Category Archives: Climate Change

Are Gas Stoves Really Responsible for 12.7% of Current Childhood Asthma Cases in the US?

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Blair

The news has been full recently with stories about the risk of childhood asthma caused by natural gas stoves. As someone who specializes in risk assessment and has experience with indoor air chemistry this seemed like it was right up … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Politics, Risk Communication, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Reviewing Seth Klein’s A Good War – An interesting historical treatise that ignores the details of climate science

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Blair

In A Good War the author makes it clear he really doesn’t understand our climate challenge from a technical and scientific perspective. To use a metaphor from the book, the author builds his cathedral using a flawed foundation, resulting in a structure unable to support his basic premise. It is worth the read for the historical perspective it provides but sadly like many recent tomes on climate change, the book has less to do with fighting climate change and more to do with eliminating/defeating Neoliberalism Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, General Politics, Leap Manifesto | 4 Comments

A pragmatic environmentalist’s view on climate change, BC LNG and the Trans Mountain Pipeline project – not either or but all of the above

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Blair

In the last months, I have taken a lot of flak about my stances on topics like BC LNG and the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (TMX). In the last week alone I have been called a “denier” and an … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, LNG, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

The GHG intensity of the Canadian oil industry – what the scientific research actually says

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Blair

Uncertainty is a fact of life in science. Understanding and communicating uncertainty is an essential element of the scientific pursuit. Uncertainty in research comes from the fact that, in most situations, we don’t have perfect information and can’t be absolutely … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Oil Sands, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Winding Down BC’s Fossil Fuel Industries – another CCPA report that just doesn’t cut it

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Blair

This morning I was directed to a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). As I have written previously, every time I get a notification about one of their reports, I hope that it will present an evidence-based analysis … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, LNG, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Taking a serious look at the unserious demands of the Extinction Rebellion

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Blair

As anyone who watches the news knows, the good folks at the Extinction Rebellion (XR) have been increasing the intensity of their protests in the last few weeks. An organization that started in the UK has now exported its message, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Why environmental professionals and policy specialists are often frustrated with the climate strikers

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Blair

What parent hasn’t experienced this situation? Due to circumstances outside your control you are going to be late for a family commitment. You got out of the house late, or an accident on the highway has you stuck in traffic. … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Uncategorized | 32 Comments

Why political demands we radically speed up decarbonization represent wishful thinking

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Blair

This blog post started as a potential Twitter thread that got out of hand. It grew out of recent demands by major political organizations that Canada increase its pace of decarbonization. First it was the Canadian pact for a Green … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Leap Manifesto, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

On the Channel 4 News video – Uncovered: Canada’s Dirty Oil Secret – An embarrassing hit piece full of errors and falsehoods

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Blair

Recently, I was directed to a report prepared for viewing on Facebook called Uncovered: Canada’s Dirty Oil Secret by Channel 4 News which is reportedly a news program. After watching the report I wasn’t entirely sure what to say. My … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

The Green Party’s “Mission Possible” a cool name for a policy proposal that is not ready for prime time.

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Blair

On May 16th Elizabeth May unveiled the Green Party’s Mission Possible, their 20-step “Green Climate Action Plan“. While I have to admit “Mission Possible” is a very cool name, the plan repeats what we saw with their Canadian “Green New … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Renewable Energy, Site C, Uncategorized | 14 Comments