All posts by Roy Hales

Environment, Finances

Do The Pacific Coast’s Climate Leaders Mean Business?

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By Roy L Hales

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On June 1, 2016, the Governors of Washington, Oregon and California joined British Columbia’s Environment Minister and representatives from six West Coast cities, in the Borgia Room of San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel, to sign what history may show was a key milestone in the struggle to mount a concerted defence against the ravages of global temperature rise. The 2016 Pacific Coast Climate Leadership Action Plan has a strong emphasis on issues like ocean acidification; the integration of clean energy into the power grid; “support for efforts by the insurance industry and regulatory system to highlight the economic costs of climate change; and so-called “super pollutants” (also known as short-lived climate pollutants).” This sounds good, but do the Pacific Coast’s “Climate Leaders” mean business?

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Environment

Can Canada Build More Pipelines? Or LNG Facilities?

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By Roy L Hales

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In a recent interview with the ECOreport, Simon Fraser University Climate Scientist Dr, Kirsten Zickfeld described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s idea of fighting climate change while expanding the oil sands and building new pipelines as “delusional.” There is only a finite amount of carbon we can release into the atmosphere and if we hope keep the global temperature rise to 2 degrees C. We are already close to 1.5 degrees and may pass that threshold this year. Even if we do not build any new fossil fuel infrastructure, Canada will exhaust “its’ fair share” of carbon emissions by 2030. These were quite strong statements, so I asked a couple of other scientists – as well as environmentalists, politicians and government spokespersons – Can Canada build more pipelines? Or LNG facilities?

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Transportation

Bicycles Triumphed Over Cars And Transit

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By Roy L Hales

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Vancouver just held its’ Eighth Annual Share the Road Challenge. There were 13 teams, each composed of someone driving a car, someone with a bike and someone using transit. They started from different locations throughout Vancouver and North Vancouver, anywhere from 2.4 to 10.4 kilometres from the finish line at the downtown London Drugs. The distance did not matter, as long as each team started from the same point, because this was a race to see which form of transportation moved through rush hour traffic faster. This was the first year in which all the bicycles triumphed over cars and transit .

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Environment

BC Reacts To The NEB’s Pipeline Recommendation

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As everyone expected, the National Energy Board (NEB) has recommended that the Canadian Government approve Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion through the most populated area of British Columbia. The NEB believes the likelihood of a major oil spill “very low,” but “the potential significance” of such a spill “very high.” Kinder Morgan would be required to post calculations of the emissions from all industrial activities and those created during construction of the 1150 km (715 miles) pipeline. If the Trudeau Government agrees and the project goes forward, the number of tankers carrying diluted bitumen out of the Greater Vancouver area could increase from 1 or 2 a week to 10. These are some of the ways BC reacts to the NEB’s pipeline recommendation.

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Cost of Climate Change, Water

Mega-Sized Drought Coming To BC

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By Roy L Hales

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Though British Columbia’s hydrologists have fifty years of stream flow data to formulate its’ responses to climate change, a recent study from the University of Victoria shows this is not enough. Tree ring data shows that, since 1658 AD, there have been 16 droughts exceeding anything evidenced in the instrumental record. The most recent and severest of  these events took place in 1958. According to one of the study co-authors, Bethany Coulthard, “It was a cool time and yet we still saw these extreme natural droughts.” Add problems like urbanization, deforestation and rising Global temperatures into the equation and we can expect a mega-sized drought coming to BC.

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