Author: Kevin Grandia

There is a brewing controversy swirling around longtime CBC commentator Rex Murphy and his relationship with Canada’s oil industry. As long time readers of DeSmog know, Murphy has been a vocal supporter of the oilsands industry and a booster of those who attack the scientific realities of climate change. (Here’s

Is your pension fund or insurance company a leader or laggard when it comes to avoiding risky bets on the future impacts of climate change? A new survey released today finds that many major institutional investors, like retirement funds and insurance companies, are putting their investments (read: your money) at

All week people have been coming by the press center here at the COP-19 UN climate negotiations asking, “Hey Kevin, why are you just sitting there playing with that pencil?” I sigh and reply, “Just waiting for Canada to do something… anything.”  Finally, Canada’s Environment Minister showed up Wednesday to

A new study released today at the UN climate conference underway in Warsaw, Poland finds that new coal plants cannot be built if we are to keep global warming below the 2° Celsius threshold. That is, unless the coal industry can deploy commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS).  The report,

Today across Canada, thousands of everyday people are showing up at events to tell our government leaders that they must listen to the people who elected them and lead on the issue of climate change. Defend Our Climate, Defend our Community rallies kicked off in Atlantic Canada and now a wave

With another round of international climate negotiations opening this week in Warsaw, Poland, and a new poll finding Canadians wanting leadership on the issue, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government have an opportunity to turn the tides on what has been so far a policy trend in the

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times officially confirmed the paper is no longer running letters to the editor that deny the scientific conclusion that climate change is a reality and is caused mainly by human activities.  Prior to this, the magazine Popular Science went even further and completely turned off

A new study released today concludes that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries stand to make as much as $100 billion in profits if the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is granted a presidential permit from U.S. President Barack Obama.    The report, titled Billionaires’ Carbon Bomb, produced by the think tank International

According to a new white paper by DeSmog Canada, TransCanada Corporation, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, has spent more than $4 million lobbying U.S. federal lawmakers and government department staff since 2010.   The results can be found in a new white paper released today by DeSmog

With the release of a major climate science report by the United Nations coming this week, the self-proclaimed climate “skeptics,” better referred to as the climate deniers or flat-earthers, are kicking it into high gear for their fossil fuel clients and right wing ringleaders.  The likes of Tom Harris, better known

If you’re interested in how misinformation makes its way into the public dialogue on important issues like war in the Middle East or climate change, then you should get to know David Rose, a “special investigations writer” for the UK’s ultra-conservative Mail on Sunday tabloid.    Rose is making headlines this week for

Since when is zoologist Matt Ridley an expert on climate change science? Yes, I get it. The state of science versus opinion is at an all-time low in human history, with perhaps the Dark Ages the only exception. There is currently a “debate” being led by Matt Ridley (you can

New scientific analysis released today on the impacts of the aviation industry on our climate should give pause to government and industry leaders. The report, produced by the Manchester Metropolitan University’s Centre for Air Transport and Environment, titled “Mitigating future aviation CO2 emissions – timing is everything” finds that a

John Bryant, CEO of snack food giant Kellogg’s, found himself in hot water last week on a quarterly earnings call when one investor took the company to task for its part in destroying vital Indonesian peatlands that store vast amounts of climate-polluting carbon, and rainforests home to the last 400 remaining