Pourquoi faut-il que les Etats payent 600 fois plus que les banques ?

“Est-il normal que, en cas de crise, les banques privées, qui se financent habituellement à 1 % auprès des banques centrales, puissent bénéficier de taux à 0,01 %, mais que, en cas de crise, certains Etats soient obligés au contraire de payer des taux 600 ou 800 fois plus élevés ? “Etre gouverné par l’argent organisé est aussi dangereux que par le crime organisé”, affirmait Roosevelt. Il avait raison. Nous sommes en train de vivre une crise du capitalisme dérégulé qui peut être suicidaire pour notre civilisation. Comme l’écrivent Edgar Morin et Stéphane Hessel dans Le Chemin de l’espérance (Fayard, 2011), nos sociétés doivent choisir : la métamorphose ou la mort ? “.

Excellent tribune de Michel Rocard (ancien premier ministre) et Pierre Larrouturou (économiste) à lire sur lemonde.fr.

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Hurricane-force winds hit Scotland as UK storms cause chaos – Guardian

“Hurricane-force winds have battered parts of the UK with millions of people in central Scotland warned to stay at home and avoid travelling after 165mph gusts left thousands of homes without power, closing bridges, rail lines and roads”.

The Met Office spokesman said the red warning had been issued because the gales had struck large population centres, where the potential for damage and travel disruption was much greater.

There were some extremely strong wind speeds, close to record-breaking, and that’s quite unusual. What is particularly significant about this one is that some of the strongest winds are happening over populated areas. Normally these take place off the northern fringes of Scotland,” he said.

Read more from the Guardian website.

Here is also a video from the BBC:

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Kevin Kamps on The Fukushima China Syndrome

“Thom Hartmann talks with Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear: www.beyondnuclear.org about concerns of a major environmental catastrophe at Japan’s damaged nuclear power reactor”.

Must-see video!

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Life after the end of economic growth – Richard Heinberg

“..we must reform economics to reflect ecological reality: nature is not, after all, just a pile of raw materials waiting to be transformed into products and then waste; rather, ecosystem integrity is a precondition for society’s survival.”

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel. If we focus on improving quality of life rather than boosting quantity of consumption, we could be happier even as our economy downsizes to fit nature’s limits.”

Read more here. One more enlightening article from Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at the post carbon institute.

 

 

 

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Cairn finds no oil off Greenland – Guardian

“A $1bn (£640m) bet by a British firm to find commercial quantities of oil in the Arctic has ended in failure and there is now mounting speculation there will be no more drilling by Cairn Energy next year.”

Read more here.

It is simply called “peak oil”. It is increasingly difficult and risky (both financially and environmentally) to find oil. How long are we going to stay on this bumpy plateau?

Source: http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Peak%20Population.html

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Au pied des Alpes, petits gestes, grande cause: article sur la transition!

Voici un article sur le mouvement de la transition paru dans Libération le 14 octobre dernier. Le mouvement de la transition fait de plus en plus parlé de lui en France. Est-ce un signe d’un changement de paradigme à venir? peut-être bien! Et comme le dit si bien Richard Heinberg, “there will be life after growth (il y aura encore de la vie après la croissance)”. Le mouvement de la transition s’inscrit parfaitement dans ce cadre et chacun de nous peut y participer, il y a probablement déjà une initiative près de chez vous!  Bonne transition!

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Blackout hits South Korea due to heat wave

Blackouts hit S. Korea due to high temperatures. Read more here.

This is one more illustration of the fragility of our energy infrastructure in the of face of peak oil and climate change. Lights are going off literally and not only in the so called “poor” or “emerging” countries; even the first world economic power, the USA, is not spared: have a read here to this propublica.org article.

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Forest Bathing: Enjoy the Astounding Benefits of Being Outdoors

In 2004, a study of the physiological effects of forest bathing was initiated by the Forestry Agency of Japan, the Forest and Forest Products Research Institute, and Nippon Medical School. A report prepared by Dr. Qing Li, assistant professor of the Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Nippon Medical Center, showed that walking in a forest activates natural killer (NK) cells, a type of cell known to attack cancer cells, and increases three types of anti-cancer proteins“.

Read more here.

It is amazing how the body has this ability to connect to the natural world and the environment we live within, maybe a legacy of the evolution? Before being boxed in apartments, one has to remember we were outdoors most of the time. And if you fully realise and appreciate this connection and relation to Nature, the benefits are likely to be enhanced! This is important to emphasis as a recent study showed that nearly 40 percent of Europeans suffer mental illness.

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Du pétrole découvert au large de la Guyane française

“Les groupes Total et Shell ont annoncé vendredi la découverte de pétrole à 6 000 mètres de profondeur à 150 kilomètres au nord-est de Cayenne, en Guyane française. C’est la première fois que des hydrocarbures y sont détectés”.

Lire l’article sur france24.com ici.

En cette période de crise, cette information est présentée comme une excellent nouvelle, mais en est-ce vraiment une? A court terme, il est clair que cela ne fera aucune différence sur la production pétrolière française car si projet voit le jour (n’oublions pas que ce sont des sommes colossales d’argent qui sont mises en jeu), il faudra au bas mot une dizaine d’année pour que le puit puisse produire à pleine capacité. Par ailleurs, le défi technique est de taille (6000 m de profondeur, forage offshore). BP en sait quelque chose après la marais noire dans le golfe du Mexique l’an dernier. Et comme toujours, quelle sera l’énergie retournée/le profit énergétique d’un tel forage? Vu la profondeur et la géographie du lieu, tout indique qu’un tel forage offshore ne soit pas des plus profitables, du moins moins que les champs pétrolifères conventionnels “onshore”. Une illustration de plus du pic pétrolier…s’il en fallait encore une.

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“You can fix all the world’s problems in a garden”. – Geoff Lawton

“You can fix all the world’s problems in a garden”. Yes, it is from the famous permaculturist Geoff Lawton. Exaggerated? Right, remember the UK riots a few days ago? then look at that (source: landshare news):

“Local police who helped set up the allotments have reported an incredible fall in the amount of anti-social behaviour in the last two years since,  the allotments were established, and Police Community Support Officer Wendy Walters said, “In the past year there has been a staggering 51% reduction in Anti-Social behaviour on the estate”.

Yes, it is amazing what you can achieve when people get together and give young people something to hope for, something to look forward to, eventually benefiting the whole community.

 

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