In BC and Canada, politicians actively ignore the people and their own scientists. Why? OK, you tell me. What do you call politicians who ignore their own scientists? It’s not a trick question. What if scientists tell their political bosses about the climate impacts of ramping up a mythical $1
Continue readingTag: British Columbia
Politics, Re-Spun: International Day of Action for Burnaby Mountain and ALL Land Defenders
This is an international day of action, so check the event page to see what’s up in your town, for TOMORROW! And if there’s nothing at your home, be the change! Let’s consolidate our recent victories and continue moving public opinion to transitioning to the post-carbon energy infrastructure: wind, solar,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Entitlements? What About Understanding UNentitlements?
Punishing irony. OK, I’m fine admitting it. I focus on entitlements a lot. I’m often trying to encourage people to examine our unexamined entitlements: race, age, economic class, gender, sexuality, etc. But one way to understand entitlements is to understand how unentitlements work. I’m guilty of overlooking this. Until today.
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Climate deals and pipeline steals
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/podcast-141128-oil-and-climate.mp3 Today’s episode is focused on the economics and politics of climate change, both more globally and locally. To get a global perspective on the state of climate negotiations and the recent US-China climate deal, I speak with Leigh Phillips, a science writer and journalist who has written for Nature,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Tens of Billions Wasted
How much will we keep spending to develop more fossil fuels when we know we have to stop to avert climate breakdown? $88b/year? More? How about zero. It’s time to redirect that money to wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro so we can stop exacerbating our climate crisis. Redirect NOW! Let
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Will British Columbia be the Last Pacific Jurisdiction to Legalize Pot?
Washington took recreational marijuana off the state criminal books two years ago. Last night voters in Alaska and Oregon followed suit. California is expected to do the same in 2016. Imagine. British Columbia, the province once known for “B.C. Bud”, could be the last jurisdiction on the Pacific Coast to
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Are Your White Male Entitlements Maiming Your Vote this Month?
I’m not going to argue that using an Intersectionality lens in the municipal election in 2 weeks will make your voting choices perfectly easy. But I will say that your white male entitlements have likely contributed to worse choices in the past. Including not voting. When you read this entire
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Work, Dignity and Living Wages?
A strong union. Corporations that understand the social contract. Corporations that know a tad smaller profit here contributes to more dignity throughout society. Corporations that recognize the value of unions. The living wage in Vancouver this year is $20.10, almost double the minimum wage. The “precariat” are precarious proletariats. We
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Welcome, Dropping Oil Prices!
So, expensive oil made the tarsands and LNG more financially attractive if not climate-destroying. We know this because…science! Unless you are a science-denier. But even with and prices AND demand dropping, we are seeing the makings of a real flattening of long-term stability in demand that can fundamentally undermine the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Big LNG Tax Regime Vomit Bucket
Cue sweet new day[tm] political campaign music, invoking images of a unicorn flying over our quaint village, then Robert Redford in voiceover: “LNG will be a $ trillion sector, reaping billions in revenue for the province [due to some kind of gruelling tax regime] so we can become debt-free, and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Join Ricochet: A new take on independent media.
Have you joined yet? No? So, you’re good with corporate media spinning things for you, against your personal, community, national and ecological interests? Oh. Ok. 🙂 Ricochet is an audacious response to a difficult context. Independent and in the public interest, Ricochet will provide a space dedicated to investigative journalism
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Transportation After Fossil Fuels: A Decade Away?
Once upon a time, I rode the maglev at the Japan pavilion at Expo 86. Since then, I’ve come to see that that was the Commodore Vic 20 of high speed travel. What’s the new standard? ET3. So if you’ve been having a hard time imagining a post-carbon transportation system
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How to Spot an Ecology Troll
Start with an oil spill apologist/minimizer. Work with the twisted logic that since all ships and oil tankers don’t crash all the time, any concern over one that might [and our government’s pathetic incompetence in prevention and disaster-aversion] is eco-hysteria. Pay any attention to and RT anything Ayn Rand. Then
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Simushir and BC’s Energy Future
[I was finishing my presentation to the BC government Finance Committee for their 2015 budget the other day. Now Simushir has begun to threaten ecological disaster. That puts a new context in here as I submit my ideas today. I’m very concerned about the next few hours, weeks and decades.]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: People Want BC Corporations to Pay More Tax
…or do they? Every year the BC government consults with citizens on what should go into their budget. Last year over 25% of the online survey respondents said new revenue should come from increased corporate taxes, triple the rate of people who thought personal income taxes should go up. But
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What I Am Thankful For
This weekend, I am thankful for folks in Seattle who know how to transform the imperialist Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples’ Day. May we all learn this for next year! “We are all citizens in a democracy, we are all here to work with each other, and by making this
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Clean Energy is Actually the $Trillion Sector, Not LNG
According to Analytica Advisors, the global demand for clean energy technology was estimated at $1.1 trillion in 2012 and projected to grow to $2.5 trillion by 2022. It also estimates that the cleantech industry in Canada grew nine per cent in 2012. In the same period, the mining, oil and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Trouble with Old Men: Coal
Most know that coal contributes to climate change and coal dust is an environmental problem. But old men skew far higher in supporting a coal terminal anyway. Are old men just stupid, or are economic benefits just more important to them? via Your Insights on Coal Exports in Metro Vancouver
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: On the hunt for good jobs
There’s lots of talk about “good jobs” these days. At the same time, the expectations for what makes work not only “good” but even a “job” keep falling. It’s hard to fight for better (and less) work in light of decades of defeat for workers as an organized force, years
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Actually making the carbon tax revenue neutral could fund a fair education settlement
As the teachers’ strike continues, the BC Liberals have turned to an old stand-by: fear-mongering that they will have to raise taxes if they are to fund a settlement that includes key demands like class size and composition limits. Ignore the fact that the government has shown itself consistently unwilling
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