There hasn’t been a lot of energy talk here on the Globalhood blog. Let’s change all that and kick things off with a recent article from Chuck Squatriglia at Wired about bacterially developed hydrogen.

Researchers at Penn State University say they’ve developed a way to use bacteria to extract hydrogen from almost any biodegradable organic substance, from grass clippings to wastewater.

Hydrogen is often touted as a virtually limitless source of clean energy, but its ecological benefits have been minimal because it is often produced using natural gas in a process that releases carbon dioxide — a problem the new method seems to solve.
The discovery, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, holds great promise for advancing hydrogen as a viable sustainable fuel because, the researchers say, it uses existing technology and can be put to use immediately.

“It’s crossed the line from a science-fair project to feasible technology,” said Bruce Logan, a professor of environmental engineering who led the research. “You can do it from any renewable organic matter.”

Cool. Hit the link to jump to the full article.

From the good folks at Good Magazine comes a short animation about the Death Industry and it’s costs (economically, environmentally or otherwise). It’s a nice–if slightly macabr–reminder of how the unintended and unlooked-for consequences of our actions can have highly deletirious effects on the world around us. It’s also a pretty neat video.

There is a Globalhood-related opening in NYC this Thurdsay! Details Below:

November 8 – December 6, 2007 / opening reception:
Thursday, November 8th; 6 - 9pm* / closing reception:
Friday, December 6th; 7 - 10pm*
CENSORSHIP: AN EXHIBITION BENEFITING ARTISTS IN
DISTRESS

freeDimensional and L2EL ARTS Host Multi-Media Gala
with Local and Global Artists Who Fight Back
New York, NY – From November 8 through December 6,
2007, freeDimensional and L2EL
ARTS will bring together twenty-seven local and global
artists who create art that rejects the
complex systems that presently dominate humanity and
prevent free expression. The exhibition
is located at the Brecht Forum on 451 West Street, New
York between Bank Street and Bethune Street.
Visit www.brechtforum.org for directions.

Artists including Issa Nyaphaha, a Cameroonian artist
who was imprisoned and tortured for his
journalistic drawings, and Pierre Mumbere Mujomba, an
award-winning Congolese playwright,
will exhibit along side artists such as Mike Diana,
the first artist ever to be convicted of
obscenity in the United States, and Natasha Mayers,
Commondreams.org’s first resident artist.
The Opening reception on November 8, 2007,
6:00pm-9:00pm, will feature over forty works by
twenty-seven visual and performance artists and global
activists, interactive sessions, multi-genre
musical performances, and multi-media displays. There
will be a suggested donation of ten
dollars at the door to help raise money for the
freeDimensional network. Sponsors for the
opening reception include Peripheral Media, Pearl
Vodka, catering by Little Giant, Lime,
KUMA Inn, Tiapol and Stinky Bklyn. For further details
on the event please visit
www.L2ELARTS.org and www.freedimensional.org.

freeDimensional is a global platform that organizes
community art space and local resources for
the support and protection of individuals who create
dialogue on global issues and inequalities
through their art and media. freeDimensional has over
thirty sites across the globe and has
assisted dozens of artists in distress. For more
information please visit
www.freedimensional.org.

Today was a biggish news day masquerading as a slow news day. Obviously, there’s some pretty big business going on in Pakistan, but lets bracket that now and move along to some stories from Washington.

(1)White Collar Meets Black Face. Okay, so a white employee at the Department of Homeland Security shows up to his boss’ (Julie Meyers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Halloween party wearing a “striped prison outfit, dreadlocks and darkened skin make-up,” By the way, “darkened skin make-up” is a pretty paltry euphemism for black face. Obviously a horribly bad idea, but does it relate to development? Well, yes insofar as it stands as an indictment of the perception of the African-American male by a federal-level bureaucrat. I’d let it pass as a solitary idiot, but unfortunately this is just one instance of the simmering structural racism that’s been bubbling up in America lately: the hanging of a noose on the office door of a professor at Columbia, the nooses in Jena, Dog the Bounty Hunter (surprise suprise), Don Imus, Michael Richards, Katrina etc. etc. What’s up America?

(2)The War in Iraq Continues to be Waq. 2007 is now the deadliest year for American troops in Iraq. The administration has pretty much dropped the “making progress” line and is now focused the spectral threat of Iran to prop up what meager support remains for the war.

(3)Yahoo! Sounds Like Fun Until They Throw you in Prison. Kudos to Tom Lantos of the House Foreign Affairs Comittee for turning the screws on Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang over Yahoo’s complicity with the Chinese government in the arrest of pro-democracy political dissident Shi Tao. This line from Lantos really gets me: “While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies.” Snap!