When Premier Kenney went down to the U.S. earlier this month to peddle even more of our major greenhouse gas-producing product, I was at a loss for words. The global warming threat looms ever more menacingly, threatening a cascade of catastrophes, yet here is a leading politician doing his best
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Views from the Beltline: Oil, guns and ethics
Promoters of the Alberta tar sands suggest customers for the product almost have a moral obligation to buy it. Their term is “ethical oil.” We hear the refrain from an assortment of politicians, journalists and business executives, chief among them Alberta premier Jason Kenney. The oil of many of our
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: More craziness from Texas
Many years ago, when I toiled in the oil patch, I lived in Houston, Texas for a couple of years. It was most enjoyable, especially the part about missing Canadian winters. And the city had the best eating I’ve every experienced: the confluence of three cuisines—seafood, barbecue and Mexican—all first
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Another day, another carbon plan
Is there any issue that has had more plans and less action than global warming? Now the feds have presented us with another. And like its predecessors, it looks good on paper. The big promise is cutting emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, to be
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Climate shirkers gear up for COP26
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) is scheduled for 31 October to 12 November in Glasgow. This is the 26th of the annual conferences and is special in that parties will be expected to ratchet up their climate goals over their pledges made when the Paris Agreement was signed
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta’s debt to the Maldives
As humanity continues to heat the planet, there are winners and losers. Let me rephrase that. Ultimately nobody wins; in the long term if global warming isn’t halted it will bring down global civilization and we will all lose. But in the shorter term there are net winners. Alberta for
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Burning up the credits
Purchasing carbon offsets is a popular way to act against global warming, or at least to alleviate one’s conscience. An offset allows a business, government or individual to pay someone else to remove a given quantity of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere rather than cutting emissions themselves. The purchaser is
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: “Why are we building houses if we don’t have enough water?”—A big lesson from a little town
Oakley, Utah, is small but appealing. Nestled in the mountains beside the Weber River less than an hour’s drive east of Salt Lake City, the town offers an attractive bargain for out-of-staters and weekenders. The river and mountain springs provided plentiful water that attracted early settlers. Water, however, is no
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The China dilemma—global warming or human rights?
If anything scares China’s formidable president, Xi Jinping, it’s probably democracy. The idea of the Chinese people choosing their own president must be nightmarish to the new emperor. His current suppression of democracy in Hong Kong is testament to his intolerance of any such notions among the masses. Indeed, he
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Decentralization Or Collapse
To halt the decline of our civilization and stop our race toward ecological, economic and social collapse, we must sow and create a paradigm shift, a shift in the dominant world view, a shift in consciousness. That requires consciousness raising, media activism, and education. But we also need a fundamental
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Conflating capitalism and global warming is a mistake
Many on the left insist that dealing with global warming necessitates dealing with capitalism. Because the latter causes the former, they say, it is the root of the problem. Replacing capitalism is therefor an integral part of the solution. With all due respect, I suggest this approach is a bad
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Another Albertan’s reaction to President Biden’s climate announcements
When I read about U.S. President Biden’s first steps down the climate change path he intends to follow, I was delighted, primarily because of his stated intention to rejoin the Paris climate agreement. That alone will give us all some hope that humanity may yet deal with the global warming
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Use the war room to educate Albertans?
In December 2019, the Alberta government launched the Canadian Energy Centre. The new UCP government had fulfilled its election promise of an energy “war room” that would “fight fake news and share the truth about Alberta’s resource sector and energy issues.” The promise has turned out to be a huge
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Conservatives and the elites
New Conservative chief, Erin O’Toole, has recently been singing a popular populist tune. He is greatly concerned about the “elites.” “These elites have only one set of values centred on unchecked globalization [and] political correctness,” Mr. O’Toole argues. Opposed are middle-class Canadians whose values are “rooted in family, home and nation.” The latter have been “betrayed” by “political elites,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: I’d dump Barrett on climate change alone
When Senator Richard Blumenthall asked U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett the simple question “Do you believe that human beings have caused global warming?”you might think this highly-educated woman would simply have answered yes. The simple truth. But no, her actual answer was, “I don’t think I’m qualified to
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Climate Change & Common Sense: “We ain’t gots none.”
Beautiful, moving sculptures, the old Bugattis are. Yes, they should be converted either to a parallel electric hybrid or solar-hydrogen, as with all internal combustion vehicles. If our society had any sense at all, which clearly it doesn’t, we would tax all internal combustion engines at $2,000 a year in
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Can Trump’s environmental mischief be undone?
Of all the damage that Donald Trump has managed to do in the last four years, the most serious is his assault on the environment. Aside from pulling his country out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, he has rolled back environmental regulations in the U.S. at a breakneck
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What’s making Ottawa’s environment minister suddenly give the Vista coal mine proposal the fish eye?
Yesterday we learned that Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal environment minister, is reconsidering a decision he made in December to leave it up to the industry-funded Alberta Energy Regulator to decide if a huge coal mine expansion should be approved near Hinton, just east of the Jasper National Park gate. Even
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: An Optimist No More
I am a very lucky human being. I was born into the greatest period for a member of Homo sapiens to be alive, the peak of human civilization—the period following WWII. Never before in human history has an ordinary person such as I been able to enjoy such an exceptional
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: I’m Becoming an Oil Baron
For those who complain there’s nothing in the news but COVID these days, try the Alberta section. Lots going on. For example, our government just laid off 26,000 school support staff while shelling out $1.5 billion, plus a $6-billion loan guarantee, to buy us a piece of the Keystone XL
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