To: Dr. Jason Carmichael, Associate professor of sociology, McGill University Dr. Carmichael, A friend forwarded me your recent interview on Global TV, where you discussed research on petroleum industry advertising. Normally I don’t watch such news items, but after doing so, I thought your research was worth commenting on since it reached such a wide audience, one that in general is not aware of petroleum industry issues, and may therefore form opinions based on seemingly authoritative … [Read more...]
Column: Take a chance on tech – embracing technological innovation adds strength to a petroleum industry in need of enthusiasm
Not that very long ago, I succumbed and downloaded the Starbucks app to my phone. It was unpleasant to do so for all sorts of reasons. Being a fan of all kinds of coffee, it felt like sort of a false promise, like being a creep and leading someone on – I had no intentions of any sort of monogamous coffee behaviour. It also felt invasive, because it clearly was gathering intel, and it wanted money, and its phony cheerfulness (shove that “Good morning, Terry!” up your virtual a__ you little … [Read more...]
Column: Fear rules the news, but the fact is humanity’s lot has never been better and we have the tools to keep it that way
“Struggling for breath in that ditch full of pee 65 years ago in a working-class suburb of Sweden, little did I know that I would be the first of my family to go to university.” Hans Rosling in “Factfulness” Have you ever read anything so beautiful? Beautiful in two ways. First, I needed a mental remap of Sweden anyway. There had to be more to the country than IKEA, meatballs and Nordic murder mysteries. Now I can add that ditch and its forlorn occupant to my mental list of visuals, … [Read more...]
Column: A Resolution: replace defensiveness with purposefulness – an important January Vancouver conference is a great place to start
I’m not normally one for New Year’s resolutions; there is no thrill in backpedaling furiously on a self-promise before January is half over. But, as with the potential rebirth of the energy scene through things like the ultra-massive hydrogen potential, perhaps it’s time I tried something different. So here’s a New Year’s resolution. It’s a bit early but I’m going to take a run at it and hit 2020 in a higher gear (if I don’t gain too much weight). Before committing to any sort of resolution … [Read more...]
Column: Not dead yet: goodbye to 2019 and the fairy tale about a quick energy transition
Grain of sand in an hourglass It came down to him or me Canada’s greatest band The Headstones - “Long Way to Neverland” As the year draws to a close, it’s natural to look back at the one just past and ruminate on how it went. If you were thinking of doing that, let me save you some time: Bad idea. If you’re reading this, you’re interested in energy, and if you’re interested in energy it has been an exasperating and dumbfounding year. There were, in effect, two central … [Read more...]
Column: Government incentives vs. government disasters – the difference between dynamic, growing industries and near-civil war
To the chagrin of more than a few, I’m generally not interested in picking up my club to go after politicians. They have enough problems; can you imagine getting up every morning to go work in those pits of manufactured animosity and gamesmanship and influence-peddling? After a full day of such debauched maneuvering, I’d feel like a plumber’s snake. Thankless job though it may be, they volunteered for it for whatever reason, and as our representatives, it is fully our right to point out … [Read more...]
Column: Canada is a high per capita emitter? How DARE you!
Do you ever feel like the mock-producer in “This is Spinal Tap”, engaged in a conversation with guitarist Nigel Tufnel, as Tufnel explains how his amps are special because they go to 11? The producer points out, yeah, but full volume is full volume, and you can call it whatever you want but it’s just full volume. Tufnel listens patiently then looks him dead in the eye and says, as if to an idiot, “These go to 11.” We, the great masses of Canada, are trying to explain to a dogmatic minority … [Read more...]
Column: Let’s get back to the business of innovation, adaptation and entrepreneurialism – the best antidote to destructive naysayers is success
My career in the petroleum sector began in a way that past generations of plains indigenous people might relate to, or at the very least their food source would. I was part of a great migratory herd, not unlike buffalo, moving across the grasslands in search of food (so to speak). Most members of my U of Sask graduating class migrated westward in the 1990s in search of a better future, as it was pretty bleak back home. We tried not to act like buffalo, we really did, and the gracious locals … [Read more...]
Column: Sorting wheat from chaff: Learning about electric vehicle progress from the media is like learning about a deal-of-the-century from a used car dealer
Ah, Saturday mornings. Nothing quite like them. First, take the poop machine for a walk in the fresh morning air, then back in for coffee and a multi-decade staple – US automotive show Motorweek. The show remains worth watching because it keeps up with the times, more or less (the host’s two-extra-yards-of–fabric suits have not), and now includes a regular and interesting electric vehicle component. What’s particularly fascinating about the show’s EV component is that it provides a glimpse … [Read more...]
Column: The auto-tuned wailing of child climate puppets drowns out a valid oil patch question: have we forgotten that necessity is the mother of invention?
What do OPEC, potash companies, and modern prairie farmers have in common? By process of elimination, it’s not the attire: flowing white form-fitting mumus vs. business suits vs. John Deere hats/worn plaid/missing fingers. It’s not beverages; sliced-fruit-flavoured water vs. red wine vs. Pilsner beer consumed in five-gallon quantities or five gallon pails, depending on the formality of the event (the former appropriate for weddings, the latter for everyday socializing). No, what these … [Read more...]
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