Wohoo! There's hope for energy from hot rocks...

...and Australia has absolutely loads of them.

Although this article is a bit presumptuous in saying that they'll have their power plant operational by March when they haven't got their proof of concept plant working, it's still very exiting. If all goes well it'll be good for the planet and the riskier portion of my share portfolio.

If this is true, this is scary.

It became evident from some of the threads on Tell The Truth that members of the Religious Right believe that there is no population problem, and that the problem with food shortages is one of distribution, not quantity.  Thus, the problems that would inevitably (I believe) occur due to the population spike if all pregnancies were brought to term will not ensue, and are merely scare-mongering by people who stand to lose money if abortion is made illegal.

I beg to differ.  Crime goes up as more families have children they cannot afford, food availability goes down and the price goes up as there is less food per person, which in turn bolsters the crime rate as more of the poor must steal to feed themselves.  What are they thinking?  That we'll solve the problem like the old colonials and put a penal colony somewhere? on the moon maybe?

This is from my InvestSmart Newsletter:

"Some food for thought :

• There are now 80 million new mouths to feed every year³.
• By 2030, the United Nations estimates the demand for agricultural products will be about 60% higher than today⁴.
• Rising income in developing markets is creating an increase in annual protein intake of 11% to 15%⁵.
• In 2030, China's meat consumption will be more than double the 1997 levels of 41kg per person⁶.
• We now have about half the arable land per person that we had 40 years ago⁷."

So, anyone for investing in Agribusiness?

3. Population Reference Bureau (PRB) World Population Clock 2006 Datasheet 
4. http://newsletters.fairfax.com.au/cgi-bin16/DM/y/hBa6r0W3z2W03oa0QlIc0Ex 
5. CBA, Commonwealth Research, 2005 
6. SOW-VU website (http://newsletters.fairfax.com.au/cgi-bin16/DM/y/hBa6r0W3z2W03oa0QlId0Ey (Centre for World Food Studies Amsterdam), Brief: China's rapidly growing meat demand: a domestic or an international challenge? 
7. United Nations Food and Ahttp://newsletters.fairfax.com.au/cgi-bin16/DM/y/hBa6r0W3z2W03oa0QlId0Eygricultural Division: Dimensions of need: An atlas of food and agriculture. Rome, FAO, 1995. p. 16-98

How Geothermal spends my money...

Just for something a little different. I do have a life outside of the abortion issue!

Geothermal, a South Australian company looking for hot rock formations to create geothermal (green! -ish) energy is one of the few speculative share holdings I have.

The other day they sent me a pamphlet with this on the front to show me how they were spending their shareholder's millions. One hose reel, a piece of string and a teeny weeny hole someone else had drilled!! How ripped off did I feel?

Luckily they also had other pictures of their bigger drilling rigs. This was a small relief, and made this picture seem hilarious. How could anyone think that this was showing off? Were they trying to look thrifty?

I'm not sure that this company is going to do too well anyway, as they don't have the same backing as the other geothermal company I have interests in. My hope is that they'll discoverer something and be bought out for more than I paid for them. Fingers crossed :-)