2008 was indeed a year the world turned upside down — all of humankind’s doing — when old battles were renewed and intensified. Coming to the fore were the titanic struggles between socialism and capitalism, race and nationhood, sustainable and extreme exploitations of resources, government and private enterprises. This was a year of financial meltdown, bailouts, food shortage, record oil prices, civil and political strife, tumbling equity markets, continuing wars and millions more falling into poverty . A year where investments found no safe haven and when cash was literally “king”. Yup, it was certainly a year to forget. ------------- Not much earlier, global economic activities were already being rocked by inflation, particularly in rising food prices and escalating cost of commodities, including crude oil that hit a record US$147 per barrel in July. This more than anything else has got to spur humans to have a serious relook at the use of the scarce precious resources. Though