Knute “Mossback” Berger is a Seattle-based writer and commentator whose videos appear on Western Washington’s PBS station, KCTS-TV. His focus is the Pacific Northwest, and although some stories are rooted in particular American locations, viewers in British Columbia can also learn much from his explorations of regional history. I particularly enjoyed The People of the Columbia River.
Because Carney’s Liberal government is working to promote fossil-fuel production, Canadians should not expect it to encourage sales of affordable electric vehicles—or the transition away from gasoline. That is unfortunate.
Canadians might follow the French, if the country were not so dedicated to the burning of fossil fuels.
Technical capability is advancing faster than public understanding, democratic oversight, or agreement about who should bear the risks. The danger is not science itself. It is the willingness to deploy immensely powerful technologies before we understand their consequences—or have established who will remain in control.
A typical casual worker at American McDonald’s may average 20 hours a week at $14 an hour. The person would have to labour for more than fourteen centuries to equal what the McDonald’s CEO received in a single year.
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.
A. Reader is back again with another informative post. This particular contributor sends me much useful information. I always appreciate the person’s work. The latest piece follows the separator.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has caused his government to serve oil barons rather than the people who elected it. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made that choice long ago. Now British Columbia Premier David Eby has joined them, deciding that political and financial rewards matter more than a livable planet and the welfare of future generations.
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.
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.
The RCMP was particularly suspicious of people associated with peace movements—and of political leaders willing to speak openly with people across the political spectrum. In the eyes of Canada’s security establishment, listening to dissenting voices and engaging opponents were not signs of democratic strength. They were grounds for surveillance. The irony is striking. The authorities treated Tommy Douglas as a possible threat largely because he practiced the openness, tolerance, and democratic engagement that Canada claimed to value.
From 1956 through 1958, I attended Stillwater Elementary, a small schoolhouse twenty-two kilometres south of Powell River. Its three rooms accommodated six grades, and children were summoned to class by a hand-rung bell left over from the region’s railway-logging days. One ordinary school day, a visitor appeared. She was Ruth Allan, known locally as the “Credit Union Lady.” She lived to be 102 and touched the lives of many people.
I do not know Mel Lehan personally, but I have been aware of his altruistic activism for many years. His Facebook posts are usually both entertaining and informative. Recently, he reposted an item from Informatify about Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. Her story brought back memories of the dangerous years when courageous people risked their lives in the struggle for civil rights.
Many years ago, our valued friends Jacquie and Lorne began searching for a vacation home. They explored possibilities in several parts of North America and Europe before deciding that the south of France offered almost everything they could wish for: a rich and fascinating history, a warm climate, exceptional food and wine, and surprisingly modest costs…
A comment on my last article is too good to not feature as a separate post. It was submitted by Loopholes Uber Alles, which I suspect just might be a nom de plume. The main part is from The Beaverton, which happens to be a more accurate reporter of political affairs than Postmedia and several other publications that promote the interests of Canada’s one percent.
Erick Villagomez teaches architecture and urban design at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning. His work examines how cities are shaped by often-invisible systems that influence power, equity, and democratic participation. An article by Villagomez published at spacing.ca is worth serious attention. It followed the announcement by Premier Eby and Prime Minister Carney of a welfare plan for developers that involves the purchase of unsold condominiums…
The following was published as a letter in Victoria’s Times Colonist newspaper Re: “B.C. premier visiting China to pitch LNG project as province’s ‘really big fish,’ ” June 27. While Premier David […]
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!”
I recently read several Facebook comments that trivialized the indiscriminate violence inflicted on innocent people in Gaza and Lebanon. Some commenters suggested that the deaths and disruption experienced by Israeli residents were equivalent to—or even worse than—the destruction inflicted on more than eight million people when sophisticated weaponry threatened or destroyed densely populated areas outside Israel’s borders.
During the past half-century, I have watched computing power increase beyond anything most of us could have imagined. My old Digital Equipment DS310 attracted attention from other business people, but its capability was laughably small. Yet nothing in my 50-year history with computers has developed quite as rapidly—or unsettled me as deeply—as artificial intelligence.
Free Trade FACT CHECK – Bombardier ban. https://www.kake.com/home/president-trump-demands-bombardier-shift-production-to-the-us/ article_04b128b7-91a2-4a5d-8b23-6831da27344d.html President Trump demands Bombardier shift production to the US WICHITA, Kan.…
OK. Here's the Deal. Would a bribe seal the deal? Mr. Trump wants a midterm win in November. Is this…
An interesting legal interpretation due South. The US Constitution doesn’t protect the population from being lied to and sickened by…
AI mustn’t be regulated. Says who? Mark Zukerberg. But he’s just being an impartial observer. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/04/congress/trahan-trump-zuckerberg-ai-01065454 A House Democrat trying…
in-sights.ca 
Mr. McCutcheon’s essay? Brilliant and thorough analysis. Unlike our politicians juggling contradictory what-ifs, his example doesn’t stop with what might…