The earth’s surface is only 30 percent land; 70 percent is ocean.
Jeffrey Linn, a Seattle urban planner, is using digital cartography to imagine worlds that are even more watery.
You don’t need a starship to visit them, although a time machine would be useful. That’s because Linn’s maps depict what some cities would like if sea levels went up by 80 meters, or 264 feet.
New York City. (Map: Courtesy Spatialities.com)
For sea levels to rise this much, all the major ice caps and sheets would need to melt, which would send the water they store on land flowing into the world’s ocean.
Linn pulled the number from a study made by the United States Geological Survey.
He points out that even in future climate scenarios where we do little or nothing to curb the worst impacts of global warming, that kind of flooding would take centuries if not millennia to come about.
“I’m not trying to be a doomsayer,” Linn said. “The fascinating thing for me is the landforms, the islands, bays, and seas that emerge when you do this modeling.”
But our failure to act fast on climate change is accelerating the process. So if these visions of Seattle; Montreal; Vancouver, British Columbia; and other cities reduced to archipelagoes—or submerged completely underwater—got people thinking harder about climate change, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
London. (Map: Courtesy Spatialities.com)
Linn made his first drowned city map, “Islands of Seattle,” about a year and a half ago, he said. He was inspired in part by Always Coming Home, by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which the novelist created a “future anthropology” of California. “The book includes a couple maps of the California Central Valley and how it looks after the sea levels have risen,” said Linn. “That got me thinking, ‘How would the world around me look once all the world’s ice sheets were to melt?’ ”
The maps are studded with in-jokes for locals, “clever place names, to temper the horror of what could actually happen with a bit of humor,” Linn said. “Gallows humor, I suppose.”
A drowned New York City becomes N.Y. Sea, where an underwater Central Park is now called Central Shark. On the other coast, a protected bay near Hollywood is named Los Atlantis.
Linn sent a poster of his map of drowned Portland, Oregon, titled “Islands of Portland,” to Le Guin, who lives there—and whose 1971 novel The Lathe of Heaven is set in a climate-changed future Portland. “I got a very nice note back,” he said. “She really appreciated it.”
Linn hopes to publish a book of sea-level-rise maps, a sort of atlas of a drowned world. In the meantime he’s put posters of his maps for sale on his website, spatialities.com.
Linn is also contributing maps to Dreams of a Low Carbon Future, a graphic novel about global warming in the United Kingdom cities of York and Leeds. A group at the University of Leeds is producing the book, which is set 200 years in the future.
From an article byMalcolm Berkopublished 14 February 2015 by Columbian.com under the headline:
“Berko: Oil prices bound to rise again”
The enormous implosion in oil prices has left the globe awash in cheap crude. And the highly paid, brilliant oil analysts at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, UBS, JPMorgan, etc., never saw it coming. Never in a million years did they believe that oil would trade at $40 a barrel or that there’d be excess production of between 1 million and 2 million barrels a day. Smart traders are searching for storage solutions to warehouse the overflow and competing among themselves to lease tankers that can store crude at sea. Meanwhile, shipbrokers and agents who match lessors with lessees are having a dandy time leasing very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, which can hold 2 million barrels.
A similar strategy occurred in 2008, when crude prices imploded from $146 a barrel in July to $37 by Christmastime. As prices collapsed, traders continued buying crude rather than selling it, and then they warehoused the excess and waited for prices to return. They were as right as a button; before the 2009 year had closed, crude prices were $85 to $90 a barrel, and traders had nearly doubled their money. Now the big oil traders (e.g., Koch Industries, Mercuria Energy Group, Vitol, Royal Dutch Shell, Trafigura and Gunvor Group) are doing it again. Daily tanker rates for VLCCs have doubled, to $90,000 a day, and traders are competing for land-based tanks to store their crude.
According to the recent reports from several financial media outlets, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is in the market to hunt.
The multinational oil giant is one of the strongest defensive companies in the energy sector. It performs fairly well in low-price environments. The American company has an exceptionally strong cash position, which allows it to beat competition by acquiring it.
Exxon has a history of acquiring energy companies when commodity prices are low. During 2009, natural gas price plummeted 70%. Exxon Mobil acquired XTO Energy Inc, an oil and gas company, in an all-stock deal, putting the Texas-based company’s valuation at $41 billion.
Exxon placed a multi-billion dollar bet on natural gas price to recover, and it might be planning to do the same with oil in the current oil price slump. Since last July, crude oil price have nearly halved. After trading over $100 per barrel last year, crude futures fell below $50 in January. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March delivery stand at $51.21 per barrel, whereas Brent crude oil futures are trading at $57.05 per barrel.
The current low-price environment has wreaked havoc for energy producers, as their profit margins have been wringed dry. Financial instability has left them vulnerable to takeover attempts. Exxon with its vast financial muscle is looking to pounce on the opportunity.
The oil firm has a credit rating better than the US government, allowing it to borrow funds at a low cost. Analysts believe it can target any of its competitors for an acquisition. Estimates put Exxon’s cash flow for 2015 over $11 billion. Additionally, the company holds 3.8 billion shares in its treasury, valued at nearly $350 billion. With that kind of capital, Exxon can take over most of the energy companies.
As far as targets are concerned, Paul Sankey of Wolfe Research believes BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) is the obvious fit for Exxon to acquire. The British oil giant currently faces severe environmental penalties which could amount to $13 billion, due to BP’s role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst oil spill disaster in US history. A federal judge will announce his ruling toward the end of April, but from the proceedings so far, it has become evident that BP showed negligence.
BP’s merger with Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) has been discussed for a while now, but reports linking BP with Exxon have been doing the rounds. Exxon’s prior acquisition of XTO Energy did not pan out in favor of its shareholders but it may be able to acquire BP’s shares at a bargain as it faces billions of dollars in fines.
Exxon’s potential acquisition of BP would mitigate the impact on BP’s reputation from the impending fine, while boosting Exxon’s ability to locate new sources of oil and natural gas. Exxon is better positioned to deal with the long-term legal troubles and billion-dollar fines. It also has a market cap almost thrice that of BP.
Actual progress towards a potential takeover of BP by Exxon Mobil has not been witnessed but media reports have perhaps alerted the US regulators. They must be on their toes because a merger between Exxon and BP could reunite parts of the Standard Oil empire, which was declared an illegal monopoly by the US Supreme Court in 1911.
Exxon would also face cultural challenges if it takes over BP, while the cultural change would be good for the British oil company.
From an article by Tim Bradner published by Alaska Journal of Commerce on 12 Feb 2015 under the headline:
“One regulatory hurdle cleared for Arctic OCS drilling”
Shell is officially one step closer to resuming exploration in the Chukchi Sea. On Thursday the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released its final supplemental environmental impact statement for a 2008 Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale.
It is a move that is hoped to clear legal and regulatory hurdles facing Arctic offshore drilling.
The document was published on schedule after the draft SEIS was completed last fall. A Record of Decision will likely be issued in 30 days, which will allow BOEM to resume work on Shell’s revised exploration plan for the Chukchi Sea, BOEM said in a statement.
“Alaska is a critical component of our nation’s energy portfolio, and the Chukchi Sea has substantial oil and gas potential, as well as sensitive marine and coastal resources that Alaska Native communities depend on for subsistence,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in the statement.
“The updated analysis is a major step toward resolving the 2008 oil and gas leases that have been tied up in the courts for years. We remain committed to taking a thoughtful and balanced approach to oil and gas leasing and exploration in this unique, sensitive and often challenging environment.”
Environmental groups reacted harshly to the EIS release.
“It is unconscionable that the federal government is willing to risk the health and safety of the people and wildlife that live near and within the Chukchi Sea for Shell’s profits Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Marissa Knodel. There is no such thing as safe or responsible drilling in the Arctic Ocean — Shell’s record of recklessness and the federal government’s own environmental analysis show that approval of Lease Sale 193 would be unsafe, dangerous and irresponsible.”
We know that Royal Dutch Shell has a long track record of tax dodging.
The most recent example occurred during its Arctic Drilling debacle, when it recklessly sent a drilling ship to sea in the face of a storm, trying to avoid a tax bill.
According to a BBC News article published today, based on information from the HSBC whistleblower Herve Falciani, a major oil company could be next to feel the effects of a major data leak about how it operates.
Could it be Royal Dutch Shell Plc?
“Mr Falciani is the man behind the largest data leak in banking history – and after days of revelations about HSBC and tax evasion by its wealthy customers between 2005 and 2007, he now says he feels vindicated.”
SEE BELOW FOR THE 1001STTIME THE REITERATION OF DEMAND PAYMENT OF RETIREMENT PAY WHICH SHELL REFUSED TO HONOR IN THE PRESENCE AND DEEMED APPROVAL OF THE HONORABLE MAGISTRATES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE PHILIPPINES
From an article by Tim Bradner published by Alaska Journal of Commerce on 12 Feb 2015 under the headline:
HSBC whistleblower: There are ‘more revelations’
