BP Oil Coming to Your Beach | Mother Jones

Is oil from the BP disaster in the Gulf headed your way? According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) the spill "might soon extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and open ocean as early as this summer." Watch this video to see how your local beach might be affected.

Caught in the Oil | The Boston Globe

AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island. As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident.

What Price Pelican? The Negative Externalities to Oils Procurement | The Oil Drum

Once in a while, like now, we see the downsides to our dependency on [fossil fuels], in this case the ecological degradation of increasing areas of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems, and collateral damage to other species. These negative 'externalities' to oils procurement remain outside of our market system, and although they tug at our emotions, are not formally part of our institutional decision-making framework. This brief Campfire post is about how we value things that are priceless, in a system that forces us to put prices on most everything.

The Role of Media in the USA | Al Jazeera English

Has the mainstream media in the US replaced serious coverage with "junk news" and tabloidism? Especially in foreign affairs, are Americans less informed than ever? Who is shaping their perceptions of the rest of the world?

IMF to Haiti: Freeze Public Wages | The Nation

Since a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti on Tuesday -- killing tens of thousands of people -- there's been a lot of well-intentioned chatter and twitter about how to help Haiti. [...] I hope these donations continue to pour in, along with more money, food, water, medicine, equipment and doctors and nurses from nations around the world. [...] But it's also time to stop having a conversation about charity and start having a conversation about justice -- about recovery, responsibility and fairness. What the world should be pondering instead is: What is Haiti owed? Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters, its food shortages, poverty, deforestation and lack of infrastructure, are not accidental.

Democracy's Decline: Crying for Freedom | The Economist

A disturbing decline in global liberty prompts some hard thinking about what is needed for democracy to prevail.

When I'm walking in the city or reading a magazine, I don't pay much attention to the advertisements I see. But they nonetheless slyly work their way into my consciousness, which is exactly what the advertisers want. I see the ads from this oil company or that financial institute and their "altruistic" projects to protect the environment or help developing countries, for example. The problem is that I am seeing only one small part of a much bigger picture.

That's one reason why I enjoy working with the folks at the Berne Declaration for their annual Public Eye Awards that take place in Davos, Switzerland, on Opening Day of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The awards remind us that corporate advertising shows us only the side of the corporation that it wants us to see, many times hiding activities that help it maximize profits, with the often unfortunate (although apparently acceptable to the corporation) side effects of human rights violations or environmental destruction.

My involvement is translating documents from German to English, and helping out with computer support during the awards ceremony. Here's the beginning of the (translated) press release:

On Opening Day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace will present the Public Eye Awards 2010 in Davos. Screen star Julia Jentsch will moderate the WEF-critical event on January 27th, joined by keynote speakers Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, and Jürgen Trittin, former German Environment Minister and current parliamentary leader of The Greens. Six corporations are once again nominated for the (in)famous awards, including Arcelor Mittal, Roche, the Royal Bank of Canada and the IOC. Online voting for the People's Award is possible at www.publiceye.ch, and for the first time a Greenwash Award will expose the most implausible social and eco labels.

Descriptions of all nominees are available on www.publiceye.ch, where you can also cast your vote for the People's Award until January 26. Tell your friends!

David Corn and Kevin Drum Interview | Bill Moyers Journal

America's big banks are back on top. Just a year after their financial gambles brought the American economy to the brink of collapse, requiring a massive federal bailout, they're back in the black and paying themselves healthy bonuses. With so many Americans facing economic hardship, the banks' good fortunes have led to resentment and even some rage among those outside the financial industry. Yet, according to Washington watchers -- and sheer dollars spent -- the banking industry lobby remains among the most powerful in the nation's capital.

Wall Street Will Be Back For More | Truthdig

When the bailout trillions run out, Wall Street's maladjusted gamblers will come back for more until our currency becomes junk. Not that any of these people, who exhibit the same traits as psychopaths, have thought this through.

The End of Consumerism: Our Way of Life is 'Not Viable' | The Independent

Ditch the dog; throw away (sorry, recycle) those takeaway menus; bin bottled water; get rid of that gas-guzzling car and forget flying to far-flung places. These are just some of the sacrifices we in the West will need to make if we are to survive climate change.

The Future of Global Capitalism | London School of Economics

Three economists paint a rather bleak (depending where you sit) picture of the future of global capitalism: uncertainty, risk in global politics, the decline of the US, the rise of Asia, and the inability of the Bretton Woods institutions to cope.

The Angry Mermaid Award

The Angry Mermaid Award has been set up to recognise the perverse role of corporate lobbyists, and highlight those business groups and companies that have made the greatest effort to sabotage the [Copenhagen] climate talks, and other climate measures, while promoting, often profitable, false solutions.

Howard Zinn Interview | Bill Moyers Journal

Renowned historian Howard Zinn has chronicled centuries of people's struggles against oppression. He joins Bill Moyers to discuss the voices of today's people -- facing big interests' outsized influence -- and his new film The People Speak.

StoryCorps

Since 2003, over 50,000 [U.S. citizens] have shared life stories with family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our broadcasts on public radio and the web.

True Cost of Chevron

Chevron's 2008 annual report is a glossy celebration of the company's most profitable year in its history. What Chevron's annual report does not tell its shareholders is the true cost paid for those financial returns, or the global movement gaining voice and strength against Chevron's abuses.

Copenhagen as a Sesame Street Episode | Worldwatch Institute

If the Copenhagen climate conference were an episode of the popular children's show "Sesame Street," one might imagine the following announcement at its conclusion: "This show was brought to you by letter F" -- F for farce, failure, fiasco.

From the Worldwatch Institute blog:

When I was looking for a volunteer project in Latin America, I wanted to go with a grassroots organization instead of a larger and more institutionalized one. Deciding to concentrate on small organizations meant that it might be harder to find information about them and to find feedback from prior volunteers. This blog entry describes a small organization that deserves your attention if you found this entry by searching for something like "latin america volunteer."

The organization is called Asociación MAPU and most of its activities take place in or near Esquel, Argentina, in the province of Chubut, in northern Patagonia. It offers various volunteer projects on its Patagonia Volunteer Web site.

I found little independent information on the Web about MAPU, other than that it had won a UN award for virtual volunteering. So although I found no reports from prior volunteers, I decided to go for it. And I have no regrets.

Well... change almost everything.

This site has been offline for a while due to technical problems, and I have used the opportunity to make some significant changes. The site is now built on a real Open Source Content Management System (CMS), i.e. Drupal. The domain name has changed, from ".com" to ".org." While this may seem like a superficial change, I as a person will never be "for profit," instead aiming my interests at the non-profit world, therefore the domain name change seemed appropriate. (However it could be argued that a ".name" domain would have been more appropriate still.) With the new CMS comes a new template and therefore a new graphic design. The "excerpts from elsewhere" are also gone for the moment, but something similar will return in its place.

About the only things that haven't changed are the existing blog entries and the picture of Mexican bracelets at the top of the page, which I could not bear to part with.

A recent article in the Swiss Beobachter magazine called The Auto of the Future (in German) reviewed four examples of research in Switzerland to make lighter and more fuel-efficient autos. It's an example of technologists concentrating on one isolated problem (how to propel cars more efficiently) instead of taking the longer view (how does the steadily growing number of automobiles affect our quality of life). I wrote the following Letter to the Editor in response: