The Bizarre Weather of 2014 Explained Using GIFs
BuzzFeed, of all places, as a great and simple way that explains why the weather of 2014 has been so extreme. In North America it has been more cold than…
global warming
Proselytizing on Pipeline Politics
The controversial Keystone XL pipeline has received a big bolster of support by a US State Department report finding that the pipeline won’t create a significant increase in greenhouse gases,…
Greenland Inuit Village Fights for Survival
The people of Uummannaq are trying to adapt in order to survive. Photo: Mark Brooks My documentary on the impacts of climate change in the Greenlandic village of Uummannaq aired…
The unholy trinity of the Alberta tarsands industry,…
The unholy trinity of the Alberta tarsands industry, the Conservative Party and the right-wing media has gone all-out in its attacks on Neil Young for his stance against their destructive…
The tar sands—our climate change nemesis
While Neil Young very publicly feuds with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and its ally the Canadian government, tar sands production continues to systematically advance Alberta’s position as the…
Ice Storm 2013: It’s still an emergency, and the PM is still missing in inaction
Canadian soldiers, summoned by Mayor Mel Lastman, clean up the streets of Toronto after the big dump of 1999. Below: Mr. Lastman. (Photos grabbed from the Toronto Star.) More days…
Producing the wrong oil?
The Joint Review Panel has ruled on the viability of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and the result is as expected. The panel, established by the National Energy Board and…
Stephen Harper and the Northern Gateway Scam
Well I see Stephen Harper got an early Christmas present, courtesy of the Big Oil gang at the National Energy Board. A polarizing debate over the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway…
Canada-Australia climate axis—greatest threat to global security?
Prime Minister Harper once announced that the greatest threat to global security was terrorism. That was nonsense of course—every year, malaria kills approximately 660,000 people, mostly children, and AIDS 1,700,000…
Harper outshames Ford
Embarrassing our country more than Toronto Mayor Rob Ford would seem to be an impossible task. Yet our prime minister has done just that. On November 12th, the federal government…
The elites display their conscience
The World Economic Forum (an elite organization in itself) recently released a study, The Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014, based on a survey of 1,592 leaders from academia, business,…
Good news and bad news about climate change from Stanford U
First the bad news, even if it’s old news. Stanford University scientists report that not only is the Earth undergoing one of the largest climate changes since the dinosaurs disappeared,…
No more excuses
There is no question: this generation will be held responsible for our actions, and even more, for our inaction. Apathy, complacency and denial are morally unacceptable. In fact, at this…
The West Coast steps up on global warming
Earlier this week, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington and B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced their Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy, “committing their governments, and a…
Forget the polar bears, what about the moose?
As the Earth inexorably warms up due to human folly, one species after another pays the price. The most iconic example is of course the polar bear. And why not—what…
Mexico City: A study in impermanence, and a lesson to us all
pablo lopez luz photographs the concrete waves (or carpet, as he puts it) of Mexico City The unbelievably sprawling concrete carpet of Mexico City seen in these photos make me…
Deutsche Welle Living Planet 2013 Arctic Diary
This week, Deutsche Welle Living Planet broadcast the first of my audio diaries from the Students on Ice 2013 Arctic Expedition. This first audio postcard captures the reflections of Canadian…
Global warming will be long with us
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls it the “greatest collective challenge we face as a human family.” He is, of course, referring to climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on…
Ignácio Brandáo, Muzzling Scientists, And Environmental Disaster. . . .
Read this – “Scientists. A minimal, marginalized lot these days. It’s almost prehistoric the way we’ve become immune to the warnings science offers us. As soon as the System realized…