The Maplecroft consultancy has released its 2013 Global Risk Atlas shown in its most basic form here. Green is low, yellow is medium, orange is high and red is extreme. Sort of looks like what you might have expected, eh? Don’t expect the Green sector to expand much during your
Continue readingAuthor: The Mound of Sound
The Disaffected Lib: World Press Photo of the Year 2012
This photo of mourners carrying the bodies of two dead children through the streets of Gaza City has been selected World Press Photo of the Year, 2012. The girls died when an Israeli missile destroyed their home. Paul Hansen/Dagens Nyheter/EPA
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Alberta to Obama – "Welcome Aboard"
Alberta Cons are warmly welcoming U.S. president Obama’s commitment to tackle climate change. In fact they say he’s just following Alberta’s lead. “After years of being out front alone on this in Alberta, now we have a president very strongly signalling that the opportunity is in front of the American
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: US Government Accounting Office – Climate Change Poses Big Financial Risks to Federal Government
The non-partisan, Government Accounting Office, has added climate change to its list of major threats facing the U.S. federal government. “GAO added this area because the federal government is not well positioned to address the fiscal exposure presented by climate change and needs a government-wide strategic approach with strong leadership
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is the GOP a Sinking Ship?
It’s a truly forlorn sight, a ship, broken in two, going down by the bows and the stern. But it may be an apt metaphor for today’s Republican Party. There’s a growing school of thought in Washington that America’s two party system may be on its way out, the victim
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Rainy Day Economics
I generally agree with Paul Krugman’s Keynesian economics. One part of the theory holds that, in times of recession, government should get capital moving again by spending on works projects – getting money back into the economy. The theory is that it’s okay for government to borrow the money because
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Power of the Carbon Bubble
The Carbon Bubble has arrived. It has finally emerged as a subject for consideration and debate. Hardly a day goes by that there isn’t some discussion of the Carbon Bubble. In case you’re not familiar with it, the Carbon Bubble arises out of the calculation, based on pure physics, of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Face of Corporate Feudalism
Democracy is reeling. Corporatist authoritarianism is quietly ascendant. Rights and freedoms are now being issued with price tags and, if you can’t afford them, you don’t get them. Zoe Williams, writing in The Guardian asks, “When did being lowly become a criminal offence?“ It’s a new world order that you
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Think Climate Change Denialism Has Run Out of Steam – or Bucks? Think Again
The Guardian has discovered a secret funding vehicle used by Conservative billionaires like the Koch boys to funnel approximately $120-billion to climate change denialists over the past decade. It looks like this: Of course money talks and it will probably be talking pretty fast and loose now that Obama has
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Extreme Weather Is the New Normal – Harvard Says So
How can something be both “extreme” and “normal”? That’s a question not addressed in a report from Harvard researchers into the short-term impacts of climate change on America’s national security interests. Because of the potential threat to U.S. national security, a new study was conducted to explore the forces
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: U.S. Ambassador – Time for Canada to Get Serious About Climate Change
The U.S. Ambassador to Canada says Ottawa needs to follow Obama’s lead on climate change. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Ambassador David Jacobson said the message to move more aggressively against climate change was meant as much for Canada as it was for the United States. “We all
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Matt Damon Wants You to Give a Shit About Toilets
Best if he explains in his own words in this video: It is the first in a series of YouTube videos put together by an unusual alliance of Google, Hollywood, social-media creators and a non-profit advocacy group, water.org. The campaign, which was launched on Tuesday and will build up to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Stephen Harper’s War on Working Class Canadians
She should be leading the opposition in Parliament. The Toronto Star’s Carol Goar shreds Steve Harper’s fiscal war on blue and white collar working class Canadians. Employment insurance, which once softened the blow of losing a job, has dwindled to the point that only a minority of the unemployed are
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Only If You Really, Really Want to Know
If you’re looking for evidence or irreversible climate change – you know, runaway global warming, feedback loops – just look up, look northward because it’s happening right in our back yard, right now. Two months ago we dealt with the thawing of the circumpolar tundra and the fires that were
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Wrestling is Out?
Wrestling is being scrubbed from the Olympics. Apparently it’s a victim of dwindling popularity. Being considered to replace wrestling are sport climbing, wake boarding, roller sports and – wait for it – wushu. In case you’re wondering, here is Jet Li’s championship wushu performance from 1978. If the ancient Greeks
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: You’re Toast. Raytheon’s RIOT Has Your Number
Leading U.S. defence contractor, Raytheon, has developed RIOT, the Rapid Overlay Information Technology software programme that can gather, sort, digest and analyze all your social media telltales. It can even predict where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing in the future. The Guardian recently got their hands on a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Achieving a Steady State Economy for Canada
What if the way forward isn’t? What if it’s time for us to turn around, to go back? James Lovelock said the future of mankind, if there is to be one, will require that we accept, not sustainable growth, but sustainable retreat. We need to grow smaller. It’s not a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Pentagon Lowers the Bar on the F-35 – Again!
This line from Wired.com says it all: America’s latest stealth fighter just got heavier, slower and more sluggish. For the second time in a year, the Pentagon has eased the performance requirements of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The reduced specs — including a slower acceleration and turning rate
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Look at Our Parched Future
The World Resources Institute has produced an online map that reveals the water risks facing various regions of the world. Overall, and as expected, Canada isn’t too bad off with exceptions of southern Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Follow the link, check it out. It’s worth a look.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: BinLadenLand
How do you fill the void when your most important celebrity is no more? If you’re Abbottabad, Pakistan, former retirement home of Osama bin Laden, you build an amusement park. A wildlife zoo, an adventure club, paragliding, restaurants and waterfalls – it’s all part of a $30 million project the
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