Happiness is…
The first World Happiness Report was presented in 2012. This week the 2022 report was published. Perhaps surprisingly, in most nations, average life evaluations have remained “remarkably resilient during COVID-19.”…
Norman Farrell
BC’s private power origins
An extensive private power industry was created by Premier Gordon Campbell and friends early in the 21st century. A government that had little regard for nature opened vast areas of…
Unclean clean energy
In addition to the known mercury contamination of fisheries caused by hydroelectric developments, reservoirs increase emissions of methane and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In some cases this increase, per…
Doing the right thing
British Columbia could be in the sixth year of the PowerBC program had John Horgan been sincere when he announced it in 2015. Instead, the NDP government and public institutions…
Young Canadians, it’s your turn
In 2020, young people went to Germany’s Constitutional Court to argue the country’s Federal Climate Protection Act (“Bundesklimaschutzgesetz” or “KSG”) was insufficient and therefore violated their constitutional rights. They succeeded.//
Trillions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies
Part of the trillions of dollars in subsidies to fossil fuel producers reflects governments undercharging supply costs (rights and royalties), but most involve implicit subsidies, including undercharging for environmental costs.…
Moronic public policy
The utility that for years could not estimate demand growth accurately and missed on the Site C cost estimate by 100% knew the future danger posed by rooftop solar panels…
Democracy in decline
Fourteen percent of countries are described as full democracies. These states are home to fewer than ten percent of world population. More than one-third of the world’s population live under…
Millions die prematurely
The government of British Columbia issues regular press releases portraying itself as active in fighting climate change. But if we ignore the press releases and examine the science, a more…
Site C: stupidity or corruption?
In psychiatry, the word “delusion” means a firm belief in what others know to be false. Despite evidence of massive physical and financial risks, Liberals decided to green light Site…
BC Hydro and the illusory truth effect
Misinformation is common in our world. Sometimes it involves benign self-protection or ego boosting. Other times, humans use deception to gain advantages. Businesses and governments do it every day, by…
Groupthink
Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when the desire for group consensus overrides people’s common sense desire to present reasonable alternatives, critique a position, or express an unpopular opinion. Here,…
Corruption – who cares?
An earlier piece by Lew Edwardson recalled one example of public sector corruption. Such occurrences are so common that most pay scant attention. In British Columbia, we have government quietly…
Olympics, a money loser for the general public
July 18, the Globe and Mail headlined, “The Olympics are a great party. But they’re not worth billions in public money.” The editorial added, “Hosting a huge party takes a…
Fossil fuel dangers are even worse than we knew
Researchers from Harvard and three British universities assert that more than eight million people died in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution. The scientists estimate that exposure to particulate matter from…
Local, green and sustainable economies
A problem faced by more than one British Columbia community is how to resurrect a local economy after global corporations decide easier profits can be made by exporting unprocessed resources.…
Bad governance, disinterested corporate media
Political observers who expected BC NDP to live up to electoral promises of 2017 are by now thoroughly disillusioned. Broken promises could pave the the grounds of the BC Legislature…
Good choices – bad choices
Faced with energy market disruption, the European Union is proceeding with REPowerEU, a plan for conservation and production of clean energy. The EU knows that conservation is the cheapest, safest…
Climate change, what can we do?
Governments have not done the things needed to address climate change. In Canada, particularly in the western provinces, politicians raised middle fingers to climate scientists. Tens of billions of taxpayers…
Obligations to future generations
The Supreme Court ruled that cumulative effects from decades of industrial development on lands of northeast BC infringed treaty rights of Blueberry River First Nations. I suggest that cumulative effects…