U.S. has 4.5% of world's people, 16.8% of carbon dioxide emissions

Resource Insights:: "The proposed decline in the rate of U.S. emissions would only reduce the overall rate of world emissions by just 1.6 percent based on 2011 emissions figures (using carbon dioxide as a proxy for all greenhouse gas emissions). Of course, other countries will have to do their part if we are to succeed as a species in addressing climate change. But it is worth noting that while the United States is home to just 4.5 percent of the world's population, it currently produces 16.8 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. (The 2011 emissions were 5.49 billion tons for the United States and 32.58 billion tons for the world.)"

Don't expect urban planners to support free public transit

Public transit is a battleground in a war for the biosphere.

The mayor of Toronto let it slip, when upon election, he announced the "war on the car is over" and promptly canceled Transit City, a project to improve public transit that had been many years in planning and development.

The government of Brazil also made it plain that this is war when they brought out the riot police to defend a 10 cent fare hike.

Anyone who has been a public transit advocate for long has seen the outright hostility and secret maneuvers behind the scenes. Lou Gambaccini found the Carter administration secretly hostile to public transit.

Most people think that oil companies are awash with money and just greedy for more. This is not the case. Oil is on a knife edge. The cheap oil has peaked. Every day the mix is more expensive. To keep pace, more capital is needed. If investors realize that most of the valuation of oil companies is based on reserves that can never be used, they may panic and sell. On another front, many resources, such as water and sand for fracking are becoming more scarce and/or expensive. Eventually prices will not support production since their rise destroys demand.

This is not a matter of greed or morals. This is a war for survival, the oil industry vs the biosphere. We will either have a fair society that protects the biosphere, or we won't.

Anyone of high profile in a war is subject to attack. Transport experts and pundits must keep heads down. It is up to political activists to carry the day.

In the U.S., since 2000, more than 70% of local ballot measures for #publictransit have passed.

Winning a transit referendum ballot in B.C. will be challenging | Georgia Straight: "The Orange County measure was one of the 13 out of 19 local-public-transit ballot initiatives approved across the U.S. on November 6, 2012, a passage rate of 70 percent. All in all, 46 out of 58 pro-transit initiatives in the U.S. passed in 2012, a rate of more than 79 percent, according to the American Public Transportation Association. The APTA, a group formerly chaired by Diridon, notes that these reflect a long-term trend since 2000 wherein more than 70 percent of public-transit ballot measures have succeeded."

Media Overlooking 90% of Global Warming

skepticalscience: "However, over the past week or two there has been a spate of articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Republic, and Der Spiegel, all of which get many details right (including noting the warming of the oceans), but that all begin from the premise that “global warming” has slowed.

It would be more accurate to say that global surface air warming has slowed, but the overall warming of the Earth’s climate has sped up.  Only about 2% of the planet’s overall warming heats the atmosphere, so if we focus only on surface air temperatures, we miss 98% of the overall warming of the globe. "

'via Blog this'

Why #degrowth is inevitable. The only question, how painful.

Energy Products: Return on Investment is Already Too Low | Our Finite World: "Commenters frequently remark that such-and-such an energy source has an Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) ratio of greater than 5:1, so must be a helpful addition to our current energy supply. My finding that the overall energy return is already too low seems to run counter to this belief. In this post, I will try to explain why this difference occurs. Part of the difference is that I am looking at what our current economy requires, not some theoretical low-level economy. Also, I don’t think that it is really feasible to create a new economic system, based on lower EROI resources, because today’s renewables are fossil-fuel based, and initially tend to add to fossil fuel use."

'via Blog this'T

Saudi Arabia preparing for the end of oil. Will the U.S.?

Zawya: "The Ministry of Transport is seriously considering bringing about major policy changes not only to encourage people to use public transport but also streamline various modes of transportation available in the Kingdom.
The Undersecretary for Transport Affairs, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Ohali, speaking at a workshop to highlight the ministry's objectives and functioning, said the initiatives essentially pertained to two major policy changes that would rein in violators as also increase use of public transport system. "These moves are still in the initial stages, and the actual implementation would come after completion of the studies undertaken by the ministry," he said.
"We realize that to encourage people to use public transport, there is need for two policy changes. Firstly, there has to be an incentive through low pricing of tickets as also introducing long-term tickets. "

Brazil Free Fare Movement: Public money should be for public, not private, transport

MPL

Free Fare Movement - Brazil: "Although prioritising public transport is part of the government's discourse, in practice Brazil invests eleven times more in individual transport, via road projects and loans for purchasing cars (IPEA, 2011). Public money should be invested in public transport!

...Tax exemptions, a measure that historically has been defended by transport companies, go in the opposite direction. Forgoing taxes means losing power over public money, blindly freeing funds for transport mafias, without any transparency and control. To meet the peoples' demands for transport, it is necessary to build instruments that put at the heart of decision making those whose needs should be met: commuters and transport workers."

Around the world the message from the oil industry is the same:

1. You will NOT have #freetransit.
2. You will NOT have inexpensive public transit.
3. You will NOT get good service from public transit.
4. If you protest, we will send our trolls to social media and our goons into the streets.

Get back in your car. Now!

If you don't have one, go buy one. And be quick about it.

Why did the government of Brazil bring out the riot police to defend a 10 cent fare increase?

Are they stupid? Were they unaware of what they might provoke?

No, not at all. Have you ever worked in the corporate world? Politicians are just doing a job. They serve in fear of their bosses. Who are their bosses? In most of the world it is the oil industry in coalition with other corporate giants.

In Brazil, oil companies are starting up massive fixed-capital investment for drilling in deep water. Low prices of oil would be devastating. They desperately need to keep demand up. One way, as recently done by Petrobras is giving away USD 8 billion of taxpayer money cheap gasoline, essentially forcing the taxpayer to buy gasoline.

They cannot afford to make public transit free. It might lower oil prices and all the deepwater oil would change from "reserves" to "resources." Reserves are oil that can be extracted at current market and may be counted as assets. Resources are just stuff in the ground for which the technology may exist to extract, but the money does not. Resources are not supposed to be carried as assets. Oil is in a delicate balance. As long as investors have faith, they can reach the deepwater oil, but a drop in price could wipe out billions of investment.

Free transit would result in a culture change away from the private auto. This is the Achilles heel of oil. They will fight it tooth and nail--but they are few, and we are many.

How to read the corporate media on Brazil uprising

Backlash grows against Brazilian protests after riots | Reuters: " A backlash against Brazil's nationwide protests took hold on Friday"

Backlash - paid and unpaid goons unleashed to beat up leftists and create terror

"after widespread rioting"

Riot - a peaceful protest, viciously attacked by riot police

"...There may be no easy response to the unrest"

No easy response - the people cannot be allowed to win

"...vandalism...masked youths looting stores, setting fires and defacing buildings"

Vandalism - agents-provocateurs, usually off-duty police, creating feelings of chaos

Yes, there are bad elements among the people, but history has shown that they usually have a connection to right-wing politics, organized crime, law-enforcement, or all three.