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...]
Youth, technology and sustainable energy development: this is the exciting future
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...]
Rethinking energy, rethinking industry – who’d have thought pucks would take centre stage?
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...]
What is the west so upset about? Well, there’s this…
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...]
Environmental crotch-kicking is the latest thing, and it will not end where we think it will
“There’s no more complex, messy, community-wide argument…political discourse is now a formulaic matter of preaching to one’s own choir and demonizing the opposition. Since the truth is way, way more gray and complicated than any one ideology can capture, the whole thing seems to me not just stupid but stupefying…how can any of this possibly help me, the average citizen, how even to conceive for myself what the policy’s outlines should be? ...it’s childish, and totally unconducive to hard … [Read more...]
Building energy and the west required iron will and stoic discipline
At the risk of sounding like Grandpa Simpson, sometimes valuable lessons from decades past are worth dredging up. As a case in point, one cold February evening when back on the farm I drove over to a friend’s house and we headed into town for refreshments. We took his truck, and when we got back to his place at 3 am my car wouldn’t start because it was -42 and the block heater had called in sick. So I slept on their couch, and was awakened at about 6am by a gentle shake on my shoulder. It was my … [Read more...]
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