Earthgauge News – Nov. 12, 2017
Edition #6 of the Earthgauge News podcast for the week of Nov. 12, 2017. A weekly Canadian environmental news podcast featuring stories from across Canada and around the world. Join…
November 2017
It’s Time to Consign GDP to the Rubbish Bin of History
GDP as a measure of national progress has become a lie. Today growth isn’t progress. It’s theft. It’s a practice of robbing the future to maximize activity today. Heading toward…
Canada Tells NAFTA Leaky Oilsands Tailings Ponds a ‘Challenge’ to Prove, Despite Existing Federal Study
There’s no telling if the 220 square-kilometres of unlined tailings ponds in the Alberta oilsands are leaking contaminated waste into nearby water sources, according to the government of Canada. That…
Life In Scarborough: The Bus Drivers of Scarborough
The lady bus driver on the bus today was wearing a nose-ring. And the TTC let her drive the bus like that. She was a white chick so it couldn’t…
Guillermo, monsters and me
Tucked away at the bottom of a tall display case in the ‘At Home With Monsters’ exhibit at the AGO is a small collection of seven old, well-thumbed books, all…
The Bottomless Abyss that is Brexit
Will parliamentary democracy be the first/worst victim of Brexit. Curiously enough both The Economist and George Monbiot think that’s quite possible. First up, The Economist: BRITAIN should have been better…
Is It Fear?
After digesting yesterday’s essay by UBC prof William Rees about how humanity is suffocating other forms of life on our planet, I was left wondering what they’re afraid of, why…
Nov. 17: Paradise Papers Released to Public!
Yes, the names of those who hid their money in tax havens has been released. It’s available. The story below has the site to look up. The list includes 3,100…
Farewell to Nova Scotia?
Nova Scotia could become Canada’s second island province thanks to climate change and sea level rise. Mayor David Kogon of Amherst, N.S., said sea levels are projected to rise in…
Four Conclusions on OERs
1. Access and Pedagogy Let’s take it as a starting point that there are two objectives at play here: – first, the objective of providing access for all, which as…
Fossil Fuels Built the World’s Biggest Sovereign Wealth Fund. Now Norway Wants to Ditch Fossils.
When it comes to fossil energy, Canadian politicians have been – well – f#@kups. That’s doubly true for those idiots in Alberta. Way back when there was a Wild Rose…
A Political Shakespeare?
Looking back at the pleasure I always took in teaching Shakespeare’s tragedies, I realize my attraction to The Bard had a great deal to do with his eerily penetrating insights…
The Real Reason For Andrew Scheer’s Weird Ad
I knew the Cons were worried. I didn't believe them when they said that weird ad, half Forrest Gump and half serial killer, was to introduce Andrew Scheer to Canadians.When…
Sleepwalking To Extinction
The nations of the world have been meeting in Bonn trying to map out a strategy for dealing with climate change. But we face another crisis — which, in itself,…
Friday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to end your week. – Laurie MacFarlane points out how increases in land values have resulted in massive and unearned disparities in wealth. – Kevin Page, Claudette Bradshaw,…
Trudeau tries to tip-toe through the tulips.
Canada’s prime minister always looks good. With or without his shirt on, he can always draw an admiring crowd. In Manilla the other day, he even looked good in that…
Be careful what you ask for … UCP Leader Jason Kenney gets his wish, a lightning-quick by-election
PHOTOS: Dr. Phillip van der Merwe, the brave Calgary physician the NDP has lined up to run against United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney in the Calgary-Lougheed by-election scheduled for…
Calgary-Lougheed by-election set for December 14, 2017
Photo: Calgary-Lougheed NDP candidate Phillip van der Merwe. (Photo source: YouTube) A provincial by-election will be held in Calgary-Lougheed on Thursday, December 14, 2017. The by-election was necessitated by the…