Economics – Feb 19

‘Oil weapon unleashed against Iran’

Mexico’s economy loses steam

Chávez warns price control violators

Airbus workers wait as job cuts statement delayed

Transport – Feb 19

Business joins greens in fight for rail ‘missing link’

Driving towards disaster

Preparing Nigerian cities for expensive oil

Winner of the great transport race: Trams

German transport minister proposes tax breaks for ‘green’ cars

Why the precautionary principle doesn’t cut both ways

Applying the precautionary principle to the economy misses the point. Environmental regulation may indeed retard economic activity. But that damage, if it occurs, is different in kind from the damage our technology and numbers inflict on the biosphere every day. One may lead to a transient loss of wealth; the other may lead to a colossal loss of human life and of the very civilization we have built.

Virgin, the dynamo, and the prize

There are two big problems with the Earth Challenge prize. First, and most important, it sends the wrong message to those who are just waking up to the true threat of climate change: it says we can solve this problem by inventing the right techno-fix. …The truth is that we already have all the technology that we need to save ourselves.