Good afternoon Vancouver, how’s your head? The hand-wringing and spinning has commenced in full force now in the wake of the riot which gripped the downtown core after the Canucks Game 7 loss. The narrative which emerged, both in the media and thanks to public statements by the Vancouver Police, is that—are you ready for […]
Continue readingTag: environment
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Thinking About Sustainable Cities
– Your lawn can’t legally look like this? People are understandably mystified by some of the things I do, they have different outlooks on life. When they see a TV in the garbage they think, “Someone upgraded to a Plasma,” while I think, “There’s a few more pounds of lead to leach into drinking water.” […]
wmtc: the true cost of tomatoes, or slavery and poverty continue to haunt the fast-food industry, and how you can help
I have blogged several times about the horrific conditions endured by the people who pick tomatoes in Immokalee, Florida, working for fast-food giants like Burger King, Taco Bell and McDonald’s, and supermarket giants like Kroger, Stop & Shop, Whole Fo…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Deep thought
I won’t claim to have compiled a full list of criticisms of the Cons’ government. But I’m pretty sure that putting too many resources into environmental priorities would rank rather near the bottom.
Continue readingImpolitical: Go Canucks…and a few other things
It’s the big Canucks game day and all so people are likely not going to be very interested in Canadian politics. But some big things are happening that bear mentioning.
First of all, the ludicrous situation with how the two strike actions going on in …
Continue readingthe reeves report: NDP wakes up to hypocrisy of asbestos mining and export from Quebec
CBC is reporting through the Access to Information Act, that the Harper government rejected a 2006 recommendation from Health Canada to support a global ban on asbestos. Health Canada suggested that the government reverse their previous commitment to keep asbestos off the UN list of banned hazardous materials, and Harper refused. The 2006 Rotterdam Convention … Continue reading »
Accidental Deliberations: Up for debate
The NDP has released a first look at the prioritized resolutions from this weekend’s #vancon2011 (PDF). And while most of them may not come as too much surprise (or appear particularly controversial), there are a few which look highly noteworthy in dev…
Continue readingthe reeves report: New study indicates dramatic reduction in Rocky Mountain snowpack
A report released this past week from the U.S. Geological Survey found that over an 800 year period, the past 30 years indicate a dramatic break from the typical snowpack patterns in the Rocky Mountains. The report stated that “over the past millennium, late-20th-century snowpack reductions are almost unprecedented in magnitude across the northern Rocky Mountains,” … Continue reading »
Impolitical: Ontario’s declining GHG emissions
Saw this on Live Free or Die’s blog where he cites a recent Pembina item on Ontario’s declining greenhouse gas emissions.
Good roundup of GHG data. This part stood out for me:
Inside Canada, provincial emissions results almost always generate some int…
Accidental Deliberations: On incomplete reporting
Yes, it’s a problem if the Cons are giving different answers about climate-change policy to different audiences. But I’m not sure how the difference between federal action making next to no difference and its making even less than that makes for a more…
Continue readingTrashy's World: Friday miscellany: CPC drones, trees and the sun!
CPC drones are all over the place in downtown Ottawa as hundreds of Blue Team Robot-Worshippers gather for their love-in/prayer-fest/progressive-bashing convention.
They are easily recognisable in the crowds. For one, they don’t dress very well. I have not ever seen as many “flood” pants in one place. And tweed jackets with elbow patches. And the younger […]
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Story of Stuff
Live blog from Education Auditorium Starting with a prayer song from a Cree elder, singer and pipe keeper and cleaner. Drum and singing is very impressive in here. The introduction is okay, but a tad long. Now Peta White is giving welcomes and thank-yous. There’s a UPS with a dead battery peeping away in the […]
DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: EPA Again Faults State Department Keystone XL Assessment as "Insufficient"
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The controversial Keystone XL project proposed by Canadian dirty oil giant TransCanada was dealt a potentially devastating blow on its quest for federal approval after …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- With health care once again receiving plenty of attention on the U.S. political scene thanks to the Republicans’ plan to dismantle publicly-funded Medicare, the differences between Canada and the U.S. are once a…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Built to crash: the coming economic tsunami
`Would you rather have a perfectly efficient system that, if hit by a pebble, would shatter? Or, would you rather have an adaptable system that may not give you the exact output you want, but can handle anything? According to Barry Lynn of the New Am…
Continue readingthe reeves report: US Dept. of Transportation orders TransCanada to halt activity on Keystone I
Effective immediately, the US Department of Transportation has ordered TransCanada to suspend all activity on the Keystone I pipeline. According to the New York Times, the order was issued by the Transportation department’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. “Effective immediately,” the PHMSA claims, “this order prevents TransCanada from restarting operations on their Keystone crude … Continue reading »
Politics, Re-Spun: The Social Determinants of Health
(Note: This post contains a portion of the talk that I gave last month at the 16th International Conference of the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry for Adults and Children in Athens). Research has now clearly established that economic, and social variables – more than individual or family behavior – are the most salient factors […]
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: Tar Sands Industry Has Its Eyes On Vancouver For Asian Export Terminal
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In recent months, opposition to Enbrige’s Northern Gateway Pipeline has mounted as citizens, environmental groups and First Nations groups have protested the …
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Does Capitalism Save Lives?
I was watching CNBC and happened to see this panel about how the number of Americans killed by natural disasters has declined over time. It was also noted that, in early 2010, fewer people died in Chile’s earthquake than in Haiti’s earthquake. The discussion quite reasonably outlined how improvements in emergency preparedness, building codes, and […]
Continue readingImpolitical: Worst ever carbon emissions in 2010
Reported on Sunday in the Guardian:
Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimat…