Read this Aug. 18 Postmedia story from Margaret Munro on the chill Canada’s Arctic scientists have felt when trying to discuss record polar ice melt with the public. Federal scientists who keep a close eye on the Arctic ice would like to routinely brief Canadians about extraordinary events unfolding in the North. But newly
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The Common Sense Canadian: The Economist calculates the enormous cost of ignoring climate change
Rendering of New York City from “World Under Water”, an app designed by Carbon Story Read this June 28 story from The Economist on the cost of doing nothing to curb climate change – and interesting corollary to the World Bank’s recent determination that tackling global warming could significantly grow the global economy. It has been
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG bad for climate: US Dept of Energy report
Despite all the assurances by BC Premier Christy Clark that LNG is “the cleanest fossil fuel on the planet”, the evidence paints a very different picture. Check out this June 4 Climate Progress story by Joe Romm on a new report from the US Department of Energy confirming that emissions
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Billboard controversy: Climate change denial OK, pro-renewable not
Read this June 10 Yahoo News story from Matthew Coutts on the alleged double standard that saw Pattison Outdoor accept a climate change-denying billboard in Calgary after rejecting one from Greenpeace that was pro-renewable energy. A turf war has broken out over a Calgary billboard that unequivocally claims humans do not
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Four choices for shaping the climate future we want
Choices are one of the many benefits provided by our modern, affluent, consumer culture. A television universe of 500 channels should provide something for everyone’s viewing preferences. Toothpaste? More different kinds than can be imagined. Breakfast cereal? The varieties are overwhelming. Cars? A model with specifications for every possible need.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada’s 500,000 leaky gas wells threaten groundwater, health, climate
Abandoned gas wells like this one can continue leaking methane for years (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Read this June 5 story by Andrew Nikiforuk in The Tyee on a new report raising concerns about leakage from Canada’s 500,000 gas wells. The Common Sense Canadian reported recently on funding cutbacks by BC’s
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: White House climate report is clear: Global warming is here
Because we enjoy relatively pure air, clean water and healthy food systems, Canadians sometimes take the environment for granted. Many scarcely blink if oil from a pipeline spills into a river, a forest is cleared for tar sands operations or agricultural land is fracked for gas. If Arctic ice melts
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Christy Clark: BC LNG “The Cleanest Fossil Fuel on the Planet”…Really?
In the keynote address kicking of her government’s second major conference on liquefied natural gas (LNG), BC Premier Christy Clark billed the resource as nothing short of “the cleanest fossil fuel on the planet.” Clark touted LNG as a “generational opportunity” for the province’s economy, before a sold-out crowd at the
Continue reading350 or bust: Neil DeGrasse Tyson On Climate Change, Humans, & Dinosaurs
* Fox vs. FOX: Neil deGrasse Tyson Speaks Out On Climate Change On Cosmos, Tyson Makes Climate Connections That Fox News Mocks
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Environment Ministry staff warn BC govt about LNG emissions
VANCOUVER – British Columbia Environment Ministry staff have warned their minister that the province’s dreamed-of liquefied natural gas industry poses some big challenges with greenhouse gas emissions. Internal briefing notes prepared for Environment Minister Mary Polak since she took office last year and obtained by The Canadian Press, single out
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Consequences of Climate Change: Timeframe, Our Lifetime.
Signed, Sealed and Delivered. Climate denialists, the exit is over there on the right. Ta-ta. Filed under: Science Tagged: AGW, Climate Change, Climate Science, PotHoler54, Science
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Consequences of Climate Change: Timeframe, Our Lifetime.
Signed, Sealed and Delivered. Climate denialists, the exit is over there on the right. Ta-ta. Filed under: Science Tagged: AGW, Climate Change, Climate Science, PotHoler54, Science
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: A very human dilemma: Population woes vs. biological imperative
Every baby is a biological miracle. In its development from conception to birth it undergoes a remarkable process summarized by “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” — a fetus growing into a human being moves through the entire succession of animal phyla, from the most simple unicellular organism to the most complicated of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: David Suzuki: Earth Month should be a time for action
April is Earth Month, and April 22 Earth Day. We should really celebrate our small blue planet and all it provides every day, but recent events give us particular cause to reflect on our home and how we’re treating it. Through an amazingly ordered combination of factors, this spinning ball
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: NASA study: Inequality will lead to famine, collapse of civilization
Hungry for change: Tunisian bread riots led to a government overthrow in 2011 Read this March 18 National Post story on a new NASA-funded study that predicts the utter collapse of human civilization will be difficult to avoid without a major course correction. After running the numbers on a set of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops
NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen challenges the Harper government in question period over its failure to act on climate change and 10 million scallops that died in BC recently from ocean acidification. The post Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops appeared first on The Common Sense
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Study: Arctic getting darker, making Earth warmer
Photo by Rear Admiral Harley D. Nygren, NOAA Corps, ret., courtesy Wikimedia Commons Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Arctic isn’t nearly as bright and white as it used to be because of more ice melting in the ocean, and that’s turning out to be a global problem,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Melting sea ice a help and hindrance to Arctic drilling
Read this story by Bobby Magill of Climate Central on the double-edged sword that melting sea ice poses for tapping into the massive estimated reserves of oil and gas in the Arctic. Sea ice melting partly because of human-caused climate change could open previously inaccessible Arctic Ocean waters to expanded oil drilling, but the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: State Dept. report rumoured to bode well for Keystone XL pipeline
by Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press WASHINGTON D.C., United States – Canadian officials say they’re encouraged by what they’re hearing about a long-awaited report on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline that could be released imminently by the U.S. State Department. Those sources in Washington and Ottawa say they’ve
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada failing to meet even domestic climate targets; Huge spike expected post-2020
by Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press OTTAWA – Never mind those international targets, the federal government appears to be having trouble meeting even its own internal operational goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. An internal PowerPoint presentation prepared by Public Works and Government Services Canada asks each federal department to
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