Posts (page 2)
Everybody needs to read this article in the most recent issue of The Walrus. Whether the numbers are perfectly accurate or not isn't relevant: the reality is that the end of the hydrocarbon is coming, and probably within my lifetime.
Critical points:
[Dave Hughes'] Talk is all kinds of policy-wonky. Your eyes could glaze over. You could even miss the two slides Dave always says are the only ones you must remember. The first is a single-line graph depicting "World Per Capita Annual Primary Energy Consumption by Fuel 1850-2007," which climbs by 761 percent over its 157-year timeline and flips from 82 percent renewable biomass (mostly wood) at the 1850 end to 89 percent non-renewables (almost entirely fossil fuels) at the 2007 end. The second critical slide has three line graphs in horizontal sequence, all tracking curves that begin in 1850, around the time humanity started drilling for oil in a serious way, and then spiking impossibly high at the right-hand, 2007 termini of their X axes. Global population today: 5.3 times global population in 1850. Per capita energy consumption today: 8.6 times that of 1850. Total energy consumption today: 45 times 1850's.
I personally think this makes the point rather well:
Even if you're convinced climate change is UN-sponsored hysteria or every last puff of greenhouse gas will soon be buried forever a mile underground or ducks look their best choking on tar sands tailings, Dave Hughes is saying your way of life is over. Not because of the clouds of smoke, you understand, but because we're running out of what makes them.
Emissions are the back end of the problem. They won't matter when there's suddenly nothing to emit. Of course our economy will collapse since the entire thing is based on hydrocarbon inputs.
30 Rock's third season has ended. Alan Alda guest starred as Jack's long lost father Milton Green. When it turns out Milton needs a kidney transplant, Jack solves the problem in his own special way: by marshaling all the power of the liberal media, calling in personal favours (he apparently saved Mary J. Blige from a "...20 year contract with Sea World.") and throwing a musical fund raiser benefit.
Some of the musician guests were great, and some of my favourites. Moments below.
Sheryl Crow snubbing Liz Lemon despite the fact that they were best friends in the fifth grade and co-kidneys in a play about the bodily organs.
The New York Times gives Montreal's new Bixi program glowing coverage while Vancouver's drivers continue to whine about the loss of a lane on the Burrard Bridge in favour of bikes.
Bike sharing programs are great, and it's nice to see them being put in place in a hilly city like Montreal. From the article:
On a test ride, I found the bike to be stable and comfortable. The three gears, while widely spaced, included one low enough for climbing roads running up the extinct volcano which forms the island of Montreal.
Hills in Vancouver are the continuing red herring against a bike sharing program, along with the fiction that cycling is only good for people who are already fit. Hopefully we can get over this and get a program in place.
Share the Road Challenge from Diana Wilson on Vimeo.
It's Bike to Work Week in Vancouver. My commute is actually about 10 minutes shorter when I drive, but it's quite a bit less enjoyable.
When information about Vancouver's Olympic village loan leaked, there was quite a bit of debate over how it happened. The documents were apparently identified by a unique number and rumour at the time said that it was Peter Ladner's copy that had been leaked.
Then mayor Sam Sullivan called for an investigation. The results are in and the crack investigators at the Vancouver Police Department have come up...empty. Excellent job.
Vancouver police quit probe into leaked Olympic documents
BY JEFF LEE, VANCOUVER SUN, MAY 12, 2009
Vancouver police have halted an investigation into who leaked confidential information from city hall regarding a $100-million Olympic village financing deal.Saying they were unable to convince everyone who had access to a confidential document to take polygraph tests, police said they have no choice but to recommend not proceeding with charges.
"After a thorough and detailed investigation involving interviews with numerous city councillors and staff, and a review of any existing evidence, we have decided there is insufficient evidence to recommend charges in this incident," said Insp. Les Yeo.
BCE moved to further drive wireless-customer growth by fully acquiring discount carrier Virgin Mobile Canada on Thursday.
Virgin was launched in 2004 by its showy owner Richard Branson and with it came with flashy stunts, sexy nurse uniforms, an major indie music festival and a surprisingly strong beachhead in the youth prepaid market thanks to promotions that painted the company as everything the incumbent telcos weren't.
Why the CRTC allows this to happen always shocks me. Cell phone costs in Canada are high and going up. There's not enough competition in the market, and the big three lock their customers into extended contracts.
The National Post doesn't seem to get it either, positioning Koodo and Fido as competitors to the big three although those companies are both owned by Telus and Rogers respectively.
Sigh. It's back to a landline for me in the fall, I think.
The New York Times has an excellent article on the evolution of bike design and the impact of the UCI's traditional view of bikes.
Professional cycling is in a heated struggle among its governing body, its teams and the companies that manufacture expensive equipment over what is a legal racing bike.
The International Cycling Union abruptly alerted teams at the start of this season that it intends to clarify and reinterpret its often oblique rules governing bicycle design through increased equipment inspections.
The announcement was an unwelcome surprise. Bicycles and accessories may be banned within weeks. That could leave teams scrambling to find new bikes for top riders, and the manufacturers could find it harder to sell their merchandise.
The city of Vancouver today voted in favour of a trial to improve cycling on the Burrard Bridge. The bridge currently requires cyclists and pedestrians to share a narrow sidewalk, with only a curb to separate fast moving traffic. The speed limit is 50km/h, but traffic is moving much faster than that.
This is is a good move, and a forward thinking move. It's a recognition that bicycles play a vital role in transportation strategy, especially in the densely populated downtown areas.
I still want a pedestrian and bicycle only crossing of False Creek. This is a baby step in that direction.
Meanwhile the now Seattle Post Intelligencer, now an online only publication, highlights a study that should be so obvious as to be unnecessary, although the quantification of the amounts involved is welcome. For what it's worth, I spent CDN$18,035.98 on my car for the three calendar years 2006, 2007 and 2008, an average of $6012 a year That doesn't include a monthly payment, and I don't drive that much.
Ditching the car saves thousands, study says
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFFA typical Seattle resident could save more than $10,000 a year by cutting out a car, according to a new study.
The American Public Transportation Association's Transit Savings Report looked at the savings on gas, parking, maintenance, tires, insurance, registration, depreciation and finance charges if a household gave up a car and used transit.
Makes some very good points, and takes Heritage Minister James Moore to task.
Sudbury shows anger at CBC over nickel-and-diming in regions
An already cut-to-the-bone regional CBC outlet - so poor it has already lost most of its ability to travel in the north - is scheduled to lose eight of a very small staff in the cuts being ordered up to meet the broadcaster's financial shortfall.
Toronto's regional outlet, says the mayor, loses nothing by comparison.
"There's no sharing of the pain," Rodriquez says, "if that's what they have to do.
"Toronto is well served by radio stations, but up here it's what connects people from Timmins to Espanola. If there's any place in Canada that CBC is getting value for its money, it's Northern Ontario.
"But here they are, chipping away, chipping away..."
The irony has not been lost in this regional CBC operation, nor in others across the country, that the CBC is being forced to cut back services at precisely the same time that the private sector is bailing out of smaller commitments.
"And that," says Rodriguez, "is the whole point. You can't rely on the private sector. You have to have the government involved. Top management of the CBC is taking the first steps toward destroying all that the Broadcast Act stands for."
