Author Archives

Unknown's avatar

Norm Farrell

Gwen and I raised three adult children in North Vancouver. Each lives in this community, as do our seven grandchildren. Before retirement, I worked in accounting and small business management. Since 2009, I have published commentary about public issues at IN-SIGHTS.CA.

Grim projections of warming underestimating the dangers?

By on • ( 3 Comments )

According to GWU professor Dr. Uriyoán Colón-Ramos, raising concern about climate change requires that we talk less about fossil fuels and more about food. Because everyone is affected immediately by the availability and the cost of food. Dr. Colón-Ramo notes that extreme weather in 2023 was the main disrupter of food prices, She says important products are among those most susceptible to changes in weather patterns. Yields and nutritional quality are reduced. Crop failures lead to dwindling supplies, which means higher food prices…

Costly oil & gas emissions

By on • ( 3 Comments )

A peer-reviewed, Stanford-led study involving more than 50 scientists was published this week by Nature. It reveals alarming information about uncontained emissions from oil gas systems. The authors integrated approximately one million aerial site measurements into regional emissions inventories for regions in the USA. They found greenhouse gas releases were about 3x government estimates…

Clean energy solutions

By on • ( 3 Comments )

In 2017, Site C proponents said the dam was required because British Columbia needed dispatchable electricity. According to those keen on the megaproject, low-cost wind and solar power could not be integrated into BC Hydro’s systems. At the time, 97.5 percent of the utility’s generating capacity was hydro. Like batteries, reservoirs store potential energy. When consumers use electricity from wind and solar sources, hydropower utilities keep water behind dams, ready for use when needed…

Claims of antisemitism used to defend Israel’s atrocities

By on • ( 8 Comments )

I understand people who believe that Israel should defend its lands against armed attacks and fervently assert the country has a right to a peaceful existence. But I sympathize with innocent Palestinians whom Israel has displaced, starved, and massacred. I reject the notion that Israel can be excused when the country destroys hospitals, schools, mosques, food and water supplies, and kills or injures more than 100,000 people not responsible for attacks on Israel…

Eye in the sky

By on • ( 3 Comments )

MethaneSAT is equipped with advanced sensing technology that allows it to precisely identify methane emissions at oil and gas sites across the globe. The satellite was launched on March 4 and its data will be available to the public free of charge later in 2024…

Renewables are the key to low emissions, but…

By on • ( 3 Comments )

Proponents of hydroelectric dams love to talk about these as low-impact sources of clean energy. Many proponents expect to gain financially from construction of the megaprojects. To them, self-interest is always more important than public-interest. But many of the proponents expect to gain financially from construction of the megaprojects. To them, self-interest is always more important than public-interest. In British Columbia, the financial cost of electricity from Site C will be 4x to 6x that of wind and solar alternatives. Authorities choose to disregard human and environmental costs and leave them unmeasured.

Plug pulled on PowerBC

By on • ( 16 Comments )

The item below the separator was published in March 2018. That was three years before the Site C budget doubled to $16 billion, and we’ve now entered the fourth year since the dam budget was publicly updated. While overall inflation in Canada has been about 16% during the past four years, the non-residential construction industry experienced historic levels of inflation in 2022 and 2023. No one should be surprised when after the October 2024 provincial election, the Site C budget is revealed to be above $20 billion.

Debunking LNG as a climate solution

By on • ( 3 Comments )

It is worth considering a 2023 report authored for the David Suzuki Foundation by Daniel Horen Greenford, a postdoctoral researcher at Concordia University. It is titled ‘Debunking LNG as a Climate Solution.’ Unfortunately, it contains a great deal of bad news for people who care about future generations…

Pension fund investments lack transparency

By on • ( 3 Comments )

Pensions are something that young people spend little time thinking about, while for seniors, it is an important subject. Individuals young and old have little knowledge of how pension funds are invested, and almost zero influence on the choices made by people who manage funds that measure in the trillions of dollars…

Editorial cartoons

By on • ( 5 Comments )

Starting as a young adult, I paid regular attention to the brilliant Len Norris and other cartoonists featured in newspapers and magazines. Ten years ago, Ian Holliday wrote an article for The Tyee that gave examples of work by BC artist Adrian Raeside. The article described the value of editorial cartoons, but Raeside admitted to being part of an endangered species. The extinction process has not slowed in recent years…