Author Archives: Blair

Questions about the City of Vancouver May 27th Trans-Mountain Expansion Proposal Summary of Evidence

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Blair

Yesterday my twitter feed was stuffed with multiple re-tweets of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Proposal (TMEP) Summary of Evidence (SoE) prepared for Vancouver City Council 27 May 2015 (ref). I was first directed to the document by Jeff Lee … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, General Politics, Risk, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

On the “conspiracy” to force people to remain connected to sanitary and sewer systems

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Blair

The topic for tonight’s blog arrived on my radar because of the story of a Florida woman who went to court in an attempt to legally get herself off the grid (ref and ref). Her story created a pretty significant … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Risk, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

On Seattle’s Kayaktivists: Are they really hypocrites?

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Blair

My Twitter feed has been filled these last few days with pictures of the “Kayaktivists” protesting Shell’s Arctic Endeavour drilling platform at the Port of Seattle. I am of two minds on this topic. First and foremost, I do not … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Politics | 6 Comments

Ecomodernism and Degrowth: Part II Future Scenarios

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Blair

In my last post I introduced readers to both the Ecomodernist and Degrowth movements. Both movements look to provide a roadmap to get humanity off its current ecological/climate change path and on to one that is more sustainable. The Ecomodernists … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmentalism and Ecomodernism | 9 Comments

On Ecomodernism and Degrowth Part I: Initial Thoughts

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Blair

As detailed in my previous post, the last E in PELE stands for “Ecomodernist”. Having had the time to read and digest An Ecomodernist Manifesto I thought I should expand on why I think of myself as an Ecomodernist. To … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmentalism and Ecomodernism | 3 Comments

On being a modern PELE: a Pragmatic Environmentalist, Lukewarmer, Ecomodernist

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Blair

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to my 30th high school reunion. The reason my reunion is being mentioned in my blog is that part of a 30th reunion is the inevitable question: “so what are you doing … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Politics, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism | 9 Comments

On a Broader Definition of a “Lukewarmer”

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Blair

I have been offline for a bit of a holiday and as such am catching up on some very interesting posts that appeared in my absence. One of the most interesting was from Dr. Tasmin Edwards titled: The lukewarmers don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Lukewarmers | 8 Comments

More on Gypsy Moth Spraying: Bioaerosols and Medical Symptomatology

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Blair

 I had really hoped that after my first and then second posts on gypsy moth spraying that I could get off the topic and move on to more interesting discussions, but the topic is like the bad guy in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Gypsy Moth | 3 Comments

More on Gypsy Moth spraying: Toxicity redux

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Blair

 Much as I expected, my post on “the nocebo effect” and spraying for gypsy moths” drew a whirlwind of criticism on Twitter and in my email inbox. The major concern had to do with the fact that in my post … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry and Toxicology, Gypsy Moth | 1 Comment

On "the nocebo effect" and spraying for gypsy moths

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Blair

This week my inbox has been flooded by emails about the decision by our Ministry of the Environment to spray for gypsy moths in parts of Surrey and Delta. For those of you outside the British Columbia lower mainland you … Continue reading →

Posted in Gypsy Moth | 3 Comments