Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Dr. Dawg views the latest attacks on workers by employers in Canada as a new front in all-out class warfare. And the New York Times notes that some of the main policies being pushed by the anti-worker side serve absolutely no purpose other
Continue readingTag: environment
Politics, Re-Spun: Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons Silvia Federici
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Opening Panel from the Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people. The basic premise is not so much that capitalism is broken, and we just need to fix it, but that neoliberal market fundamentalism is inherently broken
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Top Canadian CEOs making Average Canadian’s yearly salary by Noon, says study
By noon today, Canada’s top CEO’s will have made what most Canadians take an entire year to earn. The current Canadian Government is paying that same rate $90,000 per day to look at ways to eliminate public sector jobs. Jobs that the 99% depend on to provide services like food
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Year In Dirty Energy: Keystone XL
tarsands protests.jpg This year, a deal between TransCanada and the U.S. government almost allowed one of the most disastrous plans in energy history to win aproval. The deal would have allowed TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline across the U.S. border to carry an exceptionally dirty form of oil
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: Rainbow Pipeline Leak — Eight Months Later…
It has been 8 months since Plains Midstream Canada reported that there had been a Rainbow Pipeline leak, 100 km NE of Peace River, Alberta. As of December 2, 2011, there have been no updates made to the Plains Midstream Canada web site. [ Web Updates ] The largest Alberta
Continue readingFracking Gone Wild
“Our Government believes shale gas is an important strategic resource that could provide numerous economic benefits to Canada,” the (environment) ministry’s statement said. Gas is an important part of a clean energy future, the ministry added, saying that “a healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand.” This
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Year In Dirty Energy: The Koch Brothers
Kochtopus money bags.jpg Over the last 12 months, DeSmogBlog contributors have helped spread the word about some of the most dastardly deeds of Charles and David Koch. Here are some of the biggest stories we covered this year on the issue of corruption and dirty energy money. It is impossible
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Time To Be Conscientious Objectors To The War On Our Children’s Future
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada and the only Green MP in our parliament, didn’t mince words about the Harper government’s betrayal of our children in her December 19th blog posting: As we all prepare for the holidays, it is customary to look back at the year
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Paul Krugman comments on how Republicans’ cheerleading for total corporate control – which has of course been matched at every turn by Canada’s Cons – has resulted in their declaring war on any policy which could possibly result in environmental improvements: (T)he
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: More Enbridge mischief exposed
From: guujaaw [mailto:guujaaw@haidanation.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2:46 PM Subject: Enbridge December 20, 2011 Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel 444 7th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2P 0X8 Attention: Secretary to the Joint Review Panel Re: statement contained in Volume 5A: Aboriginal Engagement, Appendix D: National and Regional
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Murphy’s laws always apply
har·bin·ger [hahr-bin-jer] Show IPA noun 1. a person who goes ahead and makes known theapproach of another; herald. 2. anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign:Frost is a harbinger of winter. Control system failed ahead of BC Ferry crash, Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee, Dec. 21, 2011 A problem with the Coastal Inspiration’s control system may have led to yesterday’s crash
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: New pipelines hurt Canadian consumers
Cushing Oklahoma is a price settlement point for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light crude oil and the town proclaims itself to be the “Pipeline Crossroads of the World,” However, petroleum stored there is landlocked, disconnected from world markets. Declining U.S. demand and rising domestic production have created a North American
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Withdrawn Outrage
When is outrage acceptable? When something is outrageous. Canada’s position on pollution controls is outrageous, so it’s fine that Justin Trudeau lost his temper and swore at Environment Minister Peter Kent. The Conservatives’ “ethical oil” strategy is a failure. [W]e marvel when somebody like Justin Trudeau has an angry outburst?
Continue readingThings Are Good: Sustainable Power for Facebook
Greenpeace has worked with Facebook to convert Facebook’s coal-powered datacentres to environmentally friends power sources. In April 2011, a Greenpeace report, How Dirty is your Data?, calculated that 53.2% of Facebook’s electricity was generated by coal. Energy consumption by datacentres is growing rapidly and each of Facebook’s US datacentres is
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: What’s in YOUR drinking water? In Hamilton it could be Scotchgard ™
Several months ago, back in the spring of this year, Radio Canada ran an investigative report regarding the run-off of chemicals from John Munro International Airport at Mount Hope, the highest point in Hamilton. This was prompted after a lot of fish and turtles were turning up dead downstream in
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (Justin edition)
I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. And it did yesterday when Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre, called Environment Minister Peter Kent “you piece of shit.” At least Justin apologized. Of course there was no excuse for it — but entirely understandable given that Kent was giving
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Kyoto backlash
It’s been over a week since my last post. Too much has been going on but I did want to talk about Peter Kent announcing Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, or rather forcing the world to pull out of Canada so we don’t get fucked with $14
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Don’t Confuse me with the Facts I’m Trying to Run a Country
What does the Conservative Party of Canada have against facts? What is so wrong with empirical data? Are questions I would love to ask our Prime Minister. It started last year by downgrading our national census, the government’s most reliable way to know the make up of… ..
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