Apocalyptic vision of a post fossil fuel world: An apocalyptic vision of how the world will look after the oil runs out has been given by a top scientist. Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s leading experts on oil reserves, warned that the lives of billions of people were threatened by a food crisis caused by our dependence on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. Higher oil prices, the loss of farmland to biofuel crops, climate change and the loss of natural resources would combine with population growth to create an unprecedented food shortage, he claimed. Telegraph

If you want to see green living, go to ‘old Europe’: “Hello to 186mph” announced the advert for the inaugural Eurostar service from St Pancras, the words set against a backdrop of graduated greens. The message was that this (British) train not only whizzes through the countryside at breakneck speed, but does so in a thoroughly eco-friendly way. As a one-time Paris resident and frequent visitor to France, I am as ecstatic as any UK francophile to have a new, environmentally untainted vehicle to whisk me from one capital to the other. Independent

Scientists warn of agrarian crisis from climate change: An agrarian crisis is brewing because of climate change that could jeopardise global food supplies and increase the risk of hunger for a billion poorest of the poor, scientists warned Thursday. South Asia and Africa would be hardest hit by the crisis, which would shift the world’s priorities away from boosting food output year after year to bolstering the resilience of crops to cope with warm weather, they said. Rice, the staple for billions of people, is most vulnerable to global warming. AFP

Change of climate: You can tell when the politicians are getting serious about an issue: they stop taking cheap shots at one another and suddenly become pragmatic. Amazingly, that’s happening right now on global warming. Just as the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of “abrupt and irreversible” damage if we don’t take immediate action, a serious piece of climate legislation is beginning to pick up speed in the U.S. Senate. Time

Rudd as PM will be ‘heaven-sent’ to climate talks: Indonesia: The head of next month’s crucial climate change conference and Indonesia’s Environment Minister has supported the election of a Labor government, saying its plan to ratify the Kyoto Protocol would be a “heaven-sent” boost to the talks. In extraordinary statements for an Indonesian minister, Rachmat Witoelar said he hoped “good environmental moves” prevailed out of Australia’s election tomorrow. “I have become good friends with Mr Howard so I wish him all the luck, but I understand that if Kevin Rudd gets elected it will be faster moving; I hope that it will be done.” The Age