Author: Adam Clare

From Sails to Solar

As the price of oil increases (because we are running out of the stuff) some smart people are realising that we need to look elsewhere for energy. It is only suiting that the shipping industry does this since renewable resources for energy (wind) have been used longer than human-made forms of energy. One company, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, has designed a ship that uses three forms of energy: wind, solar, and water.

The linked article also has a list of other innovate approaches that have been spawned by this boating project.

Thanks, Emily!

Colombian Justice

Four soldiers and one civilian are facing charges for the murder of three union leaders. The international community, including the United States, are putting pressure on the South American country to respect human rights. The majority of the human rights infractions seem to come from the government’s militias committing attacks against civilians. The US has withheld $100 million in aid until progress is made on human rights, inclusing purging human rights violators from the armed forces. Source: New York Times July 15, 2005

Oiling the Squeaky Wheel

Venezuela has ordered Royal Dutch/Shell to pay almost $131 million in back taxes. The government is cracking down on tax evasions by oil companies and so they also confiscated financial data form Chevron. Hugo Chavez, the current president of Venezuela, is trying to tighten the government’s control over the lucrative and strategic oil industry. The government has said that they are going to alert two more oil companies in the coming weeks if they owe back taxes or not.