Opinion: When 'legal' is also 'immoral.'
This morning, I received a message from the BC Government and became nearly incoherent with anger. I sent the following hastily-composed letter to the Premier and the relevant ministers: Dear BC Government: Your message about the fifth anniversary of the Tsilhqot'in Decision sparked rage in my aging brain -- at the BC...
Column: Can caribou and industry co-exist?
The economy-versus-environment debate is wrong-headed in elevating a changeable human construct to the same level or above the natural systems on which our health and well-being depend. And in many cases, it would be more accurate to characterize it as “environment versus corporate interests.” Although those interests often...
Editorial: Age-friendly pedal-power – a positive addition to any community
Last Thursday, Rosslanders may have seen a pedal-powered “trishaw” demonstrating its ability to carry a couple of passengers at a time – and, with the help of the electric “pedal-assist” motor, make it all the way to the top of town. Thanks to the volunteers who are powering this age-friendly...
Column: Getting to Zero
We’re caught in a bad cycle. Global greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, causing more extreme weather events and temperature swings. Hotter than normal weather in some places and colder in others means more people are using heat and air conditioning, which creates more emissions…According to a statistical review by oil...
Editorial: Things that go BANG and look exciting
“Maim”isn’t a word we often hear these days, but it’s what fireworks too often do – cause blindness, blow people’s hands off, or maybe just a finger or two … add “maim” to your vocabulary, kids, especially if you like playing with fireworks. They can maim you. On ...
Column: Women's rights can help solve world's woes
What’s the top solution for resolving the human-caused climate crisis? According to Paul Hawken, it’s educating girls and improving family planning. Hawken is the author of Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. “Drawdown” is “the point at which levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere...
Experts say Senate changes to environmental assessment bill are worse than Harper-era legislation
Following intensive lobbying by the oil and gas industry, the unelected Canadian Senate has approved more than 180 controversial amendments to Bill C-69. Experts describe the amendments as incoherent, badly drafted and an attempt to dodge climate change considerations. By Sarah Cox, for The Narwhal Alberta Premier Jason Kenney...
Opinion: Nuclear Power is not the Answer in a Time of Climate Crisis
By Heidi Hutner and Erica Cirino; from Aeon In November 2018, the Woolsey Fire scorched nearly 100,000 acres of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, destroying forests, fields and more than 1,500 structures, and forcing the evacuation of nearly 300,000 people over 14 days. It burned so viciously that it seared a scar into the ...
Opinion: 'The Aristocrats' -- how Rachel Notley just drove another nail into Horatio Alger's coffin
By Stuart Parker As Hunter S. Thompson began to observe the failure of the 1960s and the rise of modern neoliberal capitalist retrenchment, he increasingly referenced Horatio Alger stories of the First Gilded Age to describe his own precarious position in a resurgent decadent American capitalist plutocracy. Las Vegas in the...
COLUMN: Theme for optimists -- Homo sapiens seeking self-improvement
“We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” -- Carl Sagan “... Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.” – Eckhart Tolle “Philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point is to change it.” – Karl Marx “You’re saying humans are...