For my report about the rain forest on the Philippine island Leyte, we wandered through unending forests. We were not simply enjoying the lush greens and the sounds and smells of the forest, we were looking for a new species of animal that was first discovered a few months ago. It is a tree frog as small as a thumb nail that had never been recorded. It is not named so far, it shall be of the family of the Platymantis-frogs. Because of its small size it is not easy to find, especially for a small team with large camera equipment. As you can see the camera man struggled with some difficulties. I am not sure what our chances are of finding this little frog, but I am very hopeful. 

The fracking market worldwide can be divided into two main segments: the United States on one side and the rest of the world on the other.

So anyone interested in the future global expansion of hydraulic fracturing should take a closer look at the United States.

Größere Kartenansicht |  Fracking Gebiet | Wyoming USA 2012

Indeed, after the re-election of the Obama administration, it’s likely that safety regulations on fracking will become more strict.

At the same time, Obama announced that he favors a robust exploration of natural gas, in part because it is “plentiful and cheap and in part because it produces only about half the greenhouse gas emissions that coal does.”

Thanks to fracking, the United States do in fact face the bright prospect of becoming the world’s largest gas producer within a few years.

According to Edward Morse, Global Head of Commodities Research at Citigroup, the US is the fastest growing gas facilitating nation on the globe:

“America is on its way to challenge the Middle East as leading energy nation in 2020.”

If we take a closer look at the rise of gas fracking globally, we get a rather heterogenous image: It looks like Europe is struggling with itself. The European countries’ policies on fracking diverge.

Germany wants to allow fracking only under strict safety regulations – several large scale enterprises have already backed up their rights of extensive test drillings. France  banned fracking last year temporarily due to safety concerns. Poland has a large reserve of shale gas and intends to cut its reliance on gas imports, especially from Russia. Ireland is waiting for further research results. Meanwhile, the UK is discussing a probable expansion of fracking within the country.

The largest shale gas reserves are found in China but the technical expertise is not yet on par with that of the US.  Experts disagree on whether China will catch up with the USA around 2020. It seems to be a serious option.

In South America, Argentina has provided evidence that it will jump on the fracking bandwagon soon.

Australia seems to be going in the other direction: Just recently, it stopped any further fracking through a moratorium. Governments always have the option to put projects under moratorium when they are strongly discussed or are too complicated. But moratoriums are always temporary. In most cases, governments simply postpone such decisions as is the case in South Africa: a 14-month fracking ban was lifted recently.

On the whole, fracking is on the rise around the world. Development is still spotty, but the international future of fracking still looks promising. Canadian investigative journalist Joyce Nelson interprets the whole process a little differently:

“[But] shale gas has become extremely controversial in Canada and the US where it was first developed. The industry is planning to go global quickly before the controversy spreads.“

Is that really the case?

In our third part “Fracking – The Controversy” find out  what the fracking controversy is all about and what exactly are the pros and cons.

 

You know houseboats, you know cars that are build to swim or tanks. But can you image to live on water in a  real hous? That is reality for example in Nigeria, where the people of Makoko build their houses on stilts above the lagoon.  What is tradition there, might be a model idea which other parts in the world can adopt to.

Rising sea levels due to climate change will force many people to leave their homes and migrate to places that won’t be covered with water in future time.

Facing this Scenario, the Maledive Islands government had an unusual idea: floating islands. They cooperate with a Dutch arcitechtural company to build artificial islands that stay above, no matter how much the sea level rises.

Do you think this is a proper idea to realize on large scale?

You might know the situation when politicians are talking and you are just wondering, whether the “facts” they name are actually true and how they fit into a larger context? That’s how we felt, when we read the statements of US presidential candidates during the pre-election period concerning climate change. It’s custom that candiates are asked 14 questions from American scientific community and one of those questions always addresses climate change (which wasn’t really subject to election campaigns). This year the question for re-elected President Barack Obama and his rival Mitt Romney was the following:

The Earth’s climate is changing and there is concern about the potentially adverse effects of these changes on life on the planet. What is your position on cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, and other policies proposed to address global climate change—and what steps can we take to improve our ability to tackle challenges like climate change that cross national boundaries?

As the US are economically and environmentally quite powerful country, it really matters what the future president’s standing is. So we grabbed three statements of each candidate and had a look what’s behind it.

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Mitt Romney: “However, there remains a lack of scientific consensus on the issue — on the extent of the warming, the extent of the human contribution, and the severity of the risk”

With this point of view, Mitt Romney is in line with 38 percent of US citizens who also believe scientists are unsure whether climate change exists. But what public to whatever extent believes is not necessarily the truth – as it is in this case. In fact, there is no lack but a consensus among the scientific community which is stated from several sites. Additionally to these scientific statements, several polls were performed among (non)climate scientists revealing a very broad agreement for existance of climate change.

Bottom line: Not really true.

Mitt Romney: “The reality is that the problem is called Global Warming, not America Warming. China long ago passed America as the leading emitter of greenhouse gases.”

It is true, that China passed the US in emitting most greenhouse gases. But you should not only see GHG emissions alone, but set this value in relation to number of inhabitants. For a simple reason as this: more people surely produce more greenhouse gases.
And when taking this point of view, the US are unbeaten: they emit at least three times as much greenhouse gases per capita as China does for example.

Taking a closer look – not only at greenhouse gases in general, but at CO2 – the picture does not change at all. CO2 makes up 77 percent of greenhouse gases and again the US produces at least three times as much CO2 per capita as China does.

Bottom line: Not false, but warping (missleading?) due to leaving of facts.

Mitt Romney: “Developed world emissions have leveled off while developing world emissions continue to grow rapidly”

It is right that the emissions of the developed world continue to grow. But it’s worth to take a look for the reasons: Blogger Robert Rapier explains it this way: “Because growth is currently being driven by very large numbers of people who are increasing consumption from a very low level, it is difficult to envision a pathway to development that does not involve additional fossil fuel consumption in the foreseeable future.”

Furthermore the Guardian sets up a relation between the financial crisis and the trend Romney names.
So, in the end it is right that it’s the developing countries themselves, who have to decide how much they want and can invest in other energy sources.

Bottom line: True, though should be embedded in larger context.