Monthly Archives: March 2015

Environmentalism and Pragmatism, the two aren’t mutually exclusive – A blast from my past

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Blair

I was reading an interesting article at Ensia the other day about how Environmental activism needs “good cops” and “bad cops” and I could not help but have a mighty case of déjà vu. The reason for my vision was … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmentalism and Ecomodernism | 10 Comments

On “soft climate denial”, regionally-appropriate renewables and marginalizing potential allies in the climate change debate

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Blair

While reading my Twitter feed I was recently introduced to a brand new label in the climate change discussion: “soft climate denial/denier”. The label, based on my admittedly limited research, appears to have been introduced to our lexicon by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Politics | 11 Comments

On the economic and environmental folly of trying to “strangle the oil sands”

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Blair

I was in a discussion online with Dr. Andrew Weaver, “BC Green Party MLA for Oak Bay Gordon Head. Deputy Leader, BC Green Party. Lansdowne Professor, University of Victoria” and Eric Doherty, “Transportation planner & @TankerFreeBC Transportation Campaigner”, on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil Sands | 9 Comments

On K-Cups, imperfect solutions and the hubris of the environmental movement

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Blair

There has been a lot of talk in the news in the last couple weeks about the Keurig K-Cup coffee pods. As everyone knows, these pods have taken the world by storm with their ease of use and convenience. According … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

On Killer Whales, the Brontosaurus and the Tar Sands

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Blair

When I was a child, growing up in Coquitlam in the 1970’s, our family had a membership at the Vancouver Aquarium. One of our favourite things was going to see the “killer whales”. We loved to go see Skana and … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil Sands | 6 Comments

The Energy East Pipeline: Dispelling Some Myths

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Blair

Another couple oil train derailments (Gogama and Galena) in the last week have brought my attention back to the topic of oil pipelines. As I have written elsewhere, the safety record of oil-by-rail is one of the reasons why I … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Energy East, Pipelines | 6 Comments

Wind Energy and Avian Mortality: Why Can’t We get any Straight Numbers?

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Blair

In my writing on renewable energy, I have not yet spent much time on wind energy. I did establish that a single large wind turbine (rated at about 3.5 megawatts) typically contains around 600 kilograms of rare earth metals (ref) … Continue reading →

Posted in Renewable Energy | 6 Comments

On “Bullies”, “shills” and using labels to shut down legitimate debate

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Blair

Last Wednesday was “Pink Shirt Day”, which for those of you not familiar with the event, is a day to “take a stand against bullying”. The day started as two boys’ response to bullying of a classmate and has become … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change | 4 Comments