Canada’s largest newspaper chain promotes climate change denial and works to elect right-wing politicians, even Danielle Smith who a Postmedia columnist said was surrounded by “guaranteed chaos.”
Continue readingAuthor: Norman Farrell
Blogging regularly since April 2009 on public affairs with focus on BC politics, journalism, the environment and ethical matters in the public arena.
IN-SIGHTS: Despicable bedfellows
Professor Robert Reich is a public affairs commentator published in a broad range of forums. His Substack platform is always worth reading. A recent entry argues that that under Elon Musk, Twitter has fully embraced the political right. As evidence, Reich offers the robber baron’s lovefest with book-banning culture warrior
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Marginalized citizens gain protection
On May 19, Canada’s Supreme Court resolved an important defamation case with six of seven judges finding against former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld. Doing so, the court further defined boundaries of fair public comment and strengthened provincial laws discouraging Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation or “SLAPP” suits.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Climate disasters may be unstoppable
A disaster strikes. The news reaches every home for a few days, perhaps a week. A debate erupts over whether climate change is to blame. Victims are profiled. There’s a tally of lives lost and property destroyed, and then the disaster is forgotten… But the story is quite different for
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Under fascism, universal freedom is doomed
The targeting of enemies—minorities, liberals, secularists, leftists, urban naxals, intellectuals, assorted protestors—is not driven by a calculus of ordinary politics….When you legitimize yourself entirely by inventing enemies, the truth ceases to matter, normal restraints of civilization and decency cease to matter, the checks and balances of normal politics cease to
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Thin blue line bleeds red
Eight years after Myles Gray was beaten to death by a police gang, almost nothing has changed in the process of holding officers accountable for violent misdeeds. Those Vancouver police should count themselves lucky the Memphis chief and prosecutors weren’t in charge here.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Planting seeds of destruction
Instead of moving away from climate damaging energy sources, both Liberal and NDP governments of British Columbia have accelerated fossil fuel production through direct and indirect subsidies.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Zero years for procrastination
We have zero years before climate and ecological breakdown, because it’s already here. We have zero years left to procrastinate. The longer we wait to act, the worse the floods, fires, droughts, famines and heatwaves will get.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Defending democracy through public engagement
In my years of political observation, I have come to realize that elected officials individually have little opportunity to influence public policy. At senior levels of government, power has concentrated in the offices of the first minister. In local governments and school boards, In local governments and school boards, power
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Carbon dioxide removal may be “next to useless”
Humanity has never removed an atmospheric pollutant at a global, continental or, even, regional scale — we have only ever shut down the source and let nature do the clearing up. The scale of the challenge is immense. We must slow the carbon clock to a crawl before we can
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Carbon tax justification for fools
According to a study published by Nature Climate Change, governments of 51 countries spent C$940 billion subsidizing fossil fuels in 2021. The number is likely higher since there are many indirect subsidies, such […]
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Norway’s oil fund approaching C$2 trillion
In 1996, Norway began depositing oil revenue into a national wealth fund so that current and future generations would benefit from the nation’s oil wealth. Bolstered by oil taxes and by profitable investments in more than 9,000 companies outside Norway, the fund is today valued at C$1.84 trillion.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Economics of biodiversity
The UK commissioned a study published in 2021 that was to help the government establish environmental policies for 25-years. Project leader Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta of Cambridge University was assisted by a long list of expert contributors, advisors, and reviewers…
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Hollow words, and deep down we know it
When people gather, it is common to hear acknowledgements that the group is meeting on unceded traditional territories of Indigenous people who have populated western Canada for roughly 14,000 years. The announcements make me uncomfortable. They are hollow words and deep down we know it…
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Woke is not a slur
President Biden vetoed a measure that would have blocked fiduciary retirement fund managers from considering climate change, corporate governance and other factors when making pension investments…
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Overtaxed or underserved?
Metro Vancouver and 21 lower mainland municipalities reported total accumulated surpluses of $42 billion in 2021. That was seven times the annual expenses reported in 2021 by the same local governments…
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: A special day
Some folks think social media is a toxic cesspool and avoid it. Other search for valuable content and find it. Many have found Zachery Dereniowski, creator of this video, which had had about 10 million views when embedded here.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Note to readers
Reduced activity here will continue for a while. While treating me for a now four-month-old case of Shingles, medics found a heart disorder that needs attention. I’ve been quickly in and out of Lions Gate Hospital and Vancouver General for diagnostic procedures and doctors will soon decide if the problem
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Trans Mountain: A $35+ billion fossil fuel subsidy
“There is a genuine possibility that within the coming century, we will hit temperatures that are deeply incompatible with the continued existence of human life.” Canadian industrialists, the Trudeau government, and western provinces collectively respond to the warnings of climate scientists, “Forget about it. We’re not limiting fossil fuel production.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Toward local energy generation and a distributed grid model
After implementation of efficiencies and conservation measures, the least destructive way to meet future energy needs may be local power generation from solar and wind sources…
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