OTTAWA — Abrupt climate change may soon force governments to choose between feeding people and fuelling SUVs, a respected investment firm says in a new study.

Toronto-based Sprott Asset Management says global warming is occurring faster than expected and rising demand for so-called green fuel will cut into food supplies.

The investment firm produced a bleak study that also predicts increased regulation and ballooning deficits as governments try to cope with more frequent climate-related disasters while building new infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions. Hyperinflation is seen as a plausible result.

Update [2006-7-1 10:15:37 by Leanan]: Russia's Gazprom aims to become world energy leader

China consumes less energy with faster economic growth rate

China's growth rate of energy consumption dropped to 9.5 percent last year from 15.5 percent in 2004, while the country maintained a 9.9 percent economic growth rate in 2005.

...So it is "unfair and incomplete" to blame China for high oil prices, said Dr. Gary Dirks, Vice President of BP Group.

Michigan struggles with the issue of funding roads. They want to cut taxes on E85 to encourage to use of ethanol, but don't know how to pay for road and bridge repair without that revenue.

The Washington Post makes the argument for skyscrapers:

Urban expert James Kunstler argues that energy shortages will scare residents away from skyscrapers because no one wants to climb 50 flights of stairs during a brownout, but that should only scare residents away from skyscrapers without backup generators. If anything, energy shortages should scare residents away from their gas-guzzling suburban commutes.

If that ever happened, Washington would be well situated to lead the way into a new age of urban sustainability. It has excellent public transit, with plenty of room for denser development along the major routes. Nine percent of its residents already walk to work, the most of any U.S. city, and that figure could easily expand with smarter growth. The height restriction is not the only impediment to that growth, but it would be a lot easier to repeal than the region's car-dependent culture, or the knee-jerk anti-density crusades of urban NIMBYists.