Tom Friedman argues that whatever gains we are making at home are being lost by the developing world western like economic expansion. Hey, I’m really glad you switched to long-lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs in your house. But the growth in Doha and Dalian ate all your energy savings for breakfast. I’m glad you bought [...]
energy
The Denial Machine
CBC’s The Fifth Estate has posted an amazing 40 minute piece on how the White House and the energy company’s are spinning the issue on Global Warming. It also draws some links between how energy companies are using the same tactics (and the same P.R. firm) of when big tobacco was trying to tell us [...]
Off the Grid
A little ironic but George W. Bush’s Crawford ranch is totally off the grid and extremely environmentally friendly. Maybe he knows the same thing about his energy policy that the rest of us know… Interesting article on the eco-design of the ranch. I enjoy his reference to the “whining pool”. via Technorati Tags : environment, [...]
Book Review 2 of 52: The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon
A couple of years ago a friend of mine said, “You need to read The Ingenuity Gap by Thomas Homer-Dixon“. Since I am a sucker for book related peer pressure, off I went to Saskatoon’s McNally Robinson and bought the book. I was fascinated with the thesis of The Ingenuity Gap which is that until recently, [...]
A National Energy Program :: Part II
I think Canada should had a National Energy Program. Not the National Energy Program, the program that taught me that it was my responsibility as a kindergarten Albertan to beat up Liberal supporters but something that is going to help us a nation deal with the kind of energy crisis that is coming. I was [...]
Dion seeks to change his image
Article in the Globe about Stephane Dion’s image makeover. I would have cared more since I signed up to volunteer on his leadership campaign twice and they have never gotten back to me. Mr. Dion, a former environment minister, has outlined a campaign to create “three pillars” of Liberal policy, adding environmental sustainability to the [...]
Life after peak oil
I have posted this before but you may want to read this interview with James Howard Kunstler about the issues that peak oil will bring to North America. It is outstanding. When I say the core I don’t necessarily mean the downtown business districts. Those parts are going to be very, very problematical, and that’s [...]
Malcolm Gladwell’s review of Collapse
This is from Malcolm Gladwell’s review of Collapse “Every archaeologist who comes to excavate in Greenland . . . starts out with his or her own idea about where all those missing fish bones might be hiding,” he writes. “Could the Norse have strictly confined their munching on fish to within a few feet of [...]
Achieving energy independence
Senator Barack Obama has a brilliant plan for energy independence. It is worth a read. Such a solution is not only possible, it’s already being implemented in other places around the world. Countries like Japan are creating jobs and slowing oil consumption by churning out and buying millions of fuel-efficient cars. Brazil, a nation that once [...]
David Suzuki’s Sustainability within a Generation
Noted environmentalist David Suzuki has released a blueprint for Canada to become environmentally sustainable within a generation. A little reading shows that the Canadian government, no matter which stripe has not done a good job of being stewards of Canada’s environment and Suzuki has some interesting ideas for where we need to go to change [...]
So what part of the State of the Union did he mean?
No wonder I am so cyncical. This was the part of the State of the Union address I liked the best. Apparently the President didn’t mean it. One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national [...]
