The Colorado River and those who depend on it are in trouble. A once-in-a-millennium drought now entering its third decade is shrinking water levels to disturbing numbers. The seven states and Mexico that rely on the Colorado are worried. As we should be. Two of the states, California and Arizona,
Continue readingTag: environment
Things Are Good: How Neighbourhoods Are Fighting Climate Change
Neighbourhoods in Canada are trying to change the world by focussing on their own street. Across the country there are streets of houses proving that a transition from using fossil fuels to heat and power a home is possible in a country that loves to subsidize the oil and gas
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: BIG step toward saving the oceans
Along with our other environmental sins, we are fishing the oceans dry. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, over a third of global fisheries have been fished beyond sustainable limits and almost two-thirds are being fished to their limits. Sharks and rays have declined by over 70 percent.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Luke Savage points out that even biased right-wing polling is finding broad support for stronger social programs and limitations on corporate domination in Canada and the U.S. But Jake Johnson writes that the Biden administration is instead increasing military funding while putting
Continue readingThings Are Good: New Maritime Law at UN Protects Ecosystems
Pirates love the high seas and so do illegal fishers and poachers; heck cruise ship companies love the high seas as a place to dump sewage. All in, we don’t respect the ecosystems in the oceans because there’s only a few laws that can be broken and enforcement is weak.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Budget ’23: The Same Old Razzle Dazzle (with sprinkles on top)*
I’m not sure what Trevor Tombe did that caused Danielle Smith to say he was becoming one of her favourite economists, but it certainly wasn’t this. In a recent article about Budget 2023 Tombe said the budget moved Alberta into a “new fiscal reality where we are more reliant on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jonathan Lambert discusses how politicized messages have been used to weaponize uncertainty and changing information during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jonathan Howard points out how successful mitigation practices have been used to serve a misleading narrative downplaying the actual risks of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: Researcher Regan Boychuk digs deep into the history of the RStar scheme
Like other commentators, in the past few weeks I’ve paid a lot of attention to the United Conservative Party’s so-called RStar scheme to forgive multibillion dollar oil corporations at least $100 million of their royalty payments to clean up oil and gas wells they’re already legally and financially obligated to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – E. Wesley Ely discusses the developing – and worrisome – body of knowledge of how COVID-19 affects the brain, while Korin Miller reports on the link between COVID and diabetes. William Brangham and Dorothy Hastings talk to people living with long COVID about
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Charles Schmidt reports on new research findings showing that repeat infections with COVID-19 result in substantially elevated risks of death, hospitalization and long COVID. Stephani Sutherland discusses the emerging treatment of long COVID as a neurological disease. KACL reports on research connecting
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The RStar Debacle (Who’s going to clean up this mess?)
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” — opening scene, Star Wars The first thing I thought of when I heard the word RStar was the opening sequence in the first Star Wars movie: yellow letters scroll up the screen and the audience learns about the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Maura Hohman discusses how COVID-19 has been found to cause increased heart problems in young people (among other harm to health) – even as it’s being allowed to inflict that damage population-wide. And Lidia Morawska et al. examine how warnings about the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: SaskPower Plots To End Drinking Water Availability
Not maintaining availability and quality of drinking water is an option? Cool. Cool, cool, cool. NOT COOL, @SaskPower. What happens if the slavering hordes decide in the poll that we don't need drinking water?! CC @CorbLund @JeffWaltersSask @emi_eaton — Saskboy from Saskatchewan (@saskboy) February 10, 2023 Corb Lund is among
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Reining in the reign of plastic
I was modestly surprised last week when my groceries were packed not in the usual plastic but in brown paper bags. The idea, of course, is to get away from single-use plastics. Not that my grocery bags were ever single-use. I took my bags back the next time I shopped
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Engineering of a Passive Off the Grid House
A sustainable home doesn’t need to be off the gird, but for some people interested in sustainability they reach a logical conclusion that off the gird makes sense. Of course, that means not being part of the electric grid and, for some, not even part of a public water system
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Protect nature, or face human extinction
It seems like a no-brainer that in protecting nature, we are protecting ourselves and working to ensure human survival. Yet the ruling classes believe they can insulate themselves from consequences of environmental destruction and ruling politicians are unwilling to slow or end the pursuit of wealth. So far, powerful forces
Continue readingThings Are Good: Let the Coal Corpse Lay
Why don’t we just let it die already? Coal companies keep getting bailed out by governments around the world despite the climate crisis, this needs to stop. Over at Climate Town they have a great idea (above) that captures coal’s contentious use and how governments prop up the industry. The
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The World Health Organization has updated its guidelines for COVID-19 prevention and response – including recommendations for masking and isolation periods even when these have been largely abandoned by governments. – Mitchell Thompson reports on the Ford PCs’ plans for health care privatization
Continue readingThings Are Good: Putting Eco Back in Economics
Traditional economists ignore reality to justify their thinking, and anyone who studies economics is well aware of this. From the myth of the “rational human” to trickle down economics, to the very idea markets are “natural” all ignore the actual state of the world and people. Due to the mainstream
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Free Money? No Thank You!
Many years ago the (then) Progressive Conservative government offered energy companies bags of money if they undertook projects the government thought were necessary. The CEO I worked for told us to create such a project (even though it would be of little value to the company) and apply for the
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