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…
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…
This video is from National Geographic’s new docuseries Queens. It shows an encounter between a 60-year-old female orca whale and a great white shark. The first three episodes of the seven-part docuseries are available to stream on Disney+.
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…
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.
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.
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…
Greenwashing promotes false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action…
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…
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…
I write often about climate change and tend toward pessimism about humankind’s efforts to avoid disaster. But there are good stories that show progress. Will they be enough? Only if we have the will to go against powerful vested interests and implement 21st century technologies…
I spend much time on the internet reading reliable sources. (Well, mostly reliable.) My subscription list for mainstream media is lengthy, although I consciously avoid Postmedia. While the company employs some excellent […]
Sometimes, we become focused on things that matter to us, but matter little or nothing to others. I might be accused of that when I write at IN-SIGHTS. But I haven’t yet reached the point where I’m analyzing ravioli and hiring a lawyer.
A 1953 speech by W.E.B. Du Bois discussed the fundamental injustices and shortcomings of the American economy. It includes one of his most famous quotes:
It must dishearten nuclear proponents when wind energy is shown to be a low-cost, quickly installed source of electricity.
Owners of social media platforms profit from tidal waves of hate and disinformation. Boy, do they profit. According to Forbes, Facebook’s Zuckerberg is worth C$230 billion, while co-founders Saverin and Moskovitz share C$50 billion. Twitter’s Elon Musk is said to be worth C$275 billion, while Google founders Page and Brin hold $320 billion between them. That’s almost a trillion dollars in the hands of six greedy men.
The people of British Columbia will soon pay $3 billion a year in carbon tax. Yet actions of governments, fossil fuel producers, financiers, and people holding extreme wealth ensure that climate change is dealt with more by words and empty promises than by meaningful actions.
In the 2024 Throne Speech, the government of David Eby claimed that “greenhouse gas emissions are down 5 per cent from six years ago.” The claim is simply untrue. It is made by ignoring vast sources of emissions.
If you are a climate change denier, better miss this BBC report. If you are not, feel sad for future generations…
Star columnist Armine Yalnizyan wrote about the tapeworm economy that emerges when governments finance private corporations to deliver services to the public. She says it “like introducing a parasite that slowly robs the body of nutrients and destroys its organs.”
In these days where we are bombarded on social media by lengthy blocks of text with no paragraph breaks… (which…
Jonathan Winter reminds me of when Pangloss tells Candide that men must perforce have been made to wear eye glasses,…
[…] Found in the internet. As a recent traveller through YVR, I wo argue with Jonathan Winters. Getting to the…
This Just In https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/general/microsoft-to-use-2-8-million-gallons-of-lake-michigan-water-in-2026-for-mt-pleasant-project/ar-AA1ML7Mw Too bad about Lake Michigan. Where did you say hundred of thousands of gallons of data…
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Well of course! CBC's very own internal censor, Bari Weiss, was right and proper to cancel release of the video…