Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

Relocating for work . . . 

From Filipino electricians in western Australia and Indian petrochemical engineers working in the Persian Gulf, to Latvian stone masons in Northern Ireland, the world’s labor force is on the move.

Globalization means that not only are companies are moving operations offshore to where there is cheaper labour – but workers are increasingly prepared to cross borders to find where the best jobs are.

Popular images of migrant workers are of the of the poor, the oppressed and unskilled. Yet according to Manpower, one of the world’s largest recruitment companies, they are more likely to be young, under 30 years of age, well-educated with university or vocational qualifications, and female as much as male.

This matters to employers who, according to Manpower, will increasingly be competing for workers, such as the managers at Irish meat processing plants “whose skilled Slovak butchers are being lured away by competitors in Norway”.

Unlike earlier migrations, today’s migrant workers are not on a one-way trip. Flights home are readily available. Irish emigrants began returning a decade ago as the economy of the “Celtic Tiger” boomed. Now, it is Indian professionals and Polish construction workers who are returning to seek new opportunities.

Competition for such workers is increasing. Even oil-rich Gulf states can no longer rely on a seemingly endless flow of cheap engineers and construction workers from the Asian sub-continent.

One Gulf company, for example, told Manpower it was “starting to miss crucial project deadlines” because it could not “import the skilled expatriate engineers and project managers it used to be able to get easily.”

Propelling labour mobility over the next few decades will be huge demographic changes, in particular the ageing and stagnating populations in developed countries. According to the United Nations, Italy’s population is expected to decline from 57 million to 41 million by 2050 while Japan’s is projected to fall 17% to 105 million by 2080.

Workers are also becoming more aware of their worth, with the internet providing much greater information on job opportunities at home and abroad, says Manpower.

Workers will also move within national boundaries to find work. China is currently struggling to accommodate “the rush of individuals leaving its poor western provinces in search of better jobs in the glittering commercial hubs of the country’s east coast,” it says.

Japan has also seen a huge population shift to its cities, imperilling its agricultural sector, while Norway must deal with the emptying of its rural north - and Mexico’s southern states contend with…a massive talent drain to the industrialised northern border states.

Employers who have moved offshore in search of cheap labour can get caught out, however, as local economies develop and other multinationals move in, competing for a limited number of skilled workers. According to Manpower, it is not unusual for workers at call centres in Bangladesh to attend an interview, accept a new job and start straight away at a higher salary all in the same lunch hour, says Manpower.

Read full article at FT.com

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ff92332-3ed2-11dd-8fd9-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Addressing ongoing food riots around the world — in places as disparate as Haiti, Egypt, Indonesia, and Pakistan — has shot to the top of the World Bank's crisis agenda.

International leaders met last weekend to discuss spiking commodity prices — up 40% in 2008 — and to ring the alarm for international aid. Heeding the call, President Bush released $200 million in food aid on Tuesday.

The grave situation, felt most acutely in the developing world, has been fueled by several factors. The world population continues to grow while arable land mass decreases; more land is being cultivated for biofuels, not crops; and a changing climate has disrupted traditional growing patterns. (CN)

Read Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/business/worldbusiness/15food.html?ref=world

Thanks to the weakened dollar, the United States has jumped ahead of France, Britain and other European countries as a cheaper place to do business.

 In 2006, the United States ranked seventh, trailing several other G7 countries. This year, with the dollar at record lows against the euro, only Mexico and Canada are cheaper.

 Mexico, which is new to the study, was cheapest overall. It was added to incorporate a major trading country that is a party to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Among the larger cities, the cheapest in which to operate were Puebla, Guadalajara and Monterrey, all in Mexico.

In the United States, the cheapest places were Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The San Francisco Bay Area was the most expensive in the nation, edging out New York for that dubious distinction. London, Frankfurt, Germany, and Manchester, England, were all more expensive than San Francisco.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Well it seems we only have ourselves to blame . . . Charles

Water shortages in the western U.S. are not likely to wane any time soon, according to new research that finds human activities are responsible for recent droughts.

60% of the changes in river flow, snowpack, and winter temperatures from 1950 to 1999 were caused by human activities, such as driving, that produce greenhouse gases.

Read full article at Environmental Science & Technology

As well are all aware, billions of plastic bags are choking our planet, littering the landscape, and put toxic chemicals in our rivers, lakes, beaches and the ocean.

The plastic bags we use, and throw away every day do not biodegrade, they photodegrade, which simply means the plastic breaks down into small toxic bits which contaminate the ground and waterways.

These toxic plastic bits also enter the food chain when animals ingest these particles.

Sea turtles, whales and other marine life die from ingesting plastic bags and debris mistaken for food.

While these bags are assumed to be "free", these plastics bags have, and will continue to bring an untold cost to our global environment.   

Plastic bags are a by product of the oil industry, and it takes vast amounts of oil to produce the billions of bags that are used by consumers every day. So it's easy to understand that the cost of oil is also driven by our constant use of plastic bags and products.

Visit this great site for more info, and how you, and all of us can get more involved -
Eco-friendly reusable bags, plus facts & news on plastic bag issue
http://www.reusablebags.com/

On the global world market, the United States is for sale - and at discount prices.

A Saudi conglomerate buys a Massachusetts plastics maker last year. A French company starts a new factory in Michigan at the end of last year, and a British company buys up a New Jersey cough syrup maker.

A German company broke ground in last November in Alabama on a $3.7 billion stainless steel plant  - all the while touting about the low cost of production in the United States and the chance to reach many millions of customers - in particular because NAFTA allows goods to flow into Mexico and Canada free of duty.

The weakened American dollar has made our companies and properties cheaper on the global market - especially for European and Canadians.

And while our economic growth is weak, other countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and Germany have strong growth and one key economic factor the U.S. does not have - strong exports.  

According to research firm Thomson Financial, foreign investors poured $414 billion last year into securing stakes in American companies, factories - and other properties through private deals, and purchases of public traded stocks. 

That staggering amount accounts to more than one-fourth of all deals announced for the entire year. And during the first two weeks of 2008, foreign businesses have invested $22.6 billion in American companies.

Canada is the leading country buying stakes in American companies spending more than $65 billion in 2007, but other countries' purchases are growing rapidly. South Korea's investments were totaled to more than $10.4 billion last year; Russia invested $572 million; and India $3.3 billion.

If the dollar continues to drop, look for more foreign companies buying up U.S. assets at even more bargain prices.

While State officials and government officials in Washington are courting more and more foreign money in an effort to convence Americans that the economy is indeed growing, there are also concerns about foreign countries gaining an influence over U.S. financial systems and military related technology. But even with these concerns, vast pools of money are still being courted from China to the Middle East. It's a Catch 22 situation because all this foreign investment may be preventing the U.S. from sinking deeper into financial crisis.

Wall Street is benefiting because banks like Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have sold stakes to government controlled funds in Asia and the Middle East to compensate for huge losses on subprime mortgages.

Some American workers are also benefiting. Five million Americans now work for foreign companies set up in the United States, and those jobs pay 30% more than similar work at domestic companies. Almost a third of these jobs are in manufacturing, which explains why many States are looking for more foreign investment.

Bottom line - The U.S. has lost more than three million manufacturing jobs since 2001, with foreign trade often taking the blame. Foreign-made goods now account for roughly one-third of all wares consumed in the United States, and now our economy is vulnerable to decisions made very far from our shores.

Source: New York Times - by Peter S. Goodman and Louise Story 

Most genetically modified plants grown today have traits that facilitate production at the farm.

The latest GM plants in the development pipeline, however, offer more than just agronomic advantages. Among the new possibilities for plant biotechnology is “biopharming”, or the production of pharmaceuticals or specialty chemicals in genetically modified plants.

While progress in the US has been hampered by contamination scandals, European companies seem to have taken the lead by implementing strict safety controls right from the start.

Read full article at GMO Compass 

Global climate change, if left unaddressed, is likely to pose "as a great or a greater foreign policy and national security challenge than any problem" the United States currently faces, according to a major new report released here Monday by two influential Washington think tanks.

The rising temperatures and sea levels that are caused by climate change will probably set off "large-scale migrations of people, both inside nations and across existing national borders" even under more benign scenarios.

The impact of drought and glacial melt in some parts of the world will is also likely to spur large population movements.

"The more severe scenarios suggest the prospect of perhaps billions of people over the medium or longer term being forced to relocate," according to the report, which stressed that any mass migrations will almost certainly trigger sharp increases in regional tensions and increasingly draconian efforts by wealthier countries to prevent migrants from crossing their borders.

No region is more directly threatened by human migration than is South Asia, as low-lying regions of Bangladesh will become progressively more uninhabitable under the expected scenario, and India will have to cope with a surge of displaced people from its eastern neighbor.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and its biggest oil-producer, and East Africa are also likely to become severely stressed under the mildest scenario, as a result of changes to the climate, coupled with population growth. State failure - which is already in evidence in East Africa - is a distinct possibility.

The expected decline in food production and fresh drinking water, combined with greater possibilities for intra-state and inter-state conflict, will drive more Africans and South Asians to migrate further abroad, possibly resulting in a major surge in the number of Muslim immigrants to Europe, according to the report, which notes that such processes could set in motion both a backlash among Europeans and radicalisation of the continent's Muslim population.

If the severe scenario takes hold, the Americas will also witness mass migration as the residents of low-lying areas in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and the northern rim of South America seek higher ground within countries and across countries, including into the United States.

Source: IPS News

In the quest for alternative fuel, palm oil companies in Indonesia are burning peat forests to clear land for plantations  - despite a government law that prohibits companies using forest fires to cultivate land.

The fires cause vast smoke clouds, and aside from the health risks to millions of people and damage to the environment, the smoke also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, fuelling global warming.

Blazes have started flaring again since the end of June with the start of the dry season.

Satellite images collected by the Forestry Ministry showed 124 "hot spots" in Riau on Sumatra island last week, more than other provinces in the country.

Riau is just across the Strait of Malacca from Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesia has already lost an estimated 72% of its original forests.

Indonesia has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres or about 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical forest, according to Rainforestweb.org, a portal on rainforests (www.rainforestweb.org).

The country is now the world's second-largest palm oil producer.

A World Bank and British government sponsored report placed Indonesia as the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, releasing two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year because of deforestation and forest fires.

Source: Greenpeace

Refugees forced into crowded camps by northern Uganda's two-decade civil war need many things: food, doctors, toilets, bore holes for drinking water, schools -- and computers?

A new charity project wants to launch Uganda's long-isolated war victims into cyberspace, arguing that an Internet link to the outside world will give them a much-needed voice.

The project uses specially-designed PCs with such low energy needs they can be powered by solar panels or even bicycle pedals.

Read the full article at ENN

Ran across an interesting article over at Natural Life Magazine, and it got me to thinking about food miles - CT

For some people, this modern long-distance food system offers unparalleled choice. But it often runs roughshod over local cuisines, varieties and agriculture, while consuming staggering amounts of fuel, generating greenhouse gases, eroding the pleasures of face-to-face interactions around food and compromising food security.

And recent heightened concerns over global warming, compounded by food poisoning scandals linked to contaminated pet, poultry, and pig food ingredients from China, have many of us thinking about where our food comes from…that is, counting our “food miles” (or kilometers.)

Read full article at Natural Life Magazine
http://www.life.ca/nl/116/foodmiles.html

There's no end to what you can find on the internet.

Did you know that Google has a Global Incident Maps site?

The site shows every time incidents of global terrorism and other suspicious events as they happen. I listen and read the news, but had no idea of what's really happening around the globe - it's dangerous out there!! - CT

http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php