Author: Unknown

  If there’ll be any pattern emerging from the 2020s, it’ll probably be one of record heating.  It’s happening world wide in the more equatorial latitudes. Some places are already registering ‘Wet Bulb 35’ conditions. The American south is in the warming crosshairs. The southwest has become America’s roaster. In

  California Dreaming’ – once was. I used to love riding the Pacific Coast Highway through northern California and the giant redwoods to the vineyards and wineries of the Napa Valley, to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur and San Louis Obispo.  L.A., San Diego, not so much. California

When then defense secretary, Colin Powell, warned George w. Bush that invading Iraq carried the Pottery Barn rule of “you break it, you own it” the neocons dismissed it.  It’s one thing to defeat a nation’s military. It’s another thing to destroy that nation’s government. That’s what the United States

  Cambridge University sent an email this morning inviting me to register for a 6-week course on the circular economy. I’m not interested in parting with $2,000 (USD) so I passed. There are plenty of papers available online dealing with the circular economy which is really an extension of the

  I know. The news is grim and it’s coming fast and furious. It’s hard to take. It can overwhelm, generating feelings of helplessness. I’ve been something of a Cassandra for years, many years. Today that’s reached new heights but that’s hardly my doing. The perils have deepened and the

A study finds that, by 2080, eight billion people could be at risk of contracting malaria and dengue fever. The study, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal, found that if emission levels continue to rise at current

There’s a new kid on the block. It’s the Lambda variant of Covid-19 and it has reached Canada. This newcomer is visiting from South America, Peru perhaps. The bad news is that Lambda has the properties associated with variants such as Delta.  The good news is that existing vaccines will

A lot of Canadians believe the nonsense that Canada is a leader in the fight against climate change. Sadly, a lot more of us no longer care. Regardless, these claims don’t hold up to scrutiny.  …our government has utterly failed to take the actions necessary to keep us safe. The

Tokyo is going back into Covid lockdown. Just in time for the Olympics. The games will continue but ticket holders won’t be there. Such is life on the Covid-19 roller coaster.  Japan is not alone. South Korea and other parts of the Asia Pacific are experiencing a wave of new

  A Happy 75th Anniversary to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. What wonderful lives they’ve led. At 96 and 93 respectively they share the same fear – the other’s death.

  To steal a line from Jaws, “we’re going to need a bigger boat.” A study published in Nature Communications finds that mankind is at least partly responsible for severe precipitation events such as flash floods and mudslides. In the study, UCLA researchers looked at global climate records to examine whether

  The Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus, generally thought to be far more transmissible, is apparently no match for the three vaccines being administered in Canada; Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZenica. A recent Israeli study found that Pfizer vaccine was notably less effective against transmission of the Delta variant but

  The World Health Organization has a warning for governments eager to lift Covid-19 lockdowns. Getting it wrong is epidemiological stupidity. The WHO head of emergencies, Mike Ryan, says premature lifting of lockdowns can backfire. (well, duh) Addressing the speed of countries’ plans to reopen Ryan added that in particular

  Fire the confetti cannons. June was the hottest June on record. Not just by a little. By a bunch. North America endured the hottest June on record last month, according to satellite data that shows temperature peaks lasting longer as well as rising higher. The heat dome above western

With our forests ablaze and heatwaves raking the country claiming hundreds of lives, this is inexcusable. Since 2018, Canadian governments have spent 23 billion dollars on building and expanding pipelines. According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Canadian governments have deployed at least $23 billion to support pipelines