On March 30 of this year, the New York Times reported “the Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time.” Three weeks later, disaster hit Deepwater Horizon.

Words fail to fully describe the devastation in the gulf. Eleven lives lost, ecosystems destroyed, thousands of livelihoods are ruined, and the calamity continues. This will become the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

They ignored the warnings about dangers of a spill. They disregarded safety procedures. They cut corners on methods for preventing blowouts. All of this was done in pursuit of one thing: the 'black gold' of crude oil found miles below the ocean's surface which can then be turned into mega-profits.

The disaster caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was a human disaster but not of the workforce’s making. It is due to decisions of the oil companies and the government. A year ago, BP, the oil company leasing the rig, did an environmental study of the operation. This study claimed there was almost no possibility of a severe failure which would produce a large oil spill. It is clear that because of this claim there was no emergency plan. In fact, initially after the explosion BP was in denial, claiming that no oil was leaking! Now they are scrambling to try and find a solution to something they claimed would not happen.

On April 20, 2010, a scant 27 days after the five year anniversary of the BP Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 170, the state of the art deepwater drilling rig Deepwater Horizon leased by BP, exploded, burned and sank into the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers and injuring 17. Raw crude oil from the uncapped exploratory well that the Horizon was drilling began pouring into the ocean at an undetermined rate.

An environmental catastrophe threatens the US coastline surrounding the Gulf of Mexico following an explosion and sinking of the BP leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig on 20 April.

As the Copenhagen summit approached last December, Scientific American ran a striking cover story, A Plan for a Sustainable Future. This showed how wind, water and solar power could supply the entire world’s energy needs by 2030. (November 2009) Renewable energy is superabundant. Authors Mark Jacobson of Stanford University and Mark Delucchi of the University of California show that accessible sunlight alone (excluding sunlight that falls on the oceans) could provide more than 40 times the amount of energy being consumed around the world today.

In April President Obama called for hundreds of millions of acres of coastal waters to be opened for oil and gas exploration and drilling. This means a horrifying assault on ecology, beaches, and coastal tourist economies - but big profits for the energy industry.

After last fall reaching its highest levels since the Great Depression, official U.S. unemployment has improved slightly to 9.7%, while actual unemployment and underemployment remain far higher. Last month, the highest ever long-term unemployment rate was recorded, with 6.5 million Americans out of work for six months or longer.

After last fall reaching its highest levels since the Great Depression, official U.S. unemployment has improved slightly to 9.7%, while actual unemployment and underemployment remain far higher. Last month, the highest ever long-term unemployment rate was recorded, with 6.5 million Americans out of work for six months or longer.

Scandals over the past few months have given rise to people’s concerns about the reliability of scientific evidence on climate change. Recent polls have also suggested that concern about the threat of global warming is weakening in Australia.

The Copenhagen Climate Conference, charged with crafting a new international agreement to curb climate change, ended in failure, with the text of the accord recognizing the need to act but containing no commitments to do so.

The climate demonstration in Copenhagen on December 12, with over 100,000 participants, was the biggest climate protest ever. It had a strong anti-capitalist character, with our socialist CWI contingent chanting, "Save the planet - smash the system - what we need is socialism." This is a report from Swedish socialist activists at the demonstration.

Climate change is accelerating. On November 4 the North Pole ice cap fell below the record lows for early November set in 2007.

Amidst a wave of new climate research showing increasingly severe danger from global warming, the successor committee to the 1997 Kyoto Accord will be convening in Copenhagen this December.