Climate Change

Last week, Toronto mayor Join Tory announced a plan to toll two major Toronto highways, the Gardiner and the DVP. The city is starved for cash with huge shortfalls for both infrastructure (new housing, new transit lines) and even everyday operating expenses. Tolls are supposed to help close this gap. But despite the absolutely huge revenue needs of this city, there a case to be made against tolls from the left.

"He deployed a prolific critical analysis of environmental depredation and the poverty generated by capitalism." 

With Fidel’s death Latin America’s principal revolutionary figure of the last century has left us. Amidst our great sorrow at his passing it is difficult to assess his stature. But while emotion clouds any evaluation, the Comandante’s influence[1] can be appreciated with greater clarity now that he has left.

Listen to the full conversation. 

Trudeau’s Orwellian pipeline approval ignores looming threat to our grandchildren.

Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion was a master class in Orwellian doublethink. On the one hand he claimed wanted a low-carbon, clean future “for our kids;” on the other, he proposed to finance that future by boosting carbon production.

[Editor: Once again a case of extreme drought which is probably the result of climate change.]

November 29, 2016

Local officials rushed to get people out of towns as a wildfire raced into Tennessee's Sevier County on Monday evening.

We face (at least) 13 major crises, some of which are immediate. It’s time for some hard thinking about how we confront them.

By , published on the Guardian’s website, 25 November 2016

Please don’t read this unless you are feeling strong. This is a list of 13 major crises that, I believe, confront us. There may be more. Please feel free to add to it or to knock it down. I’m sorry to say that it’s not happy reading.