Update:  new oil price record is $122.73 and things sure doesn’t look pink.

The oil prices blasted to a new record of $122.47 a barrel. Buyers were motivated by Goldman Sachs’ predictions that we may see oil selling for $150-$200 prices in a couple of years and the falling dollar.

A grebe is covered in oil after the Korean oil spill. Taean, South Korea. © TDG

From last year, oil prices doubled from $62 a barrel, so I guess this may be the first sign we have to stop paying more and more money for something that is not good for our health and the environment. There seem to be more and more investors to see light at the end of the tunnel for alternative energy technologies.

First step is to make electricity using the sun light and then we should go along with the trend and build better electric/hybrid cars.

We may be on the right track, but we’re moving very slowly.

If you were wondering who is the new mayor of London, he’s the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson.

After a fiercely battle, Ken Livingstone the guy that got the Friends of Earth “Greenest Mayor” seal of approval, lost. He was the first mayor to take radical actions which turned out to be innovative decisions: extra fees for those that entered city center in a so called congestion charge and was planning to introduce a £25 gas-guzzler tax.

However, the new mayor of London, Boris Johnson is not going to stop the environment campaign and his environmental manifesto includes :

• will try to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2025
• will stand against the Heathrow airport expansion
• will promote hybrid buses
• will ban plastic bags
• will support “schemes that pay Londoners to recycle”
• will protect gardens and green belts from development
• London will become a genuinely cycle-friendly city

photo by bobcatnorth

Just for the records Boris Johnson was ranked (note: pdf link) by the environmental group Friends of Earth, at 7 out of 10 while the former mayor of London got 9. Let’s hope Johnson will keep his promises.

via Celsias

This year’s G8 Summit will be hosted on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. One of the most interesting gatherings will be the climate change summit on July 9, where 16 leading countries – the Group of Eight plus Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa and Mexico – are invited to attend.

The countries mentioned above are responsible for more than 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. Talks will include carbon dioxide emission targets by 2020,  and rumors say this year’s summit is going to be the largest in history.

Source

“Hello”. Tony Blair has become an ambassador for action on climate change in the ‘Breaking the Climate Deadlock’ initiative. Climate change is a serious problem and a new deal is going to be signed when the Kyoto protocol expires. The former prime minister is working with the independent not-for-profit organization The Climate Group. Blair is arriving in Tokyo today and will meet influential business and political people in its “tour” that includes visiting Japan, China and India.

Does it mean that Tony Blair is now in the same group of ecologists that include Al Gore? Even so, I think this is a positive thing, don’t you?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOPr7NA3OvQ[/youtube]

via Celsias