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Snap Out of Your Pandemic Passivity, Canada | The Tyee

“Success in a pandemic is not waiting for a vaccine,” says Bar-Yam.
“It’s about using an arsenal of tools, including vaccines, to defeat the
virus while we have the chance.”

Going to zero therefore means a serious five to seven-week lockdown that brings numbers down exponentially.

It means financially supporting struggling small businesses and their workers during that lockdown.

It means changing our testing programs from
passive systems that wait for symptomatic citizens to show up, to an
active approach that brings tests to the most at-risk communities and
workplaces.

February 22, 2021

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Deep freeze, power crisis enveloping Texas sparks fresh climate change falsehoods

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Welcome to Texas sign Image: Tim Patterson/Flickr

The catastrophic cold snap that paralyzed the electrical grid in Texas has opened up a new front in the age-old battle between green-energy champions and their fossil-fuel rivals.

One side sees the chance to build a new, fortified and more sustainable power grid. The other calls it proof positive that it’s too soon to abandon oil, gas and coal.

We all agree that America deserves a cleaner future, but pursuing a path towards that future while ignoring energy reliability is the wrong approach.”

As soon as the Texas crisis began generating national headlines, conservative lawmakers and commentators seized their chance to sing the praises of fossil fuels.

It didn’t seem to matter that natural-gas production in Texas, which provides the bulk of the state’s power, was brought to a standstill by the cold. Frozen wind turbines and solar panels – together only worth 10 per cent of the state’s power supply – offered a powerful image.

Source: Deep freeze, power crisis enveloping Texas sparks fresh climate change falsehoods – JWN Energy

This entry was posted in General and tagged clean energy, environment, fossil fuels, Texas on February 22, 2021 by Steve.

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Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s ‘We Can Have It All’ Energy Minister | The Tyee

So what exactly would O’Regan close his mind to when it comes to
piloting the nation’s energy future? As he lays it out, we can’t get to
net zero without oilsands revenue, and we can’t get to net zero without
nuclear power. Does O’Regan envision using oilsands revenue to help
subsidize Canada’s foray into mass producing nuclear power plants for
use here and for export? Until Ottawa opens up the debate, and lays out
its evidence, that remains an open question.

February 18, 2021

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Shareholders Squirm, Climate Analysts Pounce as Shell Releases ‘Grotesque’, ‘Delusional’ Climate Plan – The Energy Mix

Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Rachel Kennerly told DeSmog
that Shell was using “smoke and mirrors” in its updated plan.

“There’s one way to stop climate breakdown, and it’s to leave coal,
oil, and gas where they are and ramp up investment in renewables,” she
told DeSmog. “It’s no surprise that Shell wants a business-as-usual
model,” but that only makes it clear that governments “must set high
standards and strict laws” to hold off a “Wild West for extractive
companies, now with added green spin.”

February 15, 2021

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Washington state has a blueprint for climate success, but its region’s future is unclear

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Eileen V. Quigley

Seattle environmental activist Eileen V. Quigley is one of the authors of Washington state’s official plan to nearly eliminate the use of fossil fuel.

Exactly 10 years after that Republican majority retook the House, Quigley and her colleagues can point to a new and officially endorsed blueprint for how Cascadia — the eco-friendly region comprised of Washington State, Oregon, and B.C. — can successfully kick the fossil-fuel habit.

Working early on from a converted garage with a balky heater, Quigley toiled for years with her policy shop, the nonprofit Clean Energy Transition Institute, to provide technical assistance in support of Washington state’s energy strategy. The 428-page 2021 remake released earlier this month by the Washington Department of Commerce maps out how to eliminate all but a sliver of fossil fuel emissions through a massive shift to renewable energy.

Source: Washington state has a blueprint for climate success, but its region’s future is unclear

Horgan Takes Fire for Boosting Fossil Subsidies

According to Dogwood, “Right now, B.C. hands over a billion tax dollars a year to the oil and gas industry—that’s twice as much as we spend fighting climate change, and five times as much as we get back in royalties.”

The province still needs to investigate the human health impacts of fracking in the province’s northeast as well.

The issue was flagged by Dawson Creek doctors as a potential cause for concern after they saw patients with symptoms they could not explain, including nosebleeds, respiratory illnesses and rare cancers, as well as a surprising number of glioblastomas, a malignant brain cancer.

Selenium poisoning from coal mines is closing down communities water sources, and there are lawsuits emanating from the United States as the toxic water pollutes their rivers. See the video with the story of B.C.’s quiet water contamination crisis.

The eco-friendly region comprised of Washington State, Oregon, and B.C.have a lot of challenges before them if they hope to kick the fossil-fuel habit.