The Progressive Economics Forum July 3, 2008

Higher oil and natural gas prices are here to stay and that may be a good thing in terms of helping us move to a more energy-efficient economy and averting catastrophic climate change. But we need a plan to safeguard jobs and the living standards of working families in the transition. (Keep reading…)

The Nation May 19, 2008

While the day-to-day focus of US military planning remains Iraq and Afghanistan, American strategists are increasingly looking beyond these two conflicts to envision the global combat environment of the emerging period–and the world they see is one where the struggle over vital resources, rather than ideology or balance-of-power politics, dominates the martial landscape. Believing that the United States must reconfigure its doctrines and forces in order to prevail in such an environment, senior officials have taken steps to enhance strategic planning and combat capabilities. Although little of this has reached the public domain, there have been a number of key indicators. (Keep reading…)

June 26, 2008

Tomgram: Nation Institure

Introduction

For those who didn’t happen to notice, perhaps because it wasn’t exactly front-page news in most of the country, NASA’s James Hansen, the man who first alerted Congress to the dangers of global warming 20 years ago, returned to testify before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming this week. This time around, he was essentially offering a final warning on the subject. Unless the U.S. begins to act soon, he pointed out, “it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control.” (Keep reading…)

Globe and Mail June 24, 2008

The Age of Abundance is over. It started its decline when crude oil careered through $80 a barrel last year. Most of us were too busy enjoying the late-summer weather to notice. Crude oil has more than doubled in price over the past 12 months, and every other form of energy is following suit. (Keep reading…)

Winnipeg Free Press June 18, 2008

Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is thinking the unthinkable; saying the unsayable. He’s publicly questioning Canada’s energy policy; or more accurately, its complete lack of one. Ignatieff compared a national oil pipeline in the 21st century to the national railway in the 19th. The railway was ridiculed in its day as economic madness. “But without it, we wouldn’t have a country… I look at the east-west linkages that tie our country together,” he told Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin, “and I do wonder whether they are strong enough to offset the north-south flows that dominate our economy. The oil, the natural gas, the hydro — it all flows south. Where is the national grid to share our power, the east-west pipeline to share our oil and to guarantee our energy security as a nation?” (Keep reading…)

Special to Canadian Dimension June 9, 2008

In 2004 when Post Carbon Toronto was initially formed the data supported scientific theories of peak oil and gas were considered by the media and most economists as only slightly less deranged than a 9/11 conspiracy theory. Today that situation has changed far more quickly than we thought possible, in this we have much company. The reason for this change however has much less to do with the work of groups like ours, PCI, GPM, Parkland and ASPO, than it does with the price of gasoline. (Keep reading…)

The Tar Sands, Downstream: Who pays price of pollution?

TheTyee.ca May 20, 2008

When 500 ducks died earlier this month after landing on a tar sands tailings pond, Canadians got a glimpse into how unfettered tar sands development is taking its toll. (Keep reading…)

ZNet May 12, 2008

Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start — even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now. (Keep reading…)

Globe & Mail May 8, 2008

A who’s who of major U.S. and Canadian environmental organizations is urging the U.S. Senate to keep in place a rule banning the United States government from buying fuel from Alberta’s tar sands on the grounds that it is too environmentally tainted. (Keep reading…)

Special to Canadian Dimension April 9, 2008

The vast tar sands of northern Alberta have entered the global stage. In the context of U.S. concern about “energy security” and the five fold expansion of tar sands development proposed through the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) , the tar sands are no longer an issue only for Albertans. All Canadians have an interest, not only as global citizens, but also because of the big implications of tar sands development for our national economy and the environment. (http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/tarsands.htm) (Keep reading…)