This isn’t going to sound very nice, but think of all the stupidity in the world. I’m not trying to be mean, and no, this isn’t some sort of political diatribe. Sorry to break it to everyone but Trudeau isn’t stupid – he is just wildly out of his element. He has no ability or inclination for the finesse required to run a massive organization. Had he stayed in the drama classroom, we might all be marvelling at his brilliant productions. But just because someone isn’t stupid doesn’t mean they [Read more]
An amateur, natural gas-defaming propaganda “report” by six motley Rockefeller-backed researchers captures global media attention – how does this happen?
You find the craziest sh*t on the internet. And I do mean sh*t. Consider the following group: Aiqun Yu from California worked for 18 years with China Central Television focusing on environmental and social issues. Bob Burton from Australia is an anti-coal activist and co-author of “Secrets and Likes - The Anatomy of an Anti-Environmental PR Campaign". Christine Shearer from California has a “background in interdisciplinary climate change and energy research” – backed by a PhD in Sociology. [Read more]
Celebrating Federal Environment Minister McKenna’s contributions to Canada
“Hello, this is 9-1-1, how may we help you?” “I’d like to report an emergency.” “Can you tell me what’s happened and where? Are there any injuries?” “Certainly. What’s happened is that hundreds of years ago people started burning coal, which made things better, so they burned more, and then there were a lot more people, then they discovered oil, which caused a lot of development and then there were a lot more people, and now they are using so much of it that the world might warm up 2 [Read more]
Diversify the economy? Thanks tips, but it’s far harder than armchair quarterbacks think
Have you ever heard of the Dutch disease? No, it isn't a product of Amsterdam’s legendary red-light district; the concept originates with economists, who are in every imaginable way the opposite of a red-light district. One could even imagine the red light district going dark for the duration of an economists' conference; some things just aren't worth it. The term Dutch disease refers to an economic condition that can confound nations when an abnormally successful industry tilts the table [Read more]
Reducing GHG emissions is abstract, reducing comfort levels is not, and don’t even think about the latter
I once volunteered to help administer a prize of some sort for an organization I can’t remember the name of (there are good reasons for the hazy memory, some sort of repression I think). The prize on offer was for an organic yard weeding – to whip someone’s yard into shape without the use of herbicides. The contest winner lived on the edge of the city on an oversized lot, and we arrived one fine evening to see an ocean of dandelions in bloom, for (what seemed like) as far as the eye could see [Read more]
Who’s not taking emissions seriously? Globe-trotting climate delegations not fit to lecture a vastly-improving energy sector
Ever been a visitor to a seniors’ home, or even a hospital, visiting a sick loved one or perhaps someone you have injured, and heard in the background one of those humans that relentlessly whines and complains about everything? And you observe that the care workers are seemingly oblivious to the irrationality and ceaselessness of the griping, even when us mortals are casting our gaze about for a pillow that is, at a minimum, face-sized, and you realize that in some settings that is one’s lot in [Read more]
When serious climate-change news is funnier than satire, is it the end of the world or the rebirth of common sense?
Promoting a book is not easy, in large part because to do so successfully requires full participation in the foul world of social media. It looks simple but simple mistakes can cost you an arm or a career (ask Howard Dean, a US politician who obliterated his political career with a singular yowling noise he brought forth in a speech; a fatal error in the speed-of-light digital era). I made a rookie mistake on Twitter recently, and was fortunate to emerge unscathed – I was not savaged for the [Read more]
Pay for a Green New Deal by removing “fossil fuel subsidies”? Can anyone possibly be that financially illiterate?
Recently, while wandering through the often-wondrous but sometimes-brainless world wide web, I came across an article about how to pay for a Canadian Green New Deal. Normally, except for Harry Potter, I am not much interested in fantasy literature, but this one caught my eye because it dredged up an old chestnut that I hadn’t seen for a while - that green social schemes could be paid for by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. “IMF economists calculate that Canada pumps a shocking $58 billion per [Read more]
A (second, less cranky) open letter to Victoria’s Mayor
Dear Mayor Helps, A few months ago, Canadians noticed in the news that Victoria was considering a lawsuit against petroleum companies to hold them accountable for the effects of climate change. The story broke soon after Whistler’s mayor signed a letter to oil companies asking for compensation for same, and the one-two punch was too much for Canada’s energy industry. The howls of outrage were heard across the land, and no one howled louder than I did. In early April, my shrieking subsided a [Read more]
About those “stranded petroleum assets”…a new catch phrase that Canada subscribes to but no one else
I’m sure everyone is aware of the current state of renewable energy, because you’d have to live in the Mariana Trench not to be. The great god Google makes this clear; searching for “wind energy” coughs up 420 million results; “solar energy” finds 620 million references. Poor old “fossil fuels” yields only 88 million, despite being the backbone of the world. While that is a sign of the times, fossil fuels, no matter what one wants to hear, still dominate the global landscape, and attempts to [Read more]
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