Protecting the protected, abusing the abused
Amanda Follett Hosgood, northern BC reporter for The Tyee, has done a thorough job of detailing the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal examination of RCMP conduct after a staff member of…
Norman Farrell
U.N. “climate change is out of control”
Regardless of science, the corporate world and governments in Canada remain determined to increase fossil fuel production and consumption. Under the NDP, British Columbia continues to provide direct and indirect…
Homicide charges for those contributing to climate change?
Canadian politicians have been spending tens of billions of public dollars to accelerate fossil fuel production. Along with oil and gas executives, they are collectively guilty of committing and plotting…
Low-impact renewables and energy efficiency = JOBS
Before British Columbia’s 2017 general election, a person who would be appointed to a senior position in John Horgan’s cabinet indicated that Site C would not be cancelled. He asked,…
Politicians suspend knowledge and common sense, scientists do not
Provincial and federal politicians talk about Canada being carbon neutral at some distant time, but continue using direct and indirect subsidies to promote higher production of fossil fuels. They pretend…
Greenwashing delays climate action
To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we have to make two big transitions at once: First, we have to generate all of our electricity from clean sources, like…
Negative power prices
A Bloomberg headline too consequential to ignore: European Power Prices Plunge Below Zero as Solar Output Booms. Had British Columbia committed to wind and solar power eight years ago, it…
Major police reforms needed but near impossible
“It’s no coincidence that the cities we most associate with violence also have long and documented histories of police abuse. When people don’t trust law enforcement, they stop cooperating and…
The new abnormal
Areas burned by wildfires in British Columbia have been steadily increasing, and with months remaining in fire season, this year’s destruction by fire is already more than double the average…
Masterful greenwashing?
Turns out that people are like governments that promise to moderate climate risks, but only take actions that are not too painful. I guess that proves cartoonist Walt Kelly was…
Climate finance
According to analysis by Oxfam published in 2023, wealthy Group of Seven (G7) countries owe low- and middle-income countries $13.3 trillion in unpaid aid and funding for climate action.
Why people aren’t motivated to address climate change
If we choose to enrich our lives in the present at the cost of the quality of life of future generations, that is a choice of values that we rarely…
BC’s climate policy inspiration
British Columbia’s government searched the world for options before settling on a climate plan acceptable to the province’s oil and gas industry. A creative solution was found in a report…
It’s not pie
I review an article by The Tyee’s senior editor Paul Willcocks, wherein he gave a failing grade to BC Conservatives when an obnoxious couple disrupted a schoolyard event involving 9-year-olds.…
Climate destruction
The Donnie Creek wildfire, having now scorched more than 1.3 million acres, is burning in one of the world’s biggest gas deposits. The Narwhal reporter Sarah Cox believes this raises…
BC energy policies based on myths and misinformation
Arguments claiming impracticability of wind and solar power integration in British Columbia never passed scrutiny. Elsewhere in the world, it has been happening rapidly. Days ago, BC NDP announced a…
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…
Truth matters
Fiction and invention are handy tools for politicians. Legacy media often repeats lies with minimal or no fact checking, although perhaps with opposing comments added to suggest balance. That process…
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…
Should we care?
Robert Reich is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator who has been quoted here before. His May 5 newsletter discusses why corporations have so much power and…