Im letzten Monat erschien ein neuer Bildband über die Kanaren. Auf 52 Seiten findet man sehr hochwertige Fotografien von den kanarischen Inseln. Das Buch heißt “Exposing Canary Islands I” und ist von dem Fotograf Philip Scheidemann. Beispiele von seiner Arbeit und mehr Informationen über das Buch finden Sie auf seiner Homepage: philipscheidemann.com
Am I stupid?
December 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I’m sorry, but I really do have to ask that question. With the price of oil falling, the price of petrol at the pumps has been falling too. Yesterday, 95-octane “super” was down to 1.109€/litre. On the other hand, when I went to fill up for bio-ethanol the other day, the price had gone up to 0.979€/litre.
Now, for the purposes of this calculation I’ll forget that I get a discount from my dealer on that price. I remember working out a long time ago that I need about 20% more bio-ethanol to drive the same distance than normal petrol, and at a quick guess this appears to be about right.
So 0.979€ + 20% = 1.175€! Hang on, that means I’m paying more for trying to be environmentally friendly!
Actually, with my discount I’m probably paying about the same as everyone else at the moment, but if the price of bio-ethanol continues to rise, it will only be a matter of time before many people start to calculate how much of a premium they are prepared to spend before changing back to traditional fuel.
Free Trade… except for Bolivia
December 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Recently U.S. President Bush has been pushing for free trade. I have heard him talk about it, at least. And, of course, I’ve been reading about it online.
However, as El Paso Times reports, this does not extend to trade with Bolivia. To put it bluntly: the U.S. will impose import tariffs on Bolivian goods, because the Bolivians won’t play ball on drug erradication.
Now, of course there is a cultural element here and I could talk about the different views to growing coca, but at the end of the day the U.S.A. is flexing its muscles and using its position on the world market to try and influence the internal politics of another country. Or have I got this wrong somehow?
Bolivian President Morales doesn’t seem to be too worried about losing one of his main export markets, and is quoted as saying he won’t accept conditions for trading with the U.S. This is an interesting position for him to take. If he gave in to Bush’s demands, he may appear weak to he own people. But by remaining determined, he may cause those very same people to lose they jobs.
Which is the lesser evil?
