Breakfast With Al Gore Convinced Branson to Pledge Billions to ...
(ABC News) How did British billionaire Sir Richard Branson decide to pledge about $3 billion to developing alternative energy sources? Former Vice President Al Gore convinced him over breakfast one morning. Branson, in fact, admits to being skeptical about global warming in the past. "I was skeptical, but I've met a lot of scientists. I've read a lot of books. I've had Al Gore spend two hours at my home giving me his personal time to convince me, and sadly, I'm now convinced that the world has a serious problem," Branson said today on "Good Morning America."

The Arab World and the Challenge of Shifting to the Post-oil Era
(Dar Al-Hayat) What will be the situation of the sources of wealth and the bases of economy after the oil era? This is a question that has not been approached except partially or in the broadest terms possible in some conference and a few seminars that took up the issue.

Biofuels as Invasive Species?
(PhysOrg.com) "Most of the traits that are touted as great for biofuel crops – no known pests or diseases, rapid growth, high water-use efficiency – are red flags for invasion biologists," Wiedenmann said. "We want to start a dialog and approach the question of biofuels systematically." President George Bush announced the U.S. renewable energy initiative in his 2006 State of the Union address, bringing to the forefront the identification and use of potential biofuels as alternative energy sources. The authors of the Policy Forum article in Science call for an examination of potential invasiveness as crops are examined for their biofuel potential and before putting such crops into large-scale production.