Author Archives: Blair

Debunking more Myths and Fables about the Energy East Pipeline

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Blair

Well my last post summarizing why I support the Energy East pipeline has been out for only a couple days and the response has been quite positive. I can usually tell when a post is doing well: when my social … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Energy East, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

A Chemist in Langley’s take on Energy East

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Blair

I have written a lot about pipelines at this blog and last night while watching Denis Coderre attempt to hijack the Energy East pipeline discussion I said to myself: enough is enough I want to write a blog post to … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Energy East, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

On poor science communication in the media: a case study on the flu vaccine

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Blair

This morning I was directed to a blog post by Bill Tieleman in The Tyee. The post dealt with the flu vaccine and was titled Time to End Expensive, Ineffective Forced Flu Shots. This is the latest of his, now … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Chemistry and Toxicology, Risk, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

On the glaring intellectual inconsistencies in 100% Wind Water and Sunlight

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Blair

Ralph Waldo Emerson is his famous essay Self-Reliance coined the phrase “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”. As readers of my blog know I have spent a lot of time researching and commenting on the 100% Wind, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fossil Fuel Free Future, Renewable Energy, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

On the curious anachronism that is the academic journal business model

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Blair

While discussing my post on the benefits and limitations of peer review in the reporting of interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary science I came to recognize that I was taking a lot of things for granted. The biggest is that a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

On blogging and the irrelevance of academic peer review in multi-disciplinary fields

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Blair

In my short blogging career I have been challenged, on more than one occasion, to submit my writing to peer-reviewed academic journals. My response has been to point out that my work undergoes peer review the second I post it … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Fossil Fuel Free Future, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

More on 100% Wind, Water and Sunlight and the Council of Canadians “100% Clean economy” by 2050 goal

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Blair

This week the Globe and Mail featured an interview with engineer Dr. Mark Z Jacobson on his plan for the world to get all its energy – including transport and heating fuel and electricity – from wind, water and solar … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Fossil Fuel Free Future, Renewable Energy | 29 Comments

A look at British Columbia’s energy picture in light of the Paris Agreement

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Blair

In the last month or so, I have seen an upsurge of comments on my Twitter feed, and at the #bcpoli hashtag, from individuals who I can best describe as “politically active” and “partisans”. These tweets have centered on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Fossil Fuel Free Future, General Politics | 11 Comments

A pragmatic environmentalist blue-skies a renewable energy project

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Blair

I have written a lot in this blog about renewable energy. Most of my blogging on the topic has involved looking with a pragmatic eye at various potential renewable energy technologies including geothermal (Part I and Part II), biofuels  and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

On Pragmatic Environmentalism, the Paris Agreement and where do we go from here?

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Blair

This weekend they passed the Paris Agreement at the end of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Twenty-First Conference of the Parties (COP21). As I have discussed in previous posts, it is my opinion that the Agreement involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments