Author Archives: Blair

Electrifying BC’s transportation system, debunking the myths: Part II night charging of vehicles

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Blair

In my last post I started the process of debunking some of the fallacies being put forward by the electric vehicle (EV) community as part of their program to encourage people to convert to EVs while simultaneously maintaining their NIMBY … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Fossil Fuel Free Future, General Politics, Renewable Energy, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Electrifying BC’s transportation system, debunking the myths: Part I that BC Hydro Load Estimate

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Blair

A couple weeks ago I was on the receiving end of a surprising amount of vitriol over an old post (Starting a Dialogue – Can we really get to a “fossil fuel-free BC”?) that I subsequently turned into a Huffington … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Fossil Fuel Free Future, Renewable Energy, Site C, Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Debunking some activist myths about the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Blair

On Tuesday November 29th the Trudeau government approved the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). I am someone who has researched the topic extensively and have a very nuanced  view on the project. I also have a strong desire that any discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

On the Omnibus Changes to the BC Contaminated Sites Regulation

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Blair

I am going to break one of my rules at my blog today and write briefly about work that is directly in my area of professional practice. My intention in this short piece is to explain in simple language some … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

On the trade-offs, real costs and human consequences of fighting climate change

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Blair

There is an incredibly common misperception about the fight against climate change that I find intensely frustrating. The misperception is that fighting climate change has to be seen as easy to be sold to the public and is inherently good … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

On Trump voters, climate change and lessons learned from the 2016 US election

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Blair

Last week Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. This came as a surprise to a lot of the media and to those of us who live in our media bunkers on the West and East coasts but … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, General Politics, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

On tanker bans, oil spill response, coastal barges and government doing its job

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Blair

For the last week my twitter feed has been filled with discussions about the grounding of the Nathan E Stewart and the ensuing diesel spill into the fragile ecosystem of Athlone Island. Now the activist community, never willing to let … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, General Politics, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

A challenge to the climate activists, Leapers and anti-pipeline activists: show us your plans

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Blair

I started this blog to provide a venue for pragmatic discussions about evidence-based environmental decision-making. The problem with being both pragmatic and evidence-based is that it grounds you in the mundane realities of the world. It prevents you from taking … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Leap Manifesto, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

On Lukewarmism, denial and a look at the state of the environmental movement

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Blair

This weekend was a busy one for me, but I had time early in the mornings (thanks to our new puppy) to spend a little time catching up on what is happening in the environmental world. In the process I … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Lukewarmers, Uncategorized | 38 Comments

Why that new study in PNAS does not undercut any “myths” about carbon dioxide and its effect on plant health

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Blair

This week my Twitter feed directed me to an article by Dana Nuccitelli in the Guardian titled: “New study undercuts favorite climate myth ‘more CO2 is good for plants”. The Guardian article was about a new study out of Stanford, published … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Uncategorized | 22 Comments