Today’s environment

Articles — By forcechange on October 27, 2008 5:33 pm

· Sen Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges today for lying about free home renovations and other gifts he received from a wealthy oil contractor.  Dan Shapley at TheDailyGreen notes, “Alaska is a state with an incestuous relationship with oil, seeing as how its unparalleled wild spaces yield enough oil revenue to keep taxpayers from being, well, taxpayers, at least where incomes taxes are concerned.” 

· Plummeting oil prices (the biggest/fastest drop in history) have prompted some oil refiners to cut back on production, notes Environmental Capital.  This decreased capacity further increases the risk of another great oil spike in the future.

· Grist identifies Sen Mary Landrieu of Louisiana (D) as “the only Democrat to make the League of Conservation Voters’ ‘Dirty Dozen’ list this year, noting, the “LCV has given her a lifetime score of 44 percent and says she’s “the worst Democrat in the Senate on environmental issues currently running for reelection.”

· Solve Climate notes that the ex-chief economist of the World Bank, warned that “We have seen the consequences of ignoring risk in the current economic and financial crisis. It has already led to negative growth in rich countries. The risk consequences of ignoring climate change will be very much bigger than the consequences of ignoring risks in the financial system.”