Terry Etam

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]

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]

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]

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]

Young people, we need you! The world needs you. Not to protest, but to build. Not to complain, but to solve. Not to panic, but to overcome. A movement has swept the world, stating that the future of humanity is threatened by climate change. You've seen it on the news, students have taken to the streets to protest environmental inaction. Greta Thunberg, the fearless 16-year old Swedish leader, has challenged the world's elite to stop stalling, to "feel panic like I do."  What's that about? [Read more]

It is very easy to get bogged down in energy wars. Conversations, even macro-type ones, often degenerate into debates about trees and not the forest – is this/that pipeline needed, is there a market for bitumen, etc. Energy talk devolves into these bite size pieces, and fixates on them, because that’s how Canada’s energy industry is attacked, so we must deal with the disinformation.  There is a whole internet that needs convincing. But when that happens, it gets harder to think outside the [Read more]

Instead of raining blows upon people’s heads with yet another diatribe about how Canada’s petroleum sector is being disadvantaged, it’s time for something a little different, to explain to mystified Canadians just why feeling are running a little high out west. Yes, we see the news, we hear that Canada is warming faster than ever. Yes, we know the world is gravely concerned about climate change. We hear that, and the calls to do better. But the world continues to consume more and more petroleum [Read more]

I know, I know. Conversations are supposed to be positive and constructive. Bad Terry. The goal is, and should be, to expand the energy dialogue to be more inclusive, to bring together the disparate viewpoints so that we can start pulling together towards a greener future, at an appropriate pace.     But that isn’t always possible when myths or outrageous accusations are held out as truths, and become part of the mainstream narrative through unopposed force. Constructive dialogue does not mean [Read more]