Wednesday, October 10, 2012 In 2008 the Conservative Party promised to ban the export of raw bitumen to countries with lower environmental standards. Wow! In all the excitement of Government Ministers branding opponents of the Enbridge Pipeline and Tankers Project as radicals, Canadians have forgotten all about a 2008 election
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Northern Insight: Trevor Greene stimulates thought
Joe Oliver probably knows nothing about the courage of people like Canadian Forces hero Trevor Greene. The Minister for Oil and Energy Companies was born to a wealthy Montreal family. After McGill University, he attended Harvard Business, the world’s most expensive vocational school, where the sticker price for an MBA
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio October 4 2012: James Kunstler, Fast for Climate Justice and the new “Passive House” in Wakefield
Download: earthgauge-podcast-oct4-2012.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, we ‘re talking about techno-optimism, fasting for climate justice and energy efficient buildings. I have 3 interviews for you on today’s show: Novelist and critic James Howard Kunstler talks about his latest book ‘Too Much Magic’ in which he argues that our faith
Continue readingNorthern Insight: BC’s critical leadership vacuum
When Gordon Campbell was Premier, advantaging insiders and friends became the BC Government’s raison d’etre. Liberals were damn good at it too. When that sated Premier moved on, he left behind a gang worthy of a Jimmy Breslin novel. If they could shoot straight, it would be right into their own
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The plug-in has landed!
Yesterday (Sept 26) we had the pleasure of picking up our new Prius Plug-In, at a local dealership. Apparently it’s the first one sold in British Columbia (not including prototype vehicle testing fleets, which’ve been around a couple years, but weren’t available to the public for purchase). It’s so new,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Tesla Motors Builds Solar Charging Stations
Tesla, the electric car company, has unveiled solar powered electric charging stations in the USA. This is a good step toward sustainable personal transportation. Not only has Tesla created battery charging stations called Superchargers for electric cars but they are giving the energy away for free to some lucky people.
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Douglas Channel Islands: Enbridge erases, Lori Waters replaces
Monday, September 17, 2012 One Sunday morning, Lori Waters received an intriguing link to the “Route Safety” animation videos for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. As one of many British Columbians opposed to the pipeline and to any lifting of the tanker ban along our coast, she watched Enbridge’s
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio kicks off season 2 tomorrow morning on CKCU!
Tune in to CKCU FM 93.1 tomorrow morning from 7:00-8:00 AM for the launch of the second season of Earthgauge Radio! On tomorrow’s show, I’ll be bringing you two interviews from the frontlines of what is shaping up to be one of the defining environmental struggles in recent Canadian history:
Continue readingThings Are Good: Typical Wind Farm Supports Nearly 1,100 Jobs
A recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the USA has shown that in the country wind farms generate not just energy but 1,00 jobs at a ‘typical’ site. Other countries have found that incorporating renewable energy into their electricity grid can help generate power efficiently while
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Sustainable South Osborne
The Riverview Hoop House was one of the projects on display during a walking tour of urban agricultural projects organized by the Sustainable South Osborne Community Co-op in June in Winnipeg. Coordinator Scott Harrison explains how it works. Photo: Paul S. Graham Where does your food come from? If you’re
Continue readingearthgauge: Independent engineering report on Northern Gateway: “This is clearly an unacceptable risk.”
The Vancouver Sun is reporting today that, according to an independent analysis by three professional engineers, the Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal to ship oil sands bitumen from Kitimat along the B.C. coast carries an unacceptable risk of a significant spill. The engineers concluded that there is a 73-per-cent chance that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Oil Prices and the Loonie Again
There’s a refreshingly pragmatic and detailed piece in today’s National Post by Peter Spiro questioning the assumed correlation between oil prices and the loonie. It builds nicely on previous discussion of the “oil price-loonie transmission mechanism” that has occurred here and here. Among other salient points, Mr. Spiro points out
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Romney’s "Oil Above All" Energy Plan Short on Variety, and on Energy
OilAboveAll-400×245.jpg Last Thursday, Mitt Romney presented his “oil above all” energy plan, in which he promised “North American energy independence” by 2020. Far from comprehensive, the plan echoes the familiar “Drill, Baby, Drill” mantra from the 2008 presidential campaign, and offers no energy strategy beyond increasing domestic production of oil
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Canada’s tar sands cannot enhance U.S. energy security
The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and oil executives have consistently claimed that the dirty Alberta tar sands oil is a boon to U.S. energy security. Here are seven reasons why this isn’t the case: 1. Tar sands cannot break the power of OPEC. The oil cartel, the
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Commemorating Joe Romm’s “Language Intelligence”
Joe Romm‘s book Language Intelligence is now out in the US (but maddeningly, remains unavailable in Canada). Early reviews proclaim it as both a rhetorical masterpiece, and a masterpiece on rhetoric. To commemorate the book in my small way, I dug up a piece I wrote for a competition on Dr. Romm’s
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: 5 rules for a science-based decision on the Enbridge Pipelines
Monday, August 13, 2012 Prime Minister Harper was in Vancouver on August 7 and took the opportunity to tell Canadians that any decision on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers project would be made through an “independent process” and on the basis of science, not politics. The Prime Minister
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Romney’s New Campaign Strategy: Attack Green Jobs During Massive Unemployment
Green Jobs US.jpg Since President Obama took office, industry-funded think tanks and faux grassroots organizations, along with oil-friendly politicians have been collectively demanding to know “where are the jobs?” And with last month’s jobs report showing an increase in the U.S. unemployment rate (even though there was a net job
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio August 2, 2012: The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline (encore edition)
Download: earthgaugeradio-podcast-aug2-2012-northerngateway.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, we continue with our ‘best of’ summer series with a program originally broadcast back in January on an issue that only continues to grow in importance: the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. I have 3 interviews on today’s ‘encore’ show: Emma Gilchrist, Communications
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You’re Electing: Mitt Romney’s Energy Advisors
Romney and Bush.jpg In the last few months, the press has been drawing a lot of parallels between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Republican President George W. Bush. And they have plenty of reasons for doing so. Romney has already tapped many of the same Bush economic
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Enbridge foes: Schedule your statement so you don’t get Calgaried
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 All right, maybe Calgary is not a verb. But if you’re among the 4000+ Canadians who have registered to make an oral presentation to the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel (JRP) that’s considering the controversial Enbridge Pipelines and Tankers Project, and you haven’t scheduled a
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