# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Games referencing real-world elements and historical events are problematic cultural artifacts. Software does not constitute a document itself as a documentary footage or a journalistic report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Texas could finally become a leader in solar, thanks to a new resolution passed by the city council of Austin.

The bill will require the municipal utility, Austin Energy, to obtain 60 percent of its electricity generation from renewables over the next decade, and to be completely carbon-free by 2030. It calls on Austin Energy to build 600 megawatts of solar power by 2017, and it mandates the city support the build out of 200 megawatts of distributed solar on rooftops.

The council resolution, passed on August 28, could directly lead to the installation of an additional 800 megawatts of solar power, or about four times the total installed capacity in the entire state.

Most importantly, the strategy was done for the sake of economics, says GreentechMedia. Austin Energy signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) earlier this year with Recurrent Energy, a solar developer, for rock bottom prices. The five-cent per kilowatt-hour rate is one of the lowest solar deals around. The low price prompted the city council to look more deeply at solar power as a way to save on costs, which led to the most recent resolution.

Not only is solar generation becoming much more affordable, but it also acts as a hedge against fluctuating natural gas prices. Texas is still a monster when it comes to the production and generation of electricity from coal and natural gas. But with solar generating the most electricity around mid-day, it can shave off some of the load at times of peak demand. Austin decided to allow the Decker Power Plant to shutter as a result, an old natural gas plant that is largely used just for peak power.

The Austin city council move is also indicative of the improving trend for solar. The Wall Street Journal reports that the global solar market is finally tightening, after years of oversupply. Generous support from governments in China, Germany, and the U.S., led to a dramatic expansion of solar manufacturing over the last five years. That caused prices panel prices to collapse as the world was left with a glut of solar modules.

[ Read: U.S. Utility Companies Push Back in Net Metering Battle]

But, lower costs are a boon for consumers - evidenced by the low-cost PPA signed in Austin. That has global demand increasing fast, which is finally soaking up the glut of extra solar panels. Solar demand is now rising twice as fast as manufacturing companies can produce them.

This will provide a huge boost to some of the major solar producers out there, such as First Solar, Yingli Solar, and Suntech. After several years of weak prices, the industry is poised for growth.

In fact, in 2014 the largest solar manufacturers are expected to see their sales rise by more than 50 percent over 2013's figures.

And that is all because more and more places are doing what Texas is doing - turning to solar for cheap electricity generation.

Texas is already the nation's leader in installed wind capacity with 12,755 megawatts in operation. But it has been a laggard in solar power, largely because the policy environment has not been supportive.

Beyond federal incentives, Texas offered little more to the solar industry. Their renewable portfolio standard required a set amount of renewable capacity, rather than a percentage of total electricity. As a result, Texas has already surpassed its 2025 requirement of 10,000 megawatts of renewable capacity, more than a decade early.

With little other incentives in place, solar floundered in Texas. It currently has just 213 megawatts installed, still enough to rank it thirteenth in the country.

But the solar deal in Austin will by itself launch the state of Texas into the top five solar states within a few years. And that could set the stage for future growth, both within Austin, and in other parts of Texas and beyond.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Texas could finally become a leader in solar, thanks to a new resolution passed by the city council of Austin. The bill will require the municipal utility, Austin Energy, to obtain 60 percent of its electricity generation from renewables over the next decade, and to be completely carbon-free by 2030.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History of Oil Discoveries in Texas | Texas Almanac

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oil and natural gas are the most valuable minerals produced in Texas. They have been produced from most areas of Texas and from rocks of all geologic eras except the Precambrian. All of the major sedimentary basins of Texas have produced some oil or gas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Well before the US and UK led the invasion of Iraq, the two countries were under suspicion about their intentions for Iraq's oil. When asked on February 6 2003 in a BBC Newsnight programme whether the war in Iraq was about oil, Tony Blair responded:

Let me just deal with the oil thing ... the oil conspiracy theory is honestly one of the most absurd when you analyse it. The fact is that, if the oil that Iraq has were our concern, I mean we could probably cut a deal with Saddam tomorrow in relation to the oil. It's not the oil that is the issue, it is the weapons.

But then again, the commander of the USCENTCOM during the Iraq War, General John Abizaid, came to see things rather differently: "Of course [the Iraq war] is about oil, we can't deny that."

So what part did oil really play in the Iraq War? Various members of the US and UK administrations have provided evidence that Iraq's rich oil reserves were a major Anglo-American interest in the Middle East, and control of Iraq's reserves was always going to be a huge gain for US and British oil corporations.

But reducing the war in Iraq to this motive alone would be too simplistic, and as the Chilcot Report makes plain, the explanations for the war are highly complex. Still, some factors are more significant than others.

Oil does appear to be one of the central ones, if not in the way that most observers suggest - that is, to guarantee an open flow of Iraqi oil to the US and British economies. Instead, we should think of the oil imperative as part of a much more complex system of factors that drove the 2003 invasion.

Balance of power

The US's global hegemony - its capacity as a great power to get other states to support its geopolitical and economic goals - depends on a highly contingent and transitory set of circumstances. Since the late 1940s, Middle Eastern oil has only become more vital for maintaining the US's global supremacy, and in a more complex way than just a simple grab of oil reserves.

Above all, oil is part of a general strategy to maintain and exercise global power, and it's a central part of the US-centred global system. Middle Eastern oil has played a central role in the rise and continuation of the supremacy of the US and its close allies, arguably the central geopolitical story of our times.

If a hegemonic power wants to impose its political and economic authority over a region, it doesn't do it by mere fiat, but by serving and balancing the interests of its allies and clients. The economies of various US allies, among them Japan and the countries of Western Europe, are to various extents dependent on oil imports; the US's Middle East clients, the oil monarchies, require American protection and support.

The US has accordingly consolidated its strategically dominant position in the Middle East by effectively controlling the " global oil spigot". This is also an effective way to ward off any competition for the top position in this inter-state hierarchy, as all the US's competitors are heavily dependent on Middle East oil - in particular China.

EPA/Stan Honda

The question of US influence over oil-rich countries in the Middle East has become increasingly important after World War II. The so-called Carter Doctrine sums up this development perfectly:

Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.

Three and a half decades on, the Middle East's oil remains one of the central pillars of world politics, to ensure, with the use of violence if necessary, that Middle Eastern oil remains accessible, free-flowing, cheap, and firmly under US control.

Since the end of the Cold War, the US has waged several ground and air wars in the region - two in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and one in Libya - and is currently threatening more. Each conflict has of course its own specific objectives, but there is a common denominator: the need to keep the oil of the region free-flowing, inexpensive, and under the firm control of the US and its friends.

American strategists don't simply want to obtain oil. If you have money, that's easy. They also want to eliminate all potential competitors, safeguarding the region politically and militarily so that the flow of oil from the Middle East to world markets remains under their direct control.

Business as usual

As for Britain, which enthusiastically supported the US-led war in Iraq in sharp contrast to most of the US's European allies, the partnership with the US wasn't simply a manoeuvre for influence on the global stage, and nor was it the fruit of imperial delusion. Britain also had a clear material interest in being awarded a share of the spoils in the form of trade, contracts, and access to markets and natural resources.

This is not a matter of supposition or conjecture. In October 2002, five months before the invasion of Iraq, the then-trade minister, Baroness Symons, told BP executives that the British government was working to secure a good share of Iraq's oil and gas reserves for British energy corporations as a reward for Blair's strong military commitment to US operations for regime change in Iraq.

Confidential minutes released as a result of Freedom of Information request by Greg Muttitt, (co-director of the campaign group Platform), reveal that in several meetings with BP and Shell executives detailed plans were drafted by British government to exploit oil opportunities in post-Saddam Iraq.

Many view all this as evidence of a conspiracy, but that is reductive. These events are part of a larger balance of global economic and political mechanisms - a tangle of political and economic interests coverging under the rubric of "regime change".

Vested interests representing energy, weapons and influential segments of the media and communications industries are entrenched in key sectors of Western governments. These interests are concerned with maintaining their privileged position, and key elements of the US and British elite respond directly.

This was not a conspiracy; it was simply business as usual.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why you can't explain the Iraq War without mentioning oil

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Well before the US and UK led the invasion of Iraq, the two countries were under suspicion about their intentions for Iraq's oil. When asked on February 6 2003 in a BBC Newsnight programme whether the war in Iraq was about oil, Tony Blair responded: Let me just deal with the oil thing ...

# data[].attributes.headline
Adam Ruins Cars (reliance and affect on cities)

# data[].attributes.subject
Adam Ruins Cars (reliance and affect on cities)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
RRH: Rural and Remote Health. Published article number: 1858 - Uses of crude oil as traditional medicine: a survey of mothers in a rural clinic in South-south Nigeria

# data[].attributes.headline
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.subject
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Babies in Nigeria at double the risk of dying before they reach a month old if mothers lived near the scene of an oil spill before conceiving, study shows

Babies in Nigeria are twice as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers were living near an oil spill before falling pregnant, researchers have found.

A new study, the first to link environmental pollution with newborn and child mortality rates in the Niger Delta, shows that oil spills occurring within 10km of a mother's place of residence doubled neonatal mortality rates and impaired the health of her surviving children.

Crucially, oil spills that occurred while the mother was still pregnant had no effect on child or neonatal mortality. But even spills that happened five years before conception doubled the neonatal mortality rate from 38 deaths to 76 deaths for every 1,000 births, the data found.

"The results from the study are absolutely shocking," said Roland Hodler, an economics professor from the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, who led the study. "I didn't expect to see this effect on pre-conception. Why we don't find a stronger effect [on the foetus] during the pregnancy is not entirely clear - maybe it is due to the cumulative contamination of crude oil in the water and soil, which increases over time. But that doesn't explain the entire effect.

"This is a tragedy. Even four to five years prior to conception, an oil spill still matters. I think this should be seen as a first-world problem for something to be done."

Regular, uncontrolled spills have been a prominent feature of Nigeria's oil industry - the nation's primary source of GDP - since crude was discovered there more than 60 years ago. An estimated 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled in the Niger Delta every year, polluting waterways, contaminating crops, and releasing toxic chemicals into the air.

A 2011 report by the UN Environment Programme estimated that, after decades of repeated oil spills in Ogoniland, it would take 30 years to reverse damage to public health and the regional ecosystem.

Unborn and newborn infants are most vulnerable to oil-related pollution because they have not yet developed basic defences such as the blood-brain barrier, which helps protect against toxic chemicals, the study found. Even small doses of pollution are likely to be large in comparison to an infant's body weight, while mothers who ingest poisoned food or contaminated water are also at greater risk of maternal malnutrition and sickness, potentially increasing infant mortality risks, said the researchers.

By pairing georeferenced data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor - which recorded the location of more than 6,600 spills between 2005 and 2015 - with the 2013 national demographic and health survey, Hodler and his colleague Anna Bruederle were able to map oil spill locations in relation to neonatal and child mortality rates among the surrounding populations. The result was an analysis of roughly 5,040 children born to 2,700 mothers in 130 clusters, all within 10km of the closest oil spill.

The researchers then compared siblings' health histories, contrasting the mortality rates of infants conceived or born before the first nearby oil spill with those conceived or born subsequently.

The data proved that neonatal mortality was higher the closer the oil spill was to the mother's location, and that any oil spills prior to conception increased the incidence of low weight-for-height, notably in the first year of life.

The Nigerian government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Activists have called the findings "disturbing and disheartening".

"It is shocking to consider how many children may have died in the past 50 years - since oil exploration started in Nigeria's Niger Delta - as a direct result of regular and uncontrolled oil spills," said Debbie Ariyo of Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, a charity that supports the rights and welfare of African children.

"The ongoing environmental damage means that more children are exposed to harmful chemicals in polluted drinking water, air and food produce. Simply put, as long as the oil spills continue unabated and clean up of the region is delayed, then unfortunately more children will be harmfully impacted."

Additional reporting by Emmanuel Akinwotu Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Absolutely shocking': Niger Delta oil spills linked with infant deaths

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Babies in Nigeria at double the risk of dying before they reach a month old if mothers lived near the scene of an oil spill before conceiving, study shows Babies in Nigeria are twice as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers were living near an oil spill before falling pregnant, researchers have found.

# data[].attributes.headline
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.subject
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On 10 November 1995, environmental and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight community leaders were executed by the Nigerian state. Ken Saro-Wiwa was leading a protest movement against the ecological disaster that oil production had caused in their homeland, Ogoniland. At the time, Amnesty International described their trial as " politically-motivated and grossly unfair ".

Twenty years later, communities in Ogoniland continue to suffer the consequences of Shell's oil spills. Between July and September 2015, people in Ogoniland told Amnesty International how oil spills, and Shell's failure to clean them up, devastated their farms, damaged their health and left them with bleak prospects for the future.

"Our crops are no longer productive. No fish in the water."

Emadee Roberts Kpai, farmer from Kegbara Dere, Ogoniland

Emadee, 83 years old, saw oil spills devastate his lands:

"Things were much better before Shell arrived. Since Shell came to this area, things began to change for the worse in our communities. This is because back then, if you go down to the creeks to fish, there was no crude oil in the creeks, so you can get fish. If you plant crops, gas will not destroy anything you plant.

"When Shell came to our community, the town crier called and we assembled at the town square and Shell addressed us. They promised that if they find oil here they'll transform our community and everybody will be happy. We were all happy. They came appealing to us to grant them permission for their exploration.

"Our crops are no longer productive. There are no more fish in the water. We plant the crops, they grow but the harvest is poor. We used to go fishing. We used to swim. We used to do all sorts of things in the river, because it was clean. Even our fruit trees were very productive. Before the pollution and contamination, children would go to the river and swim and play, but now no more. "

"The oil came down and destroyed everything."

Taagaalo Christina Dimkpa Nkoo, Barabeedom, Kegbara Dere, Ogoniland

Taagaalo, a 65-year-old farmer, told Amnesty International that she used to grow coconuts, yams, and cassava, but all her trees died after an oil spill in 2009 at the Bomu Manifold, where several Shell pipelines meet. The resulting fire burned for 36 hours. She says she still finds oil in the soil.

"The oil came down and destroyed everything...The oil doesn't allow yams or anything to grow...We cannot live well anymore."

"We have no hope for our children in this community."

Barine Ateni, farmer from Kegbara Dere, Ogoniland

Barine is a 45-year-old farmer in Kegbara Dere. She is a widow with seven children between 15 and 30.

Her community was severely affected by oil spills from Shell's Bomu Well 11 in Boobanabe, where Amnesty International researchers saw signs of oil pollution in 2015. Shell claims to have cleaned up the spill twice: in 1975 and 2012.

"When I was born, Shell was already in operation here in this community. Things have been going from bad to worse while growing up in this community. There have been oil spills all the time.

"Even shellfish are no longer there, or periwinkles or things like that. Women have to travel to faraway places to buy it before they use them.

"We, the women, say Shell should go. They should leave our community. They came here with death and destruction. We don't want them here anymore."

Barine explained the daily struggle the community faces coping with oil-polluted lands and water:

"Everywhere is coated with oil. Even the boreholes, the underground water is polluted. Sometimes we collect water from the boreholes and you see the surface littered with crude oil. So it's not safe for us to drink.

"The children can no longer go to the river or stream to play like they used to do before. Because everywhere is coated with crude. The children can no longer swim, so they play here in the compound...We have no hope for our children in this community.

"We want Shell to compensate for all the damages they have done to this community, provide scholarships for our children, and provide medical facilities to deal with the health of our people in this community. We want the authorities to ask Shell to clean up this place ... and ensure that our community is restored back to normal for our children."

"We want Shell to remedy our environment so it could be of use to us once more."

Boldesi Nuta, farmer from Kegbara Dere, Ogoniland, Niger Delta

Boldesi is a 48-year-old farmer. She has lived in Kegbare Dere her whole life and her children go to school there. She told Amnesty International that when she was 18 years old her foot was badly wounded when a Shell pipe, which had been lying unprotected in the open, exploded. She spent four months in hospital, several days in a coma. The resulting oil spill devastated her family's cassava farm.

She told Amnesty International about the long-term damage the explosion caused her, and her community:

"Since that incident, I have never passed along that route. I know the area is now contaminated. No more farming in that area. The entire place is polluted. I have never been to the farm. Nobody else has been to that farm.

"Sometimes my children ask me how can they live, how can they face the bleak future that's ahead of them. They ask me questions that I am unable to answer. They ask me a barrage of questions about their future which are difficult for me to answer. They see a bleak future.

"We want Shell to remedy our environment so it could be of use to us once more...In our farms, when we plant, we plant in polluted soil and the crops we harvest are also polluted. So the food we eat is contaminated. The air we breathe is polluted."

"Ken Saro-Wiwa's activism played a significant role in my life."

Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, Human Rights and Environmental Activist, Port Harcourt

Activist Fyneface has been at the forefront of campaigns for the rights of the Ogoni and Niger Delta people, first as President of the National Union of Ogoni Students, Port Harcourt chapter, and for a Nigerian NGO called Social Action.

He told Amnesty International how conditions in the Niger Delta and the legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa inspired him to become an activist:

"When you get to a polluted environment, you'll see that the people's livelihoods have been destroyed. They don't have good water to drink. Sea food has been destroyed. Their cassava and other things they plant on the farms are no longer doing well. So lives in those environments are no longer bearable.

"Ken Saro-Wiwa's activism played a significant role in my life. It affected me a great deal by inspiring me so much to work for the Ogoni people. Because when I was growing up as a child, I heard about Ken Saro-Wiwa. I saw him once speaking to the people of Eleme in 1992, three years before he was killed. At the time, I never really knew what the man was talking about, but now I've grown up to see what he was talking about. And I'm ready to continue from where Ken Saro-Wiwa stopped by pursuing to ensure that the people have justice for the environment.

"It's very significant to note that it's now two decades since Saro-Wiwa was killed with his kinsmen, over the struggle for the environment that is our right...and justice has still not been done....Twenty years; nothing has been done. Twenty years; Ogoniland is still polluted. Twenty years; no clean-up has been done. Twenty years; justice has not been achieved. Twenty years gone by and what they fought for have not been addressed. That cannot continue.

"This 20th anniversary should be used to re-echo the voice of the people of the Niger Delta. To re-echo the voice of the ethnic minorities. To re-echo the voice of the Ogoni people so that the struggle can be sustained."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The price of oil: the impact of oil pollution on Niger Delta communities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On 10 November 1995, environmental and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight community leaders were executed by the Nigerian state. Ken Saro-Wiwa was leading a protest movement against the ecological disaster that oil production had caused in their homeland, Ogoniland. At the time, Amnesty International described their trial as " politically-motivated and grossly unfair ".

# data[].attributes.headline
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.subject
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There have been numerous reports over the last 18 months about terrorist attacks in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. But one long-running hotbed of political violence, Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, has garnered only a modest amount media attention.

Maybe it's because the conflict between anti-oil insurgents and the government has gone on for so long, some 20 years, that there's a bit of "Niger Delta fatigue." Or perhaps it's because the Niger Delta militants have no ties to radical Islamic groups like al-Qaeda or ISIS and have shown little or no interest in maiming or murdering the innocent - opting instead to attack targets like drill sites, pipelines, tankers and facilities in order to stifle oil production and cripple the Nigerian government economically.

Or it could be that the conflict hasn't gotten as much play in the press as it deserves simply because international oil companies working in dangerous places is "old news."

Because crude oil is such a valuable commodity, international oil companies are practically fearless, impervious to the threats posed by guerrillas, terrorists and insurgents; many of the oil workers are rough and tumble types - "adrenalin junkies" who enjoy the rush of going into such areas to get hydrocarbons out of the ground. But regardless of why the conflict has flown under the radar, what's gone down in the Niger Delta over the last two decades is worthy of attention - much more so than Boko Haram - for it has a direct impact on the level of oil sector investment and operations in the area, Nigeria's oil production and economy, and even world oil markets and oil prices.

Peace won't be easy, but an uneasy détente is possible. Whatever happens will affect not only on oil companies, but consumers, too.

The story, in brief, is as follows: In the late 1980s, several indigenous tribal groups began raising concerns about international oil company operations in the Niger Delta, a region of about 27,000 square miles, larger than the state of West Virginia. The largest and best known of the groups was the Ogoni, an indigenous people of (now) nearly 1 million people. The Ogoni and other ethnic groups - the Ijaws, Itserikis, Urhobos, Isikos, Liages, Ikwerres, Ekpeyes and Ogulaghas - complained that Shell, Mobil and other oil companies were prospering at their expense, as the ethnic groups saw little of the wealth generated by the oil production, while suffering the fallout from widespread environmental degradation caused by exploration and production efforts.

The Ogonis' response to these perceived wrongs was confined, at least initially, to protests, low-level acts of civil disobedience and minor, occasional acts of sabotage, along with the formation in 1990 of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), led by author and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. The conflict escalated over the next few years, and in November 1995, Saro- Wiwa, and eight other activists were hanged by the Nigerian government.

The hangings radicalized the Niger Delta opposition groups, which began to organize and engage in acts of violence and terrorism directed at oil interests.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Oil And Violence In The Niger Delta Isn't Talked About Much, But It Has A Global Impact

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There have been numerous reports over the last 18 months about terrorist attacks in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. But one long-running hotbed of political violence, Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, has garnered only a modest amount media attention.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Extra Credits- The Hero's Journey (part 1)

# data[].attributes.headline
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.subject
Oiligarcyi: Effect of oil on Nigeria Delta

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
John Vidal in Bodo

he air stinks, the water stinks, and even the fish and crabs caught in Bodo creek smell of pure "sweet bonny" light crude oil. The oil has found its way deep into the village wells, it lies thick in the mudflats and there are brown and yellow slicks all along the lengthy network of creeks, swamps, mangrove forests and rivers that surround Bodo in the Niger delta.

The first oil ever exported from Nigeria was found just five miles away from Bodo in 1958. But chief Tella James, chair of Bodo's maritime workers, says life for the 69,000 people who live in the vicinity changed dramatically in August 2008 when a greasy sheen was first seen deep in the Bodo swamps miles from the nearest houses.

Shell disputes that, saying that a weld broke in September 2008 in the 50-year-old trans-Niger pipeline that takes 120,000 barrels of oil a day at high speed across the Niger delta. Either way the spill was not stopped until 7 November 2008. By that time, as much as 2,000 barrels a day may have been spilled directly into the water.

A month later in December 2008 the same pipeline broke again in the swamps. This time Shell did not send anyone to inspect or repair it until 19 February 2009. According to oil spill assessment experts who have studied evidence of the two spills on the ground and on film, more than 280,000 barrels may have been spilled.

Bodo is at the epicentre of several pipelines that collect oil from nearly 100 wells in the Ogoni district and there have been plenty of minor spills in and around the communities over the years. But this was far more serious, says Nenibarini Zabby, head of conservation at the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development in Port Harcourt.

"This was an exceptionally sensitive ecosystem," said Zabby. "The spill lasted a very long time and it spread with the tides. The health of people is at risk. The company needs to compensate the people but they must also recover the environment," said Zabby.

Chief James, assistant secretary to the Bodo council of chiefs and elders, said every family had been affected by the disaster.

"Nowhere and no one has escaped," he said. "This has caused serious poverty to everyone. Nearly 80% of people here are fishermen or they depend on the water. They have lost their livelihoods. People are leaving the community in their hundreds to search for greener pastures. We used to live beautifully. People caught so much fish we could sell it to the cities. Now we have no hope," he said.

A Bodo woman said social problems had followed the environmental ones. "People go hungry, there is more petty stealing," she said.

According to the community leaders, youths from the area started to steal oil and refine it in illegal camps only after the two spills occurred. "It was the negligence of Shell which compelled people to steal. When our livelihoods were destroyed the youth went to places where they learned how do bunkering. They were desperate. They learned from others to steal. It was to survive," says Groobadi Petta, president of the Bodo city youth federation.

Sylvester Vikpee, a barrister and legal adviser to the council of chiefs, said Shell had not responded humanely to the disaster. "They do not know the scale of the devastation. One of the richest companies in the world has done this to us. We have tried to talk to them and asked them what they plan. They have told us nothing."

The Niger delta is one of the most polluted regions in the world, with more oil spilled across the region each year than spilt in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. According to Nigerian government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillage sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller spills still waiting to be cleared up.

More than 1,000 spill cases have been filed against Shell alone, but while the company has been been fined many times by courts in Nigeria for pollution incidents, appeals can take years and communities complain that proper clean-ups and compensation money never reaches them.

"For decades claims have swirled around in the Nigerian courts getting nowhere. Having a venue to bring claims in a proper structured way will revolutionise the process and hopefully ensure that the Nigerians who have suffered loss from the many, many spills, will have a much more ready outlet for their grievances and claims," said Martyn Day of Leigh Day and Co.

Shell, which admitted to spilling 14,000 tonnes of oil in 2009, works in partnership with the Nigerian government in the delta, but argues that that 98% of all its oil spills are caused by vandalism, theft or sabotage by militants and communities and only a minimal amount by deteriorating infrastructure.

No one from the Shell petroleum development company in Nigeria was available to comment on the Bodo spills this week, and a spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell in London said the company could not say anything while the case was ongoing.

"That Shell has now accepted responsibility for the massive spill at Bodo is surprising only in the sense that it is out of place for polluters of this sort to bow to the truth. We only hope that now they will wake up and accept responsibility for other places in the Niger delta," said Nimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International from Lagos.

Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shell oil spills in the Niger delta: 'Nowhere and no one has escaped'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
John Vidal in Bodo he air stinks, the water stinks, and even the fish and crabs caught in Bodo creek smell of pure "sweet bonny" light crude oil. The oil has found its way deep into the village wells, it lies thick in the mudflats and there are brown and yellow slicks all along the lengthy network of creeks, swamps, mangrove forests and rivers that surround Bodo in the Niger delta.

# data[].attributes.body
The Stanley Parable Flowch

# data[].attributes.body
An article describing video games as lit.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Video games could be the greatest storytelling medium of our age - if only the worlds of art and technology would stop arguing and take notice

t's an unfortunate feature of working as both a novelist and a games designer that I end up sitting through a lot of panels, round-tables, conferences, discussions and other exercises in head-nodding where digital people try to get to grips with storytelling, or where story people try to understand the digital world.

Both these types of event have their aggravations. When digital people run workshops or colloquia or jams (there are infinite names for the basic principle of bringing people together in combination with coffee) about storytelling, they often seem not to notice that quite a lot of very clever people have been thinking very hard about stories for, oh, the past 3,000-4,000 years. I've heard people suggest that maybe stories have a "pattern" or "structural ordering" that holds together their parts, without apparently realising that a lot of people have written about this, from Aristotle on.

And let's not even get on to the people who say things like "data is a story", "products are a story", "your robo-vacuum cleaner has a story to tell you". No it isn't, no they're not, and no - unless artificial intelligence has come on much faster than anticipated - it doesn't.

But more aggravating even than this are the forums, summits, breakout sessions and seminars on "digital literature" run by exceedingly well-meaning arts people who can talk for hours about what the future might be for storytelling in this new technological age - whether we might produce hyperlinked or interactive or multi-stranded novels and poems - without apparently noticing that video games exist. And they don't just exist! They're the most lucrative, fastest-growing medium of our age. Your experimental technological literature is already here; it's the noise you're trying to get your children to turn down while you pen your thoughts about the future of location-based storytelling.

When I bring this up with arts and literary types, I often get the sort of "oh come, come" response that can only emerge from someone who has no familiarity whatsoever with what video games are, have been, and can be. "You can't claim that Grand Theft Auto has literary merit," they say. Maybe you can - plenty of people have - but no, I wouldn't cite GTA as fascinating experimental literature any more than I'd cite robo-Godzilla-fighting blockbuster Pacific Rim as an example of avant-garde film-making (it's fun though).

But are there video games experimenting with more interesting storytelling than any "digital literature" project I've seen? Yes, certainly. And if you want to think of yourself as well read, or well cultured, you need to engage with them.

To pick just 10 examples from recent years, it's hard to imagine how you could opine on the future of literature without having played the brilliantly characterful and fourth-wall breaking , the sombre and engrossing Papers, Please, or the dazzlingly surreal exploration of the American subconscious, Kentucky Route Zero. Are you interested in discussing experimental "read it in any order" literature? Then for goodness' sake, play the mystery narratives of and and the hilarious and unsettling The Stanley Parable. If you want to talk about how writers can engage with politics, capitalism, or the environmental movement, you'll be showing your ignorance if you haven't played Oiligarchy.

xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">

Being culturally educated about video games is as important as going to museums or learning about opera

Interested in how storytellers can engage with themes of mortality? You'll want Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, or Jason Rohrer's short, powerful game , or the sublime . Each of these games could - and probably should - be taught in schools to inspire the next generation of creators.

The problem is that people who like science and technology, and people who like storytelling and the arts have typically been placed in different buildings since about the age of 16. We haven't been taught how to admire each others' work, to recognise excellence, or even to know that there is excellence in "the other culture". There's a kind of sullen arrogance on both sides, with some people in both camps simply denying that the other knows anything worth listening to. There is a kind of "worthy" arts professional who thinks that knowing nothing about games - like saying "I don't even own a television!" - is a marker of intellectual superiority.

But we can't afford that kind of thinking any more. Being culturally educated about video games is as important as going to museums or learning about opera. Games often manage to be both great art and an economic powerhouse; we're doing ourselves and the next generation a disservice if we don't take that seriously.
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The first great works of digital literature are already being written

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Video games could be the greatest storytelling medium of our age - if only the worlds of art and technology would stop arguing and take notice t's an unfortunate feature of working as both a novelist and a games designer that I end up sitting through a lot of panels, round-tables, conferences, discussions and other exercises in head-nodding where digital people try to get to grips with storytelling, or where story people try to understand the digital world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Extra Credits- The Hero's Journey (part 1)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Extra Credits- The Hero's Journey (part 2)