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SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries Announces 2011 Second Quarter Financial Results

2011 February 22
Revenues increased by nearly $2.0 million or 13%, due to higher prices of coke and coal products largely driven by the coal supply shortage. Revenues from the sale of coke products increased by 12.6% to $9.5 million although total metric tons sold during the quarter decreased by 1.9%. Average selling prices for raw coal, washed coal and coke increased by 18.7%, 20.0% and 15.6%, respectively. Revenues from the sale of coal products increased by 14.6% to $7.2 million; total metric tons sold during the current quarter decreased by 39%. We have optimized our product mix to maximize results: We increased our washed coal sales significantly and took advantage of higher selling prices created by the tight coal supply.

Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.

Roubini Global Economics – U.S. EconoMonitor

2011 February 22
Based on a new research paper, Bernanke extends his GSG hypothesis by considering the type of assets desired by these emerging economies as they invested in the U.S. economy. He shows that investors from these countries, as well as from Europe, had a strong appetite for AAA-rated assets which were in short supply elsewhere. The U.S. financial system responded by transforming risky assets into safe assets.

And so, we have a theory that nicely ties together global economic imbalances, developments in structured finance, and the U.S. housing boom. Note, though, that the GSG hypothesis places no culpability on the Fed. Instead, blame is placed on the failings of the U.S. private sector and foreigners who save too much. How convenient for Ben Benanke and the Fed.

How to make China happy: well-being economics | chinadialogue

2011 February 22
Moreover, the narrow pursuit of GDP growth can actually damage the factors that create happiness. For example, many parts of China have welcomed polluting industries for the sake of economic growth, resulting in air and water contamination, higher rates of illness - and a decline in day-to-day well-being. What is the point of this kind of economic growth?

Beyond growth: well-being economics and environmental protection

2011 February 22
There is a reason that in nature things do not grow indefinitely.

Yet the entire canon of mainstream contemporary economics seems to believe that economics exists independently of the laws of biology, chemistry and physics.

For every doubling in the global economy, as it is currently measured, we use the equivalent in resources of all of the previous doublings combined.

In a unique study published in the science journal Nature in September 2009, a group of 29 leading international scientists identified nine processes in the biosphere for which they considered it necessary to define "planetary boundaries". Of the nine boundaries, 3 had already been transgressed: climate change, interference in the nitrogen cycle and biodiversity loss. Clearly, anyone who thinks the Earth can take another doubling of the global economy is, as economist Kenneth Boulding famously stated, "a madman or an economist".

PepsiCo’s Deal With Mexican Farmers Is Good for Business – NYTimes.com

2011 February 22
SAN GABRIEL, Mexico

About 300 small farmers in San Gabriel, Mexico, sell their corn to PepsiCo, which guarantees the price.

But more recently, many have managed to avoid the trips, staying home as the result of a new venture with PepsiCo, which buys their crops.


"We are seeing an increased focus by companies looking to see how they can use their core capabilities for public good rather than simply writing a big check," said Gaurav Gupta, regional director for Asia at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a consulting firm focused on international development. "They're starting to realize that the marginal cost of doing a little extra good produces such a great impact - and not only in terms of good will, but also because it's good for business."

Shareholders Offer a Spate of Environmental Resolutions – NYTimes.com

2011 February 22
After a year marked by Congressional paralysis on issues like global warming and renewable energy, and after a parade of energy-related disasters - including the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - social investment groups are signaling their displeasure with a suite of shareholder resolutions.

Not to be outdone, climate skeptics and opponents of government mandates supporting clean energy are sending up resolutions of their own.

According to the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a project of the sustainable investing collective Ceres, at least 66 resolutions relating to climate and environmental issues aimed at more than 40 oil, coal and electric power companies, have been filed in the 2011 proxy season - the period each year when shareholders get a chance to propose measures on a variety of corporate issues.

Coverage of Green Issues Becomes More Specialized – NYTimes.com

2011 February 22
Journalists spotted a trend and responded with enthusiasm. Articles about the burgeoning "green" movement proliferated. Wineries were adding solar panels, the U.S. military in Iraq wanted wind turbines, and Harvard University was installing waterless urinals. HSBC was buying carbon offsets for executives' flights.

Survey of changes toward sustainable practices in the pat 5 yrs (some good links)

BBC News – Green economies for growth, urges UN

2011 February 22
Investing $1.3 trillion (£800bn) each year in green sectors would deliver long-term stability in the global economy, a UN report has suggested.

Spending about 2% of global GDP in 10 key areas would kick-start a "low carbon, resource efficient green economy", the authors observed.

They also recommended following policies that decoupled economic growth from intensive consumption.

(nice graph with projections)

Increased flood risk linked to global warming : Nature News

2011 February 21
This focuses on the intensity of rain storms and blizzards, analyzing a half century's-worth of rain gauge data from 6,000 reporting stations run through a variety of climate models.

Notably, the research doesn't include data after 1999, which is when a significant number of recording stations were shut down. Yet even when the "best science available" isn't as good as it might have been, it appears, at least in this case, to have been good enough to raise some major concerns.

Still, one wonders whether the missing data could have helped predict this winter's record snows in Korea, the string of Nor'easters in New England, or the recent megafloods in Germany and Pakistan. And if data from the Southern hemisphere had been included, would we have seen a pattern leading to the catastrophic storms in Australia and Sri Lanka?

(thanks Janet)

How 2% of Global GDP can Trigger Greener, Smarter Growth While Fighting Poverty

2011 February 21
Nairobi/World, 21 February 2011 - Investing two per cent of global GDP into ten key sectors can kick-start a transition towards a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy a new report launched today says.

The sum, currently amounting to an average of around $1.3 trillion a year and backed by forward-looking national and international policies, would grow the global economy at around the same rate if not higher than those forecast, under current economic models.