Hoku Scientific Takes Big Step
- Written by Marc Courtenay
- Tuesday, 09 October 2007
Solar Energy Stumbles--Ethanol is Cheap?
- Written by Marc Courtenay
- Monday, 08 October 2007
On a day when some of the Chinese-based solar companies like LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) are down over 25% ( yes, 25% in one day) and even "steady-freddy" Suntech Power (NYSE:STP) is at this moment down 6%, we are seeing some of the energy refinery companies like Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) and Sunococ Inc. (NYSE:SUN) rally because ethanol right now is cheaper then gasoline.
That's right, Citi Investment Research analyst Doug Leggate upgraded Sunoco Inc. and Valero Energy Corp. to "Buy" from "Hold" due to their position in the ethanol-blending segment. Because ethanol prices have fallen below gasoline, refiners can use that disparity to eke out greater profits, Leggate said. Will wonders ever cease?
Add a commentJohn Cusack Interviews Naomi Klein
- Written by Marc Courtenay
- Wednesday, 03 October 2007
In the video above actor John Cusack chats with writer Naomi Klein, whose work has inspired his upcoming film War Inc.. Cusack says of Klein's new book The Shock Doctrine: "This masterful book is a measured but furious call to arms. Naomi Klein is Antigone before the King, the antidote to the feeling of inevitability that says that we must accept murder as a legitimate economic policy. She has the audacity and the courage to chronicle the human costs of an ideology in which worshiping the markets is not enough; you must actually kill to feed them. Klein is the vanguard, the fire, the resistance and she challenges us not to join the suicide club that enables corporate cannibalism. A spectacular triumph."
Check out the clip to hear their in depth conversation in its entirety. You can also see it at AlterNet's site below: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/64198/
Add a commentTexaco Versus The NRDC
- Written by Marc Courtenay
- Thursday, 27 September 2007
The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) lawyers are heading back to court in October for the fourth trial in their grueling 19-year courtroom battle against Texaco, now a subsidiary of Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX),
The oil giant is reported to have repeatedly defied court orders that it take full responsibility for illegally dumping highly toxic pollutants into the Delaware River.
Add a commentLessons from a Dead Blue Whale
- Written by Marc Courtenay
- Thursday, 20 September 2007
I noticed that there was a photograph of a dead beached whale in California on the front page of the Los Angeles Times .
This great and intelligent creature used to be a female blue whale. The carcass was about 80 feet long and tilted the scales at near 100,000 pounds, making her one of the largest animals in the world. It is difficult to say how old she may have been, but certainly north of 50 years is a safe bet. Apparently, this whale was migrating along the coast of Southern California when a massive object, probably a cargo vessel, struck her. The impact crushed numerous bones, including ribs and vertebrae, damaged her nervous system and caused significant internal hemorrhaging. There is evidence that the vessel dragged the whale through the water for some distance. Eventually, the whale succumbed to the injuries, died and washed ashore near Ventura, Calif., just northwest of Los Angeles.
As the L.A. Times noted in a companion article, “In Ventura County on Friday, lookie-loos parked by the roadside to take photos of the dead whale and give their children an up-close, if somber, look at a colossal example of an endangered species. An Amtrak train stopped on tracks across the road as the engineer took a photo with his cell phone and passengers goggled out the windows.”
Indeed, I suspect that the sight of a dead whale brings out the “lookie-loo” in most of us. Almost everyone in our modern era lives their life in houses and office buildings, moving about in cars or trains or airplanes, walking about on concrete or asphalt surfaces. But in its death, the sight (and, if you are near enough, the smell) of a beached whale brings the natural world back into our consciousness with a certain shocking level of reality. A dead whale is Mother Nature’s way of getting in your face. It is her way of reminding us that homo sapiens can be one of the most destructive forces on the planet.
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