Author Archives: Blair

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

Public Sector Compensation – You Get What You Pay for

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Blair

Today I am going to provide a bit of a change of pace from my normal postings. Up until now I have written primarily on the topics of renewable energy and climate change. A glance at my earliest postings shows … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics | 3 Comments

A Primer: Why Cheap Oil Doesn’t Mean Cheap Gasoline or Diesel

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Blair

I was listening to the radio the other evening and the topic of discussion was gasoline prices in the Lower Mainland. The callers (and host) were expressing their anger that gasoline prices had not dropped with the recent drop in … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry and Toxicology | 4 Comments

Is the IPCC the IOC of Science?

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Blair

I was having a discussion online, on Twitter, about the field of Climate Science. The basis of the discussion was a simple question: what does it take to be considered a “climate scientist”? and the corollary: who is qualified to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Politics | 9 Comments

Risk Assessment Methodologies Part 3: the Risk Assessment Process

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Blair

Over the course of the last few posts I have discussed components of the risk assessment process. As I’ve discussed, the process of conducting a formalized risk assessment is long-established as scientists have been doing them for years and have … Continue reading →

Posted in Risk Assessment Methodologies | 5 Comments