What is the Halliburton loophole?

A loophole signed into law during the Bush administration has been fiendishly tough to close.

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  • In 2005, then-Vice President Dick Cheney was head of the Energy Task Force. This task force provided recommendations that informed the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
  • One such recommendation that was later signed into law was to provide an exemption for hydraulic fracturing fluid (or fracking fluid) from being regulated by the EPA.
  • Cheney previously served as CEO of Halliburton, which just so happens to be the world's largest provider of fracking services.
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Politics & Current Affairs

The U.S. military emits more greenhouse gases than Sweden and Denmark

The war machine needs fuel, perhaps so much as to make protecting oil redundant.

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  • A new study shows how the United States' Military is the largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world.
  • These emissions come from both combat and non-combat operations.
  • The use of some of the fossil fuels the military burns to protect the supply of oil creates an interesting paradox.
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Politics & Current Affairs

7 climate change projects that are changing the game

While there's plenty to be worried about, it's important to remember that we're making progress, too.

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  • If we do nothing, global temperatures could rise as high as 10 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
  • Fortunately, humanity is hard at work at keeping temperature increases below the 2 degrees Celsius mark.
  • These 7 projects are just a snapshot of what humanity is collectively doing to fight back and beat climate change.
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Technology & Innovation

Oil execs should be tried for crimes against humanity, essayist Kate Aronoff argues

Climate change is a dire threat, perhaps it is time to put the people who created and denied the problem on trial?

Photo credit: SANDY HUFFAKER / AFP / Getty Images
  • A new essay published in Jacobin argues that the time has come to try the executives of oil companies for crimes against humanity as a result of their actions promoting climate change.
  • There is a legal precedent, as the heads of several German companies were tired for such crimes after WWII.
  • Even if it never comes to pass, discussing the idea could give us a sense of what steps to make the world a greener place are possible.
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Politics & Current Affairs

These cities are the hubs of Africa’s economic boom

South Africa is no longer the only place on the continent that has urban wealth clusters

Image: Visual Capitalist
  • The wealth of Africans is projected to grow by a third over the next decade
  • The continent's wealth is agglomerating in a number of urban clusters, in the south, east and west
  • Wealth is collected in a few other places - isolated capitals and mini-clusters stretching from Morocco down to Angola
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