The US dollar has been the main currency in global trade for more than sixty years. But is it now time to toss the dollar over the side?

Massoud Hedeshi, an international consultant, believes the world economic order is already in transition, not simply because of America's economic troubles, but because developing nations are growing rapidly.

Hedeshi also suggests that more economic equality among nations would lead to better international cooperation and might even be far more effective in confronting religious fundamentalism.

Whatever actually happens however, the United States will have to make some drastic--and probably painful changes--if it wishes to stop its economic decline.

The ships are currently booked until 2013, meaning those highly specialized and expensive vessels that drill for oil in deep water.

The current oil shock is unlike the last three and will likely continue for a long time, according to the author Dilip Hiro.

At the same time, Mr. Hiro suggests some alternatives to peak oil, which includes genuine "clean coal" technology. Go to Energy Reality Starts to Bite.

A person I play tennis with, a civil engineer, believes we need to build 45 new nuclear reactors--better still double that number.

He thinks that if we are to have any chance of getting beyond the impending fossil fuel calamity, we've got to go nuclear. He also thinks manmade climate change is quite real.

In my heart-of-hearts I believe we Americans are still in deep denial: A stranger on a white horse will appear on the horizon at the last moment and bring back the good ol' days to America ... meaning cheap oil and all that it entails.

Of course the ridiculous frat boy in the White House with his recent executive order is still pushing the "more drilling" solution for the fearful and the gullible.

You can watch the numbers change in real time, some numbers more revealing than others. Go to
Worldometers.

This 50 minute documentary is about how it began in the late 19th century and how it might end in the 21st century. Suburban sprawl and cheap oil are intimately connected. What happens when it's not cheap or readily available?

The increase in food prices has risen even faster that the cost of a barrel of oil. How much market specultion is good?

We can't just stop buying food, unlike houses. Is part of the problem that global food production is now primarily a global business?

Should we trust our food security to the likes of Archer Daniels Midland? Sameer Dossani offers some specific steps toward changing the present system. Go to Greed and Dogma Fertilize Food Crisis.

We seem almost desperate not to end our oil addiction, even though "black gold" has been a mere blip in geological time. Is it over? For a POV go to End of the Petroleum Age.

SOLAR (1)

Brewing Biofuels (2)

Earthworks 2008 organized a global cartoon competition dealing with climate change. Some 600 competition entries were submitted. The winner "Coat Star" comes from Russia. The cartoons were published in The Independent. Go to Climate Change.