shutterstock_90778001.jpg Ever wonder why a blooming green energy industry has faced such harsh opposition? Now, as the old adage goes, "the cat's out of the bag." The Guardian today revealed the network of fossil-funded groups coordinating the ongoing onslaught of attacks on renewable energy, particularly wind power. A memorandum passed to The Guardian from
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Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew Coyne is rightly alarmed at the Cons’ move to short-circuit any debate about major policy changes through an omnibus budget bill. And Bea Vongdoaungchanh reports that the biggest of those changes is to set our environmental laws back by half a
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: ALEC Launches Assault on Renewable Energy Industry
ALEC Exposed Image.jpg The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), as covered previously by DeSmogBlog, is the "Trojan Horse" behind mandating that climate change denial ("skepticism," or "balance," in its words) be taught in K-12 classrooms. Well, ALEC is at it again, it appears. Facing an IRS complaint filed by Common Cause, one of the
Continue reading350 or bust: Resilience And Hope In Extraordinary Times
The Transition movement has produced a movie about growing community and hope in these difficult times: In Transition 2.0 is the new film from Transition Network, capturing inspiring stories of Transition initiatives around the world, responding to uncertain times with creativity, solutions and ‘engaged optimism’. * More links: In Transition
Continue reading350 or bust: Solar Energy Spill Alert
The billboard picture below has been making the rounds on Facebook recently. The billboard’s source is votesolar.org, whose mission is to bring solar energy into the mainstream. Just substitute “Canada” or “the world” for “America” in the paragraph below, from Vote Solar’s website: Think of America’s problems. Global warming. Air
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one
Continue reading350 or bust: Obama: It’s Time To End Subsidies To Big Oil
In President Obama’s address last week, he made it clear that it’s time America ends the $4 billion in annual subsidies to oil companies that are earning historic profits, and invests in new technologies. Prime Minister Harper, are you listening? In 2009 PM Harper promised to end subsidies to big
Continue readingopenalex: Green Urban Innovation: Solarize Portland and the Power of Communities
I was in New York earlier this month to present at the Association of American Geographers big annual conference. As well as an excellent stroll along the High Line (thanks Gena!), I got to talk about Solarize Portland — one of my favourite examples of how people can reshape their
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“We can sum it up in one sentence: Our technical civilization has just reached its greatest level of savagery. We will have to choose, in the more or less near future, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of our scientific conquests…….Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Time To Move On
It’s time to move on. Our country, and all of us, need to move from a fossil fuel past to a renewable energy future. The mood in Britain has turned very much against the Big Six energy companies. And it’s not hard to see why. People are fed up with
Continue reading350 or bust: TED Talk Thursday: The Future Of Clean, Efficient Energy Is Here Now
This TED Talk features Justin Tipping-Hall, CEO of Nanoholdings, talking about the extraordinary work being done on nanotechnology that’s focused on creating alternative solutions for how we generate, transmit, store and use energy. Tipping-Hall asks us to question our idea of “normal”, and suggests this can lead to huge breakthroughs.
Continue reading350 or bust: Heartland Institute: Funded To Spread Misinformation About Climate Change
The Heartland Institute is a right-wing “think-tank” that describes itself as a “devoted to discovering, developing, and promoting free market solutions to social and economic problems.” However, as DeSmogBlog has recently revealed, Heartland is much more interested in promoting the bottom line of its pro-pollution funders than it is about
Continue reading350 or bust: Reinventing Fire: Fuel Without Fear, Climate Change, & Oil Spills
If you haven’t read Reinventing Fire yet, put it on your Christmas list now! Like Amory Lovins says in the clip below, when you drop a sea crystal into a super-saturated solution, suddenly the solution takes on a whole new form. Reinventing Fire may be the crystal that is needed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 – Policy Roundup
As the NDP’s leadership race moves into the limelight, the candidates are starting to unveil some of their policy priorities. As I’ve mentioned it’s an open question as to how much members will want to change from a set of ideas that’s worked rather well for a few election cycles
Continue reading350 or bust: COP 17 in Durban – Day 1
Today is the first day of the U.N. climate talks in Durban South Africa. As I wrote earlier, many people’s expectations (including mine) for a meaningful and binding international climate treaty coming out of these 10 days is low. It seems, sadly, that unbridled capitalism will triumph over humanity’s need
Continue reading350 or bust: International Energy Agency: Rising Fossil Energy Use Will Lead To Irreversible & Potentially Catastrophic Climate Change
The International Energy Agency released the 2011 World Energy Outlook yesterday. What is almost as interesting as the report itself is the coverage of it in the MSM. Here’s a summary of the report by the IEA itself in this video featuring Dr F…
Continue reading350 or bust: Mike Holmes On Ontario’s Green Energy Act: A Brave New Path
A great article by Mike “Make It Right” Holmes, host of the television series Holmes on Homes & Holmes Inspection, on The David Suzuki Foundation’s blog today: Over the past few weeks, Ontario politicians have engaged in heated de…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Dirty Oil Has More Freedom To Move Than People
Free ride for dirty oil, border checks for people. But which is more dangerous?
It’s one of those typical injustices of capitalism that money, capital and dirty, earth-destroying, toxic oil products, have more right to cross borders and move around t…
DeSmogBlog: Pentagon Back to Tried and True PR Tactic – Greenwashing
The Pentagon public relations and propaganda machine is at it again. Working overtime to convince pundits and citizens of the benevolence of its "democracy spreading" missions abroad, some notables have drank the kool-aid.
In a re…
DeSmogBlog: Global Financial Leaders Recommend Cutting Fossil Fuel Subsidies
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Global financial institutions including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have released a new set of recommendations for G20 countries to meet their goal of providi…
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