The main character from Camus’ The Plague, a medical doctor spending his days and nights helping the sick, said, “A man can’t cure and know at the same time. So let’s cure as quickly as we can. That’s the more urgent job.” This hit me as particularly poignant as we’re
Continue readingTag: environment
Things Are Good: Hydrogen Train Takes to the Rails in Quebec
In an effort to show North Americans that train travel can be both good for the environment and getting around Alstom has sent a train to Quebec. The train company has been making a hydrogen powered train to replace diesel engines on routes that don’t support electric operations. Hydrogen isn’t
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Michael Marshall discusses the growing body of knowledge about the persistence of long COVID – with people still suffering symptoms after a year tending to suffer from it as a chronic condition thereafter, and no effective treatment available once long COVID sets in.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: How Big Oil is manipulating the way you think about climate change
Make Big Oil Pay march, San Francisco, 2010. Photo by Steve Rhodes/Flickr. In medieval times, gamekeepers trained dogs to the hunt by setting them on the trail of a dead rabbit they had dragged through the forest. Once the dogs were baying along the rabbit’s scent, the gamekeeper ran across
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A “Reset” to Alberta-Ottawa Relations (Chortle)
When Danielle Smith and her team met with federal ministers Jonathan Wilkinson and Dominic LeBlanc to discuss energy and climate change measures, there was some talk that Smith may be open to a “reset” of the Alberta-Ottawa relationship. Unfortunately, some of her cabinet ministers missed the memo. Danielle Smith and
Continue readingwmtc: in which an email reminds me to resurrect a very old post: join athena to change amazon
Do you support Athena? Athena is a broad coalition of people and organizations who seek to change Amazon’s practices through a variety of tools and tactics, including from the inside. In a braindump called the post of orphaned notes, I found this. athena is organizing against amazon, and you can help
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: It’s all the Scientists’ Fault!
We’re at the stage in climate change news that it’s time to blame scientists for not telling anyone about it before now. Headline from The Hill: “Catch-22: Scientific communication failures linked to faster-rising seas” “Scientists failed for decades to communicate the coming risks of rapid sea-level rise to policymakers and
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith Stands her Ground (or something)
Last week the Feds unveiled the Sustainable Jobs Act, Danielle Smith responded in her typical word-salad fashion and the press lauded her for standing her ground. Against what? The Feds said… Natural Resources Minister, Johnathan Wilkinson, says the Act is about creating and protecting jobs as we shift to a
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Shareholder value built on destruction
A whistle blows and another train rumbles through White Rock, headed toward the Roberts Bank coal export dock. This one is carrying thermal coal from Montana, bound for a massive power plant, perhaps in Korea. As the train rolls through Delta, black clouds of coal dust billow from the open
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Climate Conspiracy
Journalist and activist George Monbiot wrote on why we can’t actually explain the problems with certain arguments anymore: Conspiracy fictions have succeeded, as Steve Bannon hoped, in “flooding the zone with shit”. It is almost impossible now to have a rational conversation about the real sources of oppression, destruction and injustice, as
Continue readingThings Are Good: Accurately Capturing the Social Cost of Carbon
When policy makers think about climate change they sometimes take into consideration the whole impact of carbon regulation and reduction. The commonly held myth is that reducing carbon emissions will negatively impact the economy, now we have better numbers to help people no longer fall into believing that myth. Indeed,
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Dangerous actors — corporate and political
Progressive punishment is not enough to regulate behaviour when an offender has extraordinary wealth. To a corporation like Teck Resources Ltd. — market capitalization $29 billion — inconsequential fines are minor costs of doing business. A $1 million penalty imposed on Teck corresponds to a fine of $11 levied on
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Politicization of the Beast
Welcome to “Life in a Conservative Province” also known as “they say the wackiest things.” “They” being conservative premiers who say idiotic things when asked: how do you reconcile your government’s policies with the impact of climate change on the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires? Before we get into
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: We’re Reaping What We’ve Sown
There’s tons of news about all the smoke – so much about the smoke. But I’m finding very little information about the actual fires. We know that firefighters are coming to help from the states and from South Africa, which is fantastic, but where are the videos of planes water
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Umair Haque discusses the absurdity (and manufactured idiocy) that results in us continuing with extractive business as usual as we enter a palpable age of extinction. And Richard Eskow writes about the reasons why billionaires can’t tolerate the prospect that most people
Continue readingThings Are Good: Oil is a Source of Wildfires
The wildfires burning from coast to coast in Canada have Canadians worried about their livelihood, neighbours, and the planet itself. Finding good news in fires is tough, but in the context of the climate crisis knowledge about to fight fire is good news. The best way to stop wildfires is
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Word of Advice…
We’re still trying to make sense of this election. There’s no question Rachel Notley’s NDP made phenomenal gains against the UCP. They pulled in 776,000 votes (157,000 more than they received in 2019) and gained 39 seats (15 more than they had in 2019), but it still wasn’t
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Beth Mole reports on research showing that U.S. children suffered a spike in brain abscesses after COVID protections were removed – and that the levels continue to be elevated long after everybody has been told not to bother doing anything to avoid the
Continue readingThings Are Good: No Mow May No Mo’?
Maybe, maybe not. It’s the end of May and hopefully you haven’t been mowing. The No Mow May campaign encourages people with lawns to let them grow during the month of May to let insects and other critters thrive. This makes sense, and if you have a lawn then you
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Martin Sandhu writes about the development of degrowth as a viable economic organizing principle. And Kevin Drum offers a reminder that the growth we’ve been trained to demand has been entirely funneled into corporate coffers for over four decades, rather than creating
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