Efforts to highlight the significant dangers of global warming do not
seem to be successful. Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the
principal cause, have combined with methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide
(N2O) to speed the increase, despite decades of warnings. Global
temperatures are rising, scientists are desperately trying to focus
our attention on the seriousness of the problem, and despite
international pledges, national targets, corporate promises and
individual efforts, little of significance has been accomplished.
Significant strides in renewable energy sources have been made,
however much of this added power is not replacing fossil fuels but
supplementing them. The International Energy Agency has predicted that oil consumption could peak about 2030. We have made some progress by averting the worst of the worst future climate possibilities. But humanity has now surpassed the 1.5°C first target of temperature rise proposed in the Paris Agreement of 2015, and the pre-eminent American climate scientist, James Hansen, was prescient enough even a year ago to declare the 2.0°C target “dead”. (The Guardian Weekly, February 4. 2025).
Tag Archives: Peak Oil
Happy New Year Humanity – The Quadra Project
When the outside world is too disturbing to confront, people seek
relief through the vicarious safety of fantasy. This explains why 2025
was a banner year for horror movies. J.G. Ballard, an English novelist
and essayist, noted that, “The ultimate dystopia is the inside of
one’s own head.” Dr. Coltan Scrivner, a behavioural scientist agrees.
“You walk around with your mask of tranquillity, but inside your mind
is a maze of worries. Horror allows you to take off your mask.” (The
Guardian Weekly, Editorial, Oct. 24, 2025.) So with this genre of
movie you get to experience horror, but not the real kind that you
might be reluctant to confront.
As we mark the beginning of 2026, we are one quarter of our way
through the 21st century and are coming closer to the haunting
forecasts of climate catastrophe by the end of the century, if we do
not reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. So a review of 2025 seems
appropriate.
Four Local Leaders React to Canada’s MOU with Alberta
(Part 1 of 2)
Canada’s MOU with Alberta, a proposed new pipeline in British Columbia, and the possible lifting of the tanker ban have been hot news items over the past few days. Steven Guilbeault resigned from cabinet over his opposition to the way Prime Minister Mark Carney is handling these issues. In the first episode of a two part series about the MOU, Cortes Currents asked four local leaders for their take on these events.
- Green Party leader Elizabeth May;
- Jennifer Lash, a former senior analyst with Environment and Climate Change Canada and the 2025 Liberal candidate for North Island–Powell River.
- Shelley Luce, Associate Director and Campaigns Director at Sierra Club BC;
- Max Thaysen, a leader of the Cortes Island Climate Action Network and regional representative for North Island on the BC NDP’s Standing Committee on Economy and Environment.
Turning Down the Heat Part 2: Change Your Life Bulb
By Carrie Saxifrage and the Climate Action Network
In early July of 2024, a small group of Cortes Islanders, supported by Friends Of Cortes Island (FOCI), screened the film “How to Boil a Frog” for the community. You can watch the film here. The film is about the five-pronged problem life on Earth is currently facing — overpopulation, a war on nature, wealth disparity, peak oil (hee hee), and climate change—and offers five actions that can help—boycott Exxon, change your “life bulb” (reduce consumption), a change of heart, one kid per couple, and kick some ass.
This article is the second in a series focused on each of these five solutions. You can read Maureen Williams great first article on a change of heart here. This second article is about changing your “life bulb.” The term refers to the end of Al Gore’s 2006 movie An Inconvenient Truth in which minor suggestions, including a switch to LED bulbs, float across the screen. The disconnect between the size of the problem and the size of the suggested solutions was so very obvious. It still is. Whether or not you change your “life bulb,” it is still important to “Kick Some Ass.” That will be the next article in the series.
Continue reading Turning Down the Heat Part 2: Change Your Life BulbTurning Down the Heat
By Maureen Williams and the Climate Action Network
In early July of 2024, a small group of Cortes Islanders, supported by Friends Of Cortes Island (FOCI), screened the film “How to Boil a Frog” for the community. The film is about the five-pronged problem life on Earth is currently facing — overpopulation, a war on nature, wealth disparity, peak oil, and climate change—and offers five actions that can help—boycott Exxon, change your “life” bulb (reduce consumption), a change of heart, one kid per couple, and kick some ass. This article is the first in a series focused on each of these five solutions from the film, and more. You can learn more about the film and the filmmaker, Jon Cooksey, here and here. You can even watch the film, here.
Continue reading Turning Down the Heat