Investing...

Was it just my imagination, or did I hear a small ripple of applause from the forests, the wetlands and the glaciers, as the news of the collapse of Bear Stearns leaked into the public realm. There are many precursors of economic collapse; one is the sudden upturn in the price of gold, another is a rise in the little known “skyscraper index” — both of which signal the move by the wealthy to invest their money into things that may hold their value longer than pieces of electronic data whizzing around the networks of the world’s investment banks and clearing houses. No one will be surprised that Bear Stearns’ collapse means recession in imminent, and the investors are popping Prozac like cups of coffee.

And that ripple of applause? It’s because with recession comes a drop in consumer spending, a reduction in the number of goods being made and moved around the world, a slump in the sale of houses, vacations, big cars, air conditioning, patio heaters: a downturn in the carbon engine that has, for the last 3 decades been driving the global temperature inexorably upwards as the amount of money swilling around in the planet’s economic engines keeps growing.

Recession stops greenhouse gases being emitted...