This week the leaders of the three NAFTA nations are meeting in Mexico for an opportunity to tune up NAFTA and repair some points of political contention between “Los Tres Amigos.” Much of the media reporting on the meeting has taken a negative approach to the gathering, pointing out points of contention between the three friends. […]
Long-term policy goals by America’s neighbors have made them some of the best performing economies worldwide. Unfortunately, America’s backyard has received little attention from the Obama Administration and even less attention during the Bush years. During the recent electoral debates there have been some mention of Canada and Mexico, but an overarching emphasis on security […]
There is much debate in the United States on the dominance of China in the current global economy. These discussions are quite valid as Latin America weathered much of the 2008 economic crisis based upon natural resource exports to China to bolster their booming economy. Canada was also able to rely on natural resources […]
Why Not Frack? is the title of an article in a recent issue of the “NY Review of Books.” One of the best environmental journalists we’ve got, Bill McKibben, is the author. McKibben, of course, is more than just a journalist. He’s a ground-breaking thinker and, in recent years, a very serious and effective activist. […]
So, the environmental movement drew the proverbial line in the sand: no Keystone XL pipeline. We’ve been fighting the tar sands for years, and will continue, but the Keystone XL has been the first clear solid rallying point and the first time in years that we greens have taken it to the street. Bill McKibben, […]
I’ve written a good number of times here about how I admire what the Obama Administration has achieved in the teeth of vigorous – some might say fanatical – opposition from Republicans on the Hill and elsewhere, as well as from Democrats too, mostly those beholden to the fossil fuel special interests. (Here are some […]
The year is certainly not over yet – the annual international UN climate conference is ongoing in South Africa for the next ten days. Nevertheless, here’s a quick look at what we’ve seen – and what we might expect in 2012. Casting back to my look at 2010 and beyond, I predicted witch hunts from […]
As you undoubtedly know, thousands of people, young and old, descended on Washington on November 6th, ringed the White House and told the President that the Keystone XL pipeline was not in the best interests of either the US or the planet. The fact of the turnout was great news in itself, but even better […]
As I noted recently, the pressure is building on the Keystone XL pipeline. 350.org and the many brothers and sisters who have been affiliating themselves with their actions to stop the pipeline – and indeed the tar sands development in Alberta – were in Washington in August and exercised their civil disobedience muscles. Hundreds were […]
I’ve written about or referenced the Keystone XL project and the Alberta tar sands a fair number of times, including at this post for DeSmogBlog. The picture shows protesters at the White House last summer. The folks at 350.org led the demonstrations there and are organizing another action for November 6th. The pipeline and the […]
I went down across the street from the United Nations in New York a couple of Saturdays ago and took part in a medium-sized but interesting demonstration of concern about climate change. It was part of the “Moving Planet” series of demonstrations all over the world, organized by 350.org, that produced over 2,000 events in […]
Can you imagine a world without oil? I can. Even with all the oil in which we’re swimming today – as pictured by this excellent graphic from the latest issue of Momentum from the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota – I can see a world powered by renewables, generating electricity […]
There is an important series well underway at the Vancouver Observer: “The Big Grab.” It’s about how the tar sands industry is forcing choices on Canadians that they would not otherwise have to make in the absence of all the activity in Alberta. What’s particularly important about this series, it seems to me, is that […]
I have written on a number of occasions here about the Alberta tar sands. Like many environmentalists, I find the idea of ripping tar out of the ground with excavators the size of aircraft carriers – or sucking it up after spending months softening it with injected steam – repellent. The greenhouse gas implications are […]
I’m very happy that I’ve got a two-part article, starting today, in DeSmogBlog, the prestigious environmental blog, voted Canada’s “Best Group Blog.” I’m looking once again at the Canadian tar sands, from the point of view of energy security this time. It turns out that American security is diminished by the use of tar sands […]