Researchers meeting at the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco said liquefied coal could ultimately have a greater impact on global climate than oil, as it starts to come on line in response to shrinking petrol reserves. "Oil and gas...don't have enough carbon to keep us in the dangerous zone for very long by themselves, but that's assuming we do something about coal," said Pushker Kharecha, a researcher for NASA and Columbia University. Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel, and liquefied coal releases 40% more carbon dioxide than oil when burned.

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has been chosen by President-elect Barack Obama for agriculture secretary, the LA Times reports Dec. 17. The Organic Consumers Association warned a month ago against choosing Vilsack, calling him "Monsanto's buddy" and "a shill for agribusiness biotech giants." The OCA delineates six reasons why appointing Vilsack "would be a terrible idea":

At the Poznan climate summit, Mexico's Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira announced his administration's plan to cut 2002 greenhouse gas emission levels by 50% by 2050. The Mexican plan includes a carbon trading system that would set emissions limits on certain sectors, such as electricity and oil refining. Companies that reduce their emissions below those limits could sell their unused allowances on the international carbon market. Mexico is the world's 13th largest emitter og greenhouse gases, and the announcement was intended as a challenge to other developing nations. South Korea has said it would announce an emissions cap next year, and South Africa has a detailed plan to peak emissions in 2025. (AP, The Guardian, Dec. 11)

This Dec. 10 account from the San Francisco Chronicle paints Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to lead the Energy Department, as an alternative-fuels visionary who will buck the oil cartel. But this year saw a protest campaign on campus at UC Berkeley against a program Chu championed to bring "biofuels" research to the university—under the auspices of oil giant BP.

Via the Global Justice Ecology Project, Dec. 9:

We, the undersigned representatives of indigenous peoples, local communities and non-governmental organizations monitoring the progress of negotiations in Poznan are outraged that the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand opposed the inclusion of recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) drafted today by government delegates at the UN Climate Conference.

The leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) nations met in Washington, DC on Nov. 15 for the group's first summit—an emergency session to discuss the world financial crisis. The G20 combines the Group of 8 (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US) with growing industrial powers like China and India; together the G20 nations account for as much as 90% of the world's gross domestic product. The Latin American members are Argentina, Brazil and Mexico; this year Brazil holds the group's rotating leadership.

A green-energy ballot initiative in Missouri, Proposition C, was approved by voters, calling for the state to increase the use of renewable energy to 15% by 2021, mandating steady yearly increases. Prop C made Missouri the 27th state to require its utilities to buy a set amount of power generated by renewable sources.

Earlier this year, we asked if oil would reach $200 per barrel by year's end. Short of a sudden and dramatic crisis in the Middle East, that now seems impossible. The rising prices themselves put some long-overdue breaks on consumption—and now the economic crunch is continuing that trend even as prices fall again. From the Houston Chronicle, Oct. 30: