes let’s plump for an entirely feasible planetary heating of 4C by the end of the century. Four degrees may not sound like much – after all, it is less than a typical temperature change between night and day. Others are more sanguine.