Climate change may not affect baby boomers like me, but it sure as hell will affect my grandchildren. The headline of this article is drawn from the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations. WHO’s key facts include:
Foot-dragging on electrifying new residential construction may cost new owners $25,000+ in retrofits
Local governments are climate change laggards. This needs to change, and voters should keep this in mind on October 17.
Municipal politics and climate action
A friend of mine is deeply engaged with his local government. He is, by his own admission, a royal pain in the ass to people at city hall. His theory is that municipal politicians are the most accessible elected officials and the ones most likely to respond directly to the views of their constituents. I share his hope that people will become involved in October’s local elections. Talk to the candidates. Attend public meetings. Tell them what matters to you—and ask what they intend to do about it.
Just another day in the time of the great derangement
Denmark and Sweden are the only two industrialized countries likely to attain net-zero. Canada will not. The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act was passed in 2021, but it has no enforceable requirement that the country actually achieve net zero by 2050.
Wildfires and the choices behind them
The feedback dynamics involved are precisely what climate scientists have long warned about: hotter and drier conditions created by a warming climate make forests more combustible, while burning forests release carbon that further accelerates warming. Current trends suggest this dangerous “feedback loop” is gaining momentum.
Alternative energy solutions
Hydropower is dispatchable. It is generally reliable, can increase or decrease generation quickly, and can be shut down and restarted with relative ease. Provided the facilities are properly maintained, the system should perform well.
But what happens when drought leaves too little water to drive the turbines? The answer is simple: electricity production declines.
Carney, Smith and Eby’s climate betrayal
Governments acknowledge climate science, then pursue policies that directly contradict it. They transfer public wealth to immensely profitable corporations, encourage greater fossil-fuel dependence, and leave ordinary people to bear the mounting costs of fires, floods, droughts, extreme heat, illness, displacement, and environmental destruction. The first duty of government is to protect human life and the public interest. Leaders who knowingly intensify a threat to both are not merely failing in that duty. They are betraying it. This is not climate leadership. It is a betrayal of the people governments are supposed to protect—and of the generations who will inherit the consequences.
What we pretend not to see
I recently stumbled across an American website: A Moveable Feed from buttondown.com. It promises to deliver “Blunt, funny takes on today’s biggest stories from a recovering DC insider.” This week, the website published Smoke, Fire, And What We Pretend Not To See. I found the full article engaging. Below the separator are excerpts.
Damn the climate science, full speed ahead!
During the 1864 American Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, Rear Admiral Farragut ordered his fleet forward after the vessel Tecumseh struck a torpedo—and sank. The admiral said something like, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” David Eby is desperate for any kind of achievement, so the premier left yesterday for China, where he will promote a gigantic expansion of the LNG plant that is now polluting Kitimat and spewing methane into the atmosphere. Eby is in effect saying, “Damn the climate science, full speed ahead!”
Can politicians sympathetic to unions be climate-conscious?
A strong labour movement can make climate policy more durable and socially just—but only when it represents workers rather than becoming the political defender of multinational, carbon-intensive industries.
Creating new markets for a fossil fuel
The Tyee is reporting on why the federal government wants to promote and subsidize a national network of data centres. Apparently the Liberals discount peer-reviewed science that says the global warming emissions from burning natural gas are higher than those from clean energy sources like wind or solar.
Tar sands pollution up to 64 times higher that official estimates
Peer-reviewed science found that emissions from Alberta’s oilsands may be far greater than regulators and the public have been led to believe. Aircraft measurements revealed gas-phase organic carbon emissions up to 64 times higher than official estimates reported by the industry. Total organic carbon emissions in Alberta are equivalent to those from all other sources across Canada combined.
Change is possible, but unlikely
Climate change is not a problem that can be solved within the current economic system without deep structural change.
MAGA deals with climate change
Fact versus Fiction
People of this world have many problems. Not least among them is climate change. Environmental activist David Suzuki discussed his pessimism about the future. Dr. Suzuki thinks we have now lost the fight against climate change. An image here explains the loss.
Carbon taxes examined
Reading comments on social media and listening to statements by certain politicians, it is apparent that carbon taxes are often misunderstood. These impositions are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and science shows that would improve human health and lessen catasrophic losses resulting from climate change…
After a record in 2024, 2025 starts with temperatures in new record territory
January 2025 beat the prior record set in January 2024 by a sizable margin… An unexpected record to start things off may presage higher temperatures this year than many of us thought.
Gifted lifter of political veils and pretenses
A decade ago, the New York Times included American cartoonist Jen Sorensen on a short list of the “most gifted lifters of political veils and pretenses.” Her work might be more relevant in 2025 than it has ever been.
Canadian politicians recklessly blazing a path toward unprecedented climate change
Canadian climate journalist Geoff Dembicki wrote an opinion piece published by the New York Times almost six years ago. Canada’s Perverse Climate Change Policy: Gas Up. It was subtitled: Pushing toward the worst scenario despite better options for the future of the environment.
Carbon dioxide emissions hit a record in 2024 and show no signs of dropping
Andrew Coyne says carbon tax critics who ignore rebates are dishonest. They are eager to damage the Earth and the Canadian economy if a political advantage can be gained. Duplicity may be a useful tool for politicians but it damages our democratic institutions. Beyond that, maligning the carbon tax impairs Canadian efforts to deal with climate change. That has real consequences.
Thanks for this article Norm. The BC Greens are breaking new ground this election by promising to introduce a wealth…