Environmental campaigners, activist investor groups and some lawmakers have warned that financial markets could be overvaluing companies with large fossil fuel assets, such as Shell, thereby creating a "carbon bubble" and putting at risk trillions of dollars in pension funds.
Shell, however, played down such claims last week in a letter it said was in response to shareholder inquiries on the issue of "stranded" assets, referring to large investments in fossil fuel reserves that could become unprofitable if governments pass laws to curb runaway growth in greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to reduce the impact of climate change.
"While the 'stranded asset' notion may appear to be a strong and thought-through case, it does have some fundamental flaws," JJ Traynor, Shell's executive vice president of investor relations, said in the letter posted on the company's website, dated May 16.
Traynor maintained that the world will need oil and gas for many decades to come, supporting both demand and prices.
"As such, we do not believe that any of our proven reserves will become 'stranded'," he wrote.
"There is a risk that focusing on 'stranded assets' or the concept of the 'carbon bubble' distracts attention away from the reality of a growing population, increasing prosperity and growing energy demand."
DEMAND GROWTH
Shell said it believes that climate change will continue to rise up the public and political agenda, but it estimated that energy demand growth would allow fossil fuels to continue play a major role and account for 40-60 percent of global energy supply through to 2050 and beyond.
Shell also pushed carbon capture and storage - a technology that critics say has not yet been proven - as a key tool to help to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, a threshold deemed dangerous by scientists. (...)
I'm making my very last inventory of things to sell on craigslist to try and pay the. rent. Unfortunately, everything I have that I haven't already sold is too large to be mailed except for a few book rare book and comics. It's amazing how little there is left. So I have to advertise in the local google. I hope both people read the ads.
The last item to go will be Tessy. I can't really sell India as I'm the only one who can handle her due to her avian version PTSD. The human version has come back to haunt me with screaming nightmares and paralysis But I'm fighting back. I'm already out levithyroxine and mirtazapine but neither of them seem to have any negative affect when I stop taking them - as far as I can tell.
Yesterday I was able to get 2 sides of one of the mews up which was amazing but the pain last night was also amazing. A borax bath and a fantastic foot rub with loads of arnica from mag and a pain pill helped a little. Man, I would give anything for a foot rub every day especially the broken foot.
Then someone in my told me that they heard a rumor about me that I was spending all my money (money?) on pot and pills and alcohol. I may be crazy but Hunter Thompson I am not. But what was weird was that the rumor had travelled far and wide and through the falcon community. Weird because I don't know anyone. It's me and mag trying hide away in the mountains and do what we love. Then mad said it was probably the donation page. One guy, or lady, commented - So, I want to buy a new house and and all I have to do is put up some fake website and every on the internet pays for it? Cool! And while I'm ranting I'll just mention how much I miss my Father. At least once or twice a day when something strikes me as worth writing about I start composing a an email to my dad before I remember. In the end he had dementia but only for a year or two. I could ask him what to do about surviving the avalanche of problems. Everyone has an opinion but I would especially like to hear his. It was just the last 10 year that we had gotten close and I realized how brilliant he was and that his flaws were no different than anyones elses. He wasn't the best dad in world but he did his best - like he did with everything in life. I'll in heaven when I get my SSI. I already got a form from my doc saying I am permanently disabled and cannot not be rehabilitated. I had an advocate for our autism helping us through the insane process but he quit on me half way through, re reaffirming misanthropic view of the world. I friend sent a really cool card. One of my best friends in the world.
Down here in the states we once had this monster phone company called AT&T. The US government waged a war against it and broke up its monopoly and effectively killed it.
There once was an empire called the USSR. The US government waged a Cold War against it and effectively killed it ...
These are just coincidences.
This country has been unremarkable since Jefferson. He was the last US president with any real balls, imo
My main man Theodore is going to rise from the grave upon his steed and charge you with sabre in hand!
but then i thought hey it may be just a coincidence...
Clearly a coincidence. What else could it be?
(...) My dear, and recently departed, Washington friend, John Judge, liked to say that if you want to call him a “conspiracy theorist” you have to call others “coincidence theorists”. Thus it was by the most remarkable of coincidences that Arseniy Yatsenuk did indeed become the new prime minister. He could very soon be found in private meetings and public press conferences with the president of the United States and the Secretary-General of NATO, as well as meeting with the soon-to-be new owners of Ukraine, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, preparing to impose their standard financial shock therapy. The current protestors in Ukraine don’t need PHDs in economics to know what this portends. They know about the impoverishment of Greece, Spain, et al. They also despise the new regime for its overthrow of their democratically-elected government, whatever its shortcomings. (...)
My dear Richard, there are no conspiracies ...
Down here in the states we once had this monster phone company called AT&T. The US government waged a war against it and broke up its monopoly and effectively killed it.
There once was an empire called the USSR. The US government waged a Cold War against it and effectively killed it ...
These are just coincidences.
This country has been unremarkable since Jefferson. He was the last US president with any real balls, imo
but then i thought hey it may be just a coincidence...
Clearly a coincidence. What else could it be?
(...) My dear, and recently departed, Washington friend, John Judge, liked to say that if you want to call him a “conspiracy theorist” you have to call others “coincidence theorists”. Thus it was by the most remarkable of coincidences that Arseniy Yatsenuk did indeed become the new prime minister. He could very soon be found in private meetings and public press conferences with the president of the United States and the Secretary-General of NATO, as well as meeting with the soon-to-be new owners of Ukraine, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, preparing to impose their standard financial shock therapy. The current protestors in Ukraine don’t need PHDs in economics to know what this portends. They know about the impoverishment of Greece, Spain, et al. They also despise the new regime for its overthrow of their democratically-elected government, whatever its shortcomings. (...)
In a statement published Monday on its website, Burisma Holdings announced Hunter Biden would join its board of directors and head the company's legal unit.
"As a new member of the board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine," Hunter Biden said in the statement.
Burisma owns several Ukrainian oil and gas companies, including Esko Pivnich and Pari, Lenta.ru reported Tuesday. The company also has assets in Ukraine's Dnepr-Donetsk, the Carpathian and the Azov-Kuvan basins.
Burisma produced 11,600 barrels of oil equivalent, or boe, in 2013 and was planning to increase its production in Ukraine by 35-40 percent in 2014, U.S. financier and member of the board of directors Devon Archer told newspaper Capital in late April.
Hunter's father, as U.S. Vice President, has repeatedly rebuked Russia for its reported involvement in Ukraine and has pledged to support efforts to reduce its dependency on Russian energy.
saw this earlier
at first i was a little bothered
but then i thought hey it may be just a coincidence...
In a statement published Monday on its website, Burisma Holdings announced Hunter Biden would join its board of directors and head the company's legal unit.
"As a new member of the board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine," Hunter Biden said in the statement.
Burisma owns several Ukrainian oil and gas companies, including Esko Pivnich and Pari, Lenta.ru reported Tuesday. The company also has assets in Ukraine's Dnepr-Donetsk, the Carpathian and the Azov-Kuvan basins.
Burisma produced 11,600 barrels of oil equivalent, or boe, in 2013 and was planning to increase its production in Ukraine by 35-40 percent in 2014, U.S. financier and member of the board of directors Devon Archer told newspaper Capital in late April.
Hunter's father, as U.S. Vice President, has repeatedly rebuked Russia for its reported involvement in Ukraine and has pledged to support efforts to reduce its dependency on Russian energy.
Question: “In the American media you are often linked to the immediate circle of the U.S. Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry and the Vice-president of the United States Mr. Joe Biden.”
Archer: “American journalists really think so (smiles). I do know them.”
(...) A few hours later, the roof collapsed onto the building, and Khanam was trapped under a machine for 12 hours.
“When I was crushed, I was terrified,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to live anymore.”
The petite 20-year-old began working in the garment industry when she was 14. Seven days a week, 120 hours a week and for $125 per month, Khanam sewed loops onto pants – the loops many of us likely pull our belts through every day.
Khanam now has a head injury, a chest injury and hip injury. Once the breadwinner in her family, she can no longer work.
“If my mom didn’t work, then we wouldn’t be able to get by at all,” she explained. “My brothers and sisters can’t go to school anymore. We can’t buy as much food as we used to.”
More than 1,200 people died and more than 2,500 were injured in the collapse. (...)
Now this is the type of thing that needs to be addressed in healthcare reform. As long as healthcare cost are astronomical, it doesn't even matter who is covered by what, the premiums or bill for subsidies are going to always be outrageous.
Medicine is expensive, sure, but have you ever asked yourself why? The pharmaceutical industry will have you believe that without high prices, we don't get new drugs. The reality is, with high prices we don't always get new drugs we need either. If a new drug is developed and nobody can afford it, where is the benefit from it?
Limiting access to the products of pharmaceutical innovation is nothing new to me. I've seen it for the last 15 years as a doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres. In one of my first field missions in Uganda, I watched young children with malaria die because the best treatment to give them - artemisinin - was not available and I was forced to use less effective drugs. It was tragic to witness.
I was outraged at remarks made in December, but widely reported only in late January, by the CEO of German pharmaceutical company Bayer, on one of the company's cancer drugs. CEO Marijn Dekkers said that Bayer "didn't develop this product for the Indian market; we developed it for Western patients who could afford it." I was shocked at his candour: Dekkers' comments sum up everything that is wrong with the pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) industry today.
As it currently stands, patents create long monopolies, which allow pharmaceutical companies to charge the maximum price they can without fear of competition. Patients and health providers are put in a near-impossible predicament: Either they pay the market rate, or they wait until the maximum profits have been squeezed out of a drug and its patent expires. Waiting in many cases means dying.
The current system also means some drugs just don't get developed at all; there are some diseases for which there have been no new drugs developed for half a century or more. It's because - while the need is there - these drugs just aren't profitable for the pharmaceutical companies to do research on them. (...)
