Many readers of IN-SIGHTS examine public issues with great care and email private comments to me along with links to worthwhile material. What follows comes from a paper sent to me by a long-time follower North Van’s Grumps, fellow blogger at Blog Borg Collective. The complete paper shown below is
Continue readingAuthor: Norman Farrell
Blogging regularly since April 2009 on public affairs with focus on BC politics, journalism, the environment and ethical matters in the public arena.
IN-SIGHTS: Douglas, Lewis, Broadbent, and Layton spinning in their graves?
This item, contributed by a reader, comments upon BC Hydro now offering a ten to fifteen billion dollar commitment to private power producers. This continues Gordon Campbell’s aim of twenty years ago: PRIVATIZATION BY STEALTH.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Economic inequality by design
For as long as I can remember, we’ve been told that putting more wealth in the hands of the already wealthy will benefit everyone through greater economic growth, more jobs, and higher wages. Academic studies find the opposite is true. However, with most major media outlets controlled by the super-rich,
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Tell the dam truth
Tell The Dam Truth (TTDT) is a California based non-profit with initial funding from outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia. TTDT’s aim is to protect and restore free-flowing rivers by educating people about the impacts of river-destroying projects. The group promotes decommissioning of existing dams.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Wisdom is timeless
Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice for 23 years from 1916. He was nominated by Woodrow Wilson but the President’s choice was hotly contested. Writing for the New York Times in 1964, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas explained the opposition was because the nominee frightened the
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: The abuse of entrusted power for private gain
Corruption erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis. Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if we understand the way corruption works and the systems that enable it.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law develops legal techniques to fight climate change, trains law students and lawyers in their use, and provides the public with up-to-date resources on key topics in climate law and regulation. The center works closely with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and with governmental, nongovernmental and academic organizations.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Day tripping
A one-day return trip from the lower mainland to Victoria had us leaving North Vancouver about 5:30 am. That put us in the Tsawwassen terminal early enough to confirm our reservation for […]
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Ocean life destruction in BC
Fish biologist Stan Proboszcz of Watershed Watch Salmon Society published an article about the killing of more than 800,000 wild fish in 2022 by open-net salmon farms. According to federal data, this was 16 times more destruction than the last decade’s yearly average. Proboszcz says that 2022 was not an outlier,
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Ending fossil fuels benefits all
Many people in Canada are employed in fossil fuel industries. Were production of carbon-laden, climate damaging products to decline or end, many towns would be disrupted. However, quality of life would improve since toxic contaminants are by-products of oil, gas, and coal production. Overall employment would increase and stable populations
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Identifying methane emissions accurately
Dr. Volts, writer and researcher David Roberts, provides climate change information that is useful and understandable. His March 22 contribution is What’s the deal with these methane satellites? Roberts interviewed Mark Brownstein […]
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Happiness is… (2024 edition)
Overall, Canada ranks 15th in the World Happiness Report, although it is first among nations with populations of more than 30 million. However, when the happiness of citizens under age thirty was ranked, Canada was listed at a miserable 58th, trailing countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Some may wonder
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Accuracy of information act?
An article by Ben Parfitt was published in Policy Note, a blog by the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Parfitt reports that while the BC Government is promising protection of ancient forests, senior bureaucrats are instead protecting low-value scrub and permitting logging of high-value old-growth trees. While
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Batteries…
Large reductions in the cost of renewable technologies such as solar and wind have made them cost-competitive with fossil fuels. But to balance these intermittent sources and electrify our transport systems, we also need low-cost energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries are the most commonly used. Lithium-ion battery cells have also seen an impressive
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: BC Hydro sales flat, spending not
After forecasting 40 percent growth over 20 years, BC Hydro has been spending billions of dollars. But the utility’s sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers in calendar year 2023 were a mere one percent higher than in 2007.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Smile
Long ago, I read Ayn Rand. But then I grew up and realized that unfettered self-interest is not good and altruism is not destructive. Unlike Rand, I believe that communities are richer when people interact, cooperate and assist those in need. However, I understand Rand’s appeal to young people who
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Grim projections of warming underestimating the dangers?
According to GWU professor Dr. Uriyoán Colón-Ramos, raising concern about climate change requires that we talk less about fossil fuels and more about food. Because everyone is affected immediately by the availability and the cost of food. Dr. Colón-Ramo notes that extreme weather in 2023 was the main disrupter of
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Costly oil & gas emissions
A peer-reviewed, Stanford-led study involving more than 50 scientists was published this week by Nature. It reveals alarming information about uncontained emissions from oil gas systems. The authors integrated approximately one million aerial site measurements into regional emissions inventories for regions in the USA. They found greenhouse gas releases were
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: “Never again” must mean never again by anyone, against anyone
Maximilian Hess is a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in London. He calls himself the child of an American Jewish and Catholic German couple and said antisemitism has indelibly shaped his life. Hess says the world seems turned upside down. Comments that are antisemitic are ignored while legitimate criticisms
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: A low IQ can be very appealing
A story from Terry O’Reilly about monkeys involved in shooting a TV commercial may explain who cult leaders recruit as followers.
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