Monthly Archives: February 2015

Public Sector Compensation – You Get What You Pay for

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Blair

Today I am going to provide a bit of a change of pace from my normal postings. Up until now I have written primarily on the topics of renewable energy and climate change. A glance at my earliest postings shows … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics | 3 Comments

A Primer: Why Cheap Oil Doesn’t Mean Cheap Gasoline or Diesel

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Blair

I was listening to the radio the other evening and the topic of discussion was gasoline prices in the Lower Mainland. The callers (and host) were expressing their anger that gasoline prices had not dropped with the recent drop in … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry and Toxicology | 4 Comments

Is the IPCC the IOC of Science?

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Blair

I was having a discussion online, on Twitter, about the field of Climate Science. The basis of the discussion was a simple question: what does it take to be considered a “climate scientist”? and the corollary: who is qualified to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Politics | 9 Comments

Risk Assessment Epilogue: Have a bad case of Anecdotes? Better call an Epidemiologist

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Blair

In my series on risk assessment I ended by noting that policy-makers can’t only rely on risk assessments when it comes to establishing whether contaminants are actually having an effect on a population. The reason for this is that risk … Continue reading →

Posted in Risk Assessment Methodologies | 9 Comments

Risk Assessment Methodologies Part 3: the Risk Assessment Process

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Blair

Over the course of the last few posts I have discussed components of the risk assessment process. As I’ve discussed, the process of conducting a formalized risk assessment is long-established as scientists have been doing them for years and have … Continue reading →

Posted in Risk Assessment Methodologies | 5 Comments

Risk Assessment Methodologies Part 2: Understanding “Acceptable Risk”

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Blair

In my last post I wrote about the basic concepts of toxicology including dose/response relationships and the concept of a de minimis risk. Today I am going to expand on that concept by discussing what represents an “acceptable risk” in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Risk Assessment Methodologies | 8 Comments

Risk Assessment Methodologies Part 1: Understanding de minimis risk

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Blair

In my last post I talked about big numbers and how they can cause confusion in the minds of the media and the public. In this post I want to discuss the other side of the coin: extremely small numbers … Continue reading →

Posted in Risk Assessment Methodologies | 14 Comments

How Big and Small Numbers Influence Science Communication: Understanding Fuel Spill Volumes

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Blair

This weekend I got a tweet from a friend who wanted everyone on her twitter list to be deeply concerned about the remaining oil from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (more on that later). In reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil Sands, Pipelines, Risk Assessment Methodologies | 7 Comments