Is Washington the Place Democracy Dies?
There’s been a good deal of focus lately on the uncertain future of democracy across the globe. There was Shawn Rosenberg’s paper suggesting that we’ve become so “dumbed down” that…
The Mound of Sound
Don’t Let the Door Hit Your Ass On the Way Out, John.
The White House has lost its Dr. Strangelove. Donald Trump has sent John Bolton packing. The next US National Security Advisor? Who cares? Trump doesn’t listen to people who know…
Let’s Talk About Resilience
If you can’t beat ’em you can at least learn how to roll with the punches. When it comes to climate change impacts that means adaptation – measures that will…
Climate Change the Greatest Threat to Human Rights – UN
I follow climate science closely enough that I expect the coming decade, the 2020s, will witness upheaval of the global systems we have come to accept as norms. By the…
What Does Politics Mean When You Choose Science Instead?
If you want a cynicism overdose just compare what science shows us to what politicians tell us. It’s not pleasant. For some time now I have chosen science over politics…
We Can’t Let the Public Catch Us Screwing Them Over
When she first ran for office Joni Ernst loved to point out her skill at castrating hogs. By her own account she was damned good it. But the Republican senator…
The Emperor Has No Clothes and NASA’s In On It.
In addition to managing America’s space programme, monitoring Earth systems and the environment, the venerable National Aeronautics and Space Administration has a new role, running cover for a president with…
Democracy on Death Watch
Is Justin Trudeau a defender of democracy? No. What about Andrew Scheer? Hell no. Both of those hustlers think it’s just dandy that Canada should be ruled* on the strength…
Cassandra Calling – "No Way Out"
A sobering look at renewable energy from LSE anthropologist, Jason Hickel. If you don’t know who he is you really should check him out. Hickel has written an essay in…
Why "50 by 30" Matters This Year
Last year the IPCC warned of an urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. Since then fossil fuel consumption and GHG emissions have increased…
Regina’s Finest? The Dead South.
Definitely worth a listen.
Two Sides of The Same Coyne
Andrew Coyne looks at the Trudeau Conservatives and the Scheer Liberals, or is it the other way around? Does it matter? The two main parties, after all, could not be…
Excess
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, looks at the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest and sees one thing, mankind’s lust for excess. Whether it’s vanishing fish stocks, exhausted farmland, emptied…
What We’re Really Up Against
I’ve heard a lot of people who, at the mention of the climate crisis, believe that, when the time is right – just a little longer, any year now –…
Even the Globe Can’t Stomach BoJo
The Globe editorial board can’t find adjectives bad enough to describe the blonde-mop FUBAR now occupying No. 10. They did, however, manage to sum up Boris Johnson’s disastrous week of…
"He Shat On the Carpet"
The American vice-president, Mike Pence, is a profoundly stupid man. You could say he’s the ideal playmate for America’s reality-challenged president, DJ Trump. Pence paid his respects to his ancestral…
Fighting Back. Monbiot on Civil Disobedience in the War Against Climate Change.
It’s pretty clear now that fighting climate change means fighting power, fighting authority. Across the political spectrum it is increasingly difficult to find people in positions of power willing to…
Here’s Your Bundle of Joy for Today
As our world descends into chaos and, yes, in case you’ve not noticed that is happening, it can be hard to keep up with events. Here are some stories you…
The Three Stooges of Westminster
If the Tories keep going like this Queen Elizabeth is going to need a fresh bottle of hand sanitizer. David Cameron, Theresa May and now, Boris Johnson, the Three Stooges…
My Dear Jason Kenney. Please, Go For It. Don’t Hesitate. Do It Now.
The Alberta Tories are itching to launch an orgy of cost-cutting. Their oil is worth shit. Before long the bottom might just fall out of the bitumen markets. It’s a…