Scoop.co.nz - Dave Wolland: Wheel Of Fortune
Not a Peak Oil story - but it interested me because it is a step away from Globalization, and towards a more local trade arrangement.

A logical place to start would be to get an exchange rate parity and a real free trade deal with Australia; then (in steps), negotiate the same sort of arrangement with the U.S.A., Canada, the Euro, Stirling, the Yen etc. If a shared exchange rate became established, as it does within our domestic economy, we would know at last the real costs of goods and services.

The Age - Emergency called as California sends IOUs
Again, not a Peak Oil story, but an interesting situation and a foretaste of a path that other US states may be forced down.

AFTER weeks of trying to fix California's budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have fought one another to a standstill.

A day after the state Senate failed in a late-night bid to close part of a deficit now projected at $US26.3 billion ($A32.6 billion), California Controller John Chiang took steps to begin issuing IOUs to tens of thousands of companies and individuals owed millions of dollars by the state.

Stuff.co.nz - Keisha urges immediate climate action

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes has returned from her publicised trip to the Cook Islands urging immediate action on climate change.

TV NZ - Climate change shrinks Scotland's wild sheep

Soay sheep are on average 5% smaller than 25 years ago, an indication climate change can have a rapid effect on natural populations and a sign of possible more widespread changes in future, researchers said on Thursday.

The island of Hirta's shrinking sheep are notable because classical evolutionary theory suggests they should actually get bigger over time, since larger animals tend to be more likely to survive and reproduce than smaller ones.

But now, due to climate change, grass for food is available for more of the year, making survival conditions less challenging, so even slow-growing sheep have a chance of making it and producing smaller offspring in turn.

Scoop.co.nz - Climate Policy: No Proper Cost Benefit Analysis

“While the new NZIER/Infometrics report to the government on climate change policy provides useful insights, it is not a Regulatory Impact Statement, as required by and defined in the terms of reference of the parliamentary select committee reviewing the proposed Emission Trading Scheme (ETS)”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.

3 News NZ - Iraqi troops reclaim streets of Baghdad from US

A third of the world's oil reserves lie beneath Iraq, but there is resistance to selling it off to foreigners.

Adelaide Now - Higher energy costs necessary, says Professor Flannery

SOUTH Australians should accept higher energy costs to compensate for polluting the planet, climate change expert Professor Tim Flannery says.

ABC - ExxonMobil 'funding climate sceptics'
Worth remembering.

The world's biggest oil company, ExxonMobil, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups that continue to question the cause and effects of global warming.

The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics (LSE) claims ExxonMobil has reneged on a promise to end financial support to the groups.

It also claims a conference of climate change sceptics in Washington, recently attended by Australian Family First Senator Stephen Fielding, was sponsored by one of the groups that received funding from the oil giant.

[.....]

Mr Ward says those organisations are not informing the public about climate change.

"They are trying to mislead people and frankly we have seen these sorts of tactics before, for instance in the case of the tobacco industry, who for many, many years, funded campaigns and misinformation about the adverse effects of their products," he said.

"This seems to be a similar situation in which a commercial company is funding misinformation campaigns because there is abundant evidence that their products are having an adverse effect."

ABC - Standardised transport regulations to save money, increase safety

An agreement to standardise regulation of Australia's trucking, shipping and rail sectors is expected to boost the national income by $2.5 billion a year.

The Australian - Australia and Asia and the New Order
An interesting insight. It does not, however, address the strategic question: "For this to happen, a new economy needs to be created - larger than any economy in the world. Where do the resources come from?"

This had to happen in China. Only Mao’s primitive view of Chinese society had stopped it happening earlier. But once Deng Xiaoping opened the gate to the freer rein of Chinese industriousness, China was able to leapfrog the old legacy systems of western production. Almost in an instant, the basis of Chinese production became cutting edge, while in the same instant, hundreds of millions of workers left their farms to operate the new capital intensive technologies.

International Business Times - Global Recession Hits Australian Export Business

"We are seeing better economic numbers out of our major trading partners and that's good news for exports," said Michael Blythe, chief economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "That will help mitigate the decline in export prices."

In addition, there has been an increase in interest in coal from China. Australia has historically never sold coal to China.

ABC - Coal terminal expansion ends

The expansion of a major coal export terminal in north Queensland has been completed.

SMH - Oil hovers at five-week low

Crude oil was little changed, poised for a third week of decline, on signs of reduced fuel demand as a US report showed unemployment in the world's largest energy user last month rose to the highest in almost 26 years.

SMH - Renewables may cost less than coal power

USING more renewable power in Sydney would make electricity bills more affordable, according to a study prepared for the CSIRO that challenges assumptions about cheap coal-fired energy.