The IPCC and the Alberta perspective
On March 20 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final instalment of its Sixth Assessment Report. The report resulted from the work of 234 scientists on the…
global warming
The IPCC and the Alberta perspective
On March 20 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final instalment of its Sixth Assessment Report. The report resulted from the work of 234 scientists on the…
ExxonMobil—good science and bad behaviour
Back in the dim past, society entered into a great debate about the health effects of cigarette smoking, a noxious habit I practiced myself for many years. There were always…
Say it’s so, Joe
“By a wide margin, this legislation will be the greatest pro-climate legislation that has ever been passed by Congress.” — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Everyone, except possibly Schumer,…
Will Aussie go green?
Australia shares with Canada and the United States the dubious distinction of being one of the top three per-capita greenhouse gas producers among the industrial countries. The dirty three. Like…
Greenhouse gasses ain’t no joke
When Premier Kenney went down to the U.S. earlier this month to peddle even more of our major greenhouse gas-producing product, I was at a loss for words. The global…
Oil, guns and ethics
Promoters of the Alberta tar sands suggest customers for the product almost have a moral obligation to buy it. Their term is “ethical oil.” We hear the refrain from an…
More craziness from Texas
Many years ago, when I toiled in the oil patch, I lived in Houston, Texas for a couple of years. It was most enjoyable, especially the part about missing Canadian…
Another day, another carbon plan
Is there any issue that has had more plans and less action than global warming? Now the feds have presented us with another. And like its predecessors, it looks good…
Climate shirkers gear up for COP26
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) is scheduled for 31 October to 12 November in Glasgow. This is the 26th of the annual conferences and is special in that…
Alberta’s debt to the Maldives
As humanity continues to heat the planet, there are winners and losers. Let me rephrase that. Ultimately nobody wins; in the long term if global warming isn’t halted it will…
Burning up the credits
Purchasing carbon offsets is a popular way to act against global warming, or at least to alleviate one’s conscience. An offset allows a business, government or individual to pay someone…
“Why are we building houses if we don’t have enough water?”—A big lesson from a little town
Oakley, Utah, is small but appealing. Nestled in the mountains beside the Weber River less than an hour’s drive east of Salt Lake City, the town offers an attractive bargain…
The China dilemma—global warming or human rights?
If anything scares China’s formidable president, Xi Jinping, it’s probably democracy. The idea of the Chinese people choosing their own president must be nightmarish to the new emperor. His current…
Conflating capitalism and global warming is a mistake
Many on the left insist that dealing with global warming necessitates dealing with capitalism. Because the latter causes the former, they say, it is the root of the problem. Replacing…
Another Albertan’s reaction to President Biden’s climate announcements
When I read about U.S. President Biden’s first steps down the climate change path he intends to follow, I was delighted, primarily because of his stated intention to rejoin the…
Use the war room to educate Albertans?
In December 2019, the Alberta government launched the Canadian Energy Centre. The new UCP government had fulfilled its election promise of an energy “war room” that would “fight fake news…
Conservatives and the elites
New Conservative chief, Erin O’Toole, has recently been singing a popular populist tune. He is greatly concerned about the “elites.” “These elites have only one set of values centred on…
Decentralization Or Collapse
To halt the decline of our civilization and stop our race toward ecological, economic and social collapse, we must sow and create a paradigm shift, a shift in the dominant…