Category Archives: Uncategorized

Once again a group of health professionals gets the science wrong on diluted bitumen and the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Blair

By now, my opinion of physicians and health care professionals wandering into the field of environmental policy are well known. As I have written previously: While I trust MDs on matters relating to my health and wellness, I will stick … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil Sands, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Looking at the science on cannabis, kids and addiction

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Blair

Last week the Canadian government finally legalized and regulated the production, distribution, and use of cannabis. Like many of my peers, this change in the law didn’t have a serious effect on my life. I didn’t ingest cannabis before legalization … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

An Open Letter to Fraser Health about a miserable visit to your ER made worse by a lack of communication, price-gouging, and lousy amenities

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Blair

This blog post is a bit of a change of pace from my normal fare. On Sunday (Oct 14th) I spent over six hours in the waiting room of Langley Memorial Hospital with my 6-year-old daughter waiting to determine whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

On the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ bad science about BC LNG emissions

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Blair

Life is very busy right now so I don’t have a lot of time to blog. As such tonight’s installment is simply a quick-take to address a “Policy Note” from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) about the LNG … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Uncategorized | 22 Comments

More on the Southern Resident Killer Whales – this time on truthiness about acoustic threats and survivorship bias

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Blair

Well it has been a busy week on the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Project file with the NEB initiating their review of tanker traffic. In all the news surrounding the plan to update the marine assessment one topic that caught … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

On the environmental and social consequences if the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project fails

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Blair

I have spent a lot of time in the last few years researching the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion (TMX) project. Throughout I have always felt confident that good environmental and fiscal sense would prevail, and the pipeline would be built. … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 20 Comments

On Southern Resident Killer Whales and the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Blair

By now we all know about the Federal Court Decision on the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) project. The two grounds for quashing the Order in Council’s approval of the project were on First Nations consultation and on the assessment of … Continue reading →

Posted in Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 31 Comments

Some advice to parents from your child’s coach

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Blair

I am the father of three: a son (age eleven) and two daughters (ages nine and six). In the last decade, I have coached (or co-coached) ten soccer teams, four baseball teams and two basketball teams. As both a parent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Revisiting the question anti-pipeline activists can’t answer about the Trans Mountain pipeline

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Blair

“Pragmatic”, “hyper-rational”, “reductionist”, “positivist” these are the “insults” sent my way in the last month as I have discussed the Trans Mountain pipeline on my social media feeds. As a scientist, none off those descriptions would be considered terribly nasty, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments

Understanding environmental complexity: when initial impressions are wrong – wrapped banana edition

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Blair

I have spent my week on twitter in a series of quite interesting discussions about, of all things, bananas. This started thanks to a tweet from a local journalist showing a pile of individually wrapped bananas with the comment: “you … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Uncategorized | 4 Comments