Author Archives: Blair

On the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ bad science about BC LNG emissions

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Blair

Life is very busy right now so I don’t have a lot of time to blog. As such tonight’s installment is simply a quick-take to address a “Policy Note” from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) about the LNG … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Uncategorized | 22 Comments

More on the Southern Resident Killer Whales – this time on truthiness about acoustic threats and survivorship bias

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Blair

Well it has been a busy week on the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Project file with the NEB initiating their review of tanker traffic. In all the news surrounding the plan to update the marine assessment one topic that caught … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

On the environmental and social consequences if the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project fails

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Blair

I have spent a lot of time in the last few years researching the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion (TMX) project. Throughout I have always felt confident that good environmental and fiscal sense would prevail, and the pipeline would be built. … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 20 Comments

On Southern Resident Killer Whales and the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Blair

By now we all know about the Federal Court Decision on the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) project. The two grounds for quashing the Order in Council’s approval of the project were on First Nations consultation and on the assessment of … Continue reading →

Posted in Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 31 Comments

Some advice to parents from your child’s coach

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Blair

I am the father of three: a son (age eleven) and two daughters (ages nine and six). In the last decade, I have coached (or co-coached) ten soccer teams, four baseball teams and two basketball teams. As both a parent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Revisiting the question anti-pipeline activists can’t answer about the Trans Mountain pipeline

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Blair

“Pragmatic”, “hyper-rational”, “reductionist”, “positivist” these are the “insults” sent my way in the last month as I have discussed the Trans Mountain pipeline on my social media feeds. As a scientist, none off those descriptions would be considered terribly nasty, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments

Understanding environmental complexity: when initial impressions are wrong – wrapped banana edition

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Blair

I have spent my week on twitter in a series of quite interesting discussions about, of all things, bananas. This started thanks to a tweet from a local journalist showing a pile of individually wrapped bananas with the comment: “you … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Looking at the science linking BC forest fires to climate change

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Blair

A State of Emergency has been declared in British Columbia because of all the forest fires, and the usual suspects have started their usual game of blaming the forest fires on climate change. The problem is, as I will demonstrate … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Uncategorized | 25 Comments

No, Kinder Morgan did not say that the Trans Mountain would cost $9.3 Billion to complete

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Blair

By now I should really be used to the bad reporting associated with the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP). Daily, I see reporters simply repeating talking points presented by Dogwood and Greenpeace employees who are paid to produce a constant … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

An Environmental Scientist responds to the signers of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council “Letter to the PM” about the Trans Mountain Pipeline project

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Blair

Last week selected members of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council (PMYC) wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister asking that he cancel the buyout of the Trans Mountain pipeline. While young, these representatives have a strong public appeal and an … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Uncategorized | 14 Comments