Keystone XL protest.jpg Ten of the nation’s top climate scientists penned a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today questioning why the State Department isn't considering the enormous climate change impacts of developing the Alberta tar sands in its review of the controversial Keystone XL export pipeline project. “At the
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350 or bust: Summer of 2012: North Americans Begin to Harvest Climate Chaos They’ve Sown
A friend and newly graduated family physician told us a story about a young man who came to his clinic for medical advice. The young man was having a hard time adjusting to being away from home for the first time, and to his first full-time job, and was considering
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: China’s 21st Century Pollution With The West’s 20th Century Ignorance
China has a right to pollute like the West did when it industrialized, but China must become just as ignorant. In defending China’s emisssions, the highest in the world and only growing, the country often claims it has a right to pollute just as America and Europe did when those
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: The sales pitch
Following up on yesterday’s Photoshop post, let’s salute one of the most eminently parody-worthy moments of the Cons’ spring: namely, Joe Oliver’s pitch to get Canadians drinking water from oil sands tailings ponds. Joe Oliver pitches Conservative Sludge
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Mum’s the word now over ‘authorizing water pollution’.
You might remember a few days ago that I was highlighting a letter from Keith Ashfield, our Fisheries Minister, proudly proclaiming that the federal budget implementation bill ‘will offer new tools to “authorize” water pollution, while allowing the government to outsource services to protect the country’s waterways’, because the current
Continue reading350 or bust: Colorado’s Burning, Sicamous is Flooding: Connect The Climate Change Dots
* The flooding in Minnesota and British Columbia, the out-of-control fires in Colorado, the intensifying drought in the U.S. Midwest, are just a few of the indications that our climate has gone awry, part of the hidden costs we pay for burning fossil fuels. Things will only get worse unless
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Dr. Dawg highlights Peter Russell’s take on the Cons’ 2008 efforts to prevent a Parliamentary majority from actually exercising its right to vote down a government which had lost the confidence of the House of Commons. And Steven Chase follows up by
Continue readingearthgauge: New Josh Fox Film “The Sky Is Pink” Reveals Fracking Contamination
Check out the latest ant-fracking film from Josh Fox (the maker of Gasland) called The Sky is Pink, which is being called “the best 18 minute movie ever made.” But “The Sky Is Pink” cites damning evidence that safe fracking is a contradiction in terms. The gas industry’s own documents and
Continue readingearthgauge: And now a few comments on The Tyee’s new sustainable energy project…
In my post below, I recommended following a new investigative reporting series being produced by The Tyee. I commend this initiative as it is important, timely and deserves our attention. Now for some thoughts on what The Tyee is hoping to achieve with this project. First, a few words of caution
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Nature’s Environment Is Man
Facing an unprecedented environmental crisis a world summit like no other was called. “We have to do something, we can’t let our environment just die.” A member of the Dirt delegation said with the driest of throats. Other representatives of the world’s nature lined the large circular table. Tree’s foreign
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Why Is Pfizer Still Aligning Itself With Heartland Institute On "Public Health" Record?
Pfizer.png The Heartland Institute has had a rough time the last couple of months. The climate denial shop has endured the release of embarrassing leaked documents. Then it launched a devastatingly ill-conceived billboard campaign associating climate science adherents with serial killers. That didn't work out so well. So Heartland's donors started
Continue readingearthgauge: Interview with Charles Hodgson of Ecology Ottawa on the City of Ottawa Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Download: charles-hodgson-ottawaghgs.mp3 Click the audio player to hear my interview with Charles Hodgson of Ecology Ottawa who produces the excellent blog climateottawa.ca. Right click here to download the interview. We discuss the recent City of Ottawa greenhouse inventory and what is going on at city hall with regard to Ottawa’s
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Will Dismal Jobs Report Give New Life To Keystone XL Plan?
boehnerand pipelines.jpg While the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline might have disappeared from the front pages in the last few weeks, the battle is still raging. And a grim jobs report for the month of May might just be the catalyst that Keystone proponents have been looking for to
Continue reading350 or bust: #EpicFail At Shell’s Arctic Launch Celebration
Via Occupy Seattle, a close-up glimpse at the folks our governments are trusting to keep our Arctic pristine and untouched. They can’t even run a launch party without a spill: * Occupy Seattle’s website says that Logan Price, a Seattle Occupier who’s now living in New York, managed to infiltrate
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio June 7, 2012: State of the Global Environment
Download: earthgaugeradio-podcast-june7-20121.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, we’re taking a look at the state of the global environment and we talk to the founder of the Ottawa-based organization One Change. We hear a recent speech to the United Nations by the esteemed economist Jeffrey Sachs who offers a dire warning
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Among the other possible tests in an impending Etobicoke Centre by-election, here’s one I’ll be curious to watch: will attention to the Robocon scandal turn the Cons’ usual misleading robocall blast strategy into a liability rather than a low-cost means of injecting messages
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Dirty Energy Lobby Wins In EU – Shale Gas Now Considered “Green Energy”
lobbyist-payoff1.jpg In a headline that would appear to be ripped off the pages of The Onion, The Guardian UK this week reported “Gas rebranded as green energy by EU.” After billions of dollars spent in lobbying efforts over the years, the dirty energy industry in the European Union has managed
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
“The Majestic Plastic Bag” is a mockumentary narrated by Jeremy Irons. I’ve posted it before, but it is well done enough to deserve a reposting: * L.A. Makes History With Ban On Plastic Bags At Stores
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Bruce Johnstone reminds us that much of Stephen Harper’s low-wage, anti-worker agenda has been rather poorly hidden for a long time: Everything from growing trees for farmers to processing immigration applications to inspecting meat to examining evidence in criminal investigations, all of the
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio May 24 2012: Special program on Canada’s changing North
Download: earthgaugeradio-podcast-may24-2012-arctic-special.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, we’re taking a look at issues facing Canada’s rapidly changing northern regions. I have three interviews for you on today’s special show: Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national organization representing Inuit Ed Struzik, author of The Big Thaw: Travels
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