Canada's longest river is at historically low levels, stranding communities that rely on it for essential goods and alarming First Nations along its banks who have never known the mighty Mackenzie to be so shallow.
"This has never been seen before," said Dieter Cazon, looking out at the water from his office as land and resources manager for the Liidlii Kue First Nation at Fort Simpson, N.W.T.
"We've asked elders, 'Does anybody have stories about water being this incredibly low?' Nobody has these stories."
When BC first introduced a carbon tax in 2008 the point was to apply it to all emissions causing climate change, but start at a low rate and increase it over time. Yet, as the carbon tax has increased for households at the gas pump and to heat homes, large industrial players—including the oil and gas industry that is causing climate change—have steadily evaded their carbon tax.
There is no path to a renewable future which leaves American hegemony in place
The United States has a material, vested interest in obstructing progress on climate change. This argument, laid out by Amitav Ghosh in his 2021 book The Nutmeg’s Curse, is crucial for understanding the politics not just of climate change, but of the world: everything from the American trade war against Chinese renewable technologies to the ongoing genocide in Gaza can be linked to it.
The rise of “natural gas” as a form of reconciliation is a strategy of the fossil fuel industry to maintain their grip on our energy systems and profit off Indigenous lands.
Sitting alongside Indigenous leaders with a Canadian flag draped behind him, Pierre Poilievre began his announcement.
“For hundreds of years, First Nations have suffered under a broken system that gives power over their lives to a far away government in Ottawa that decides for them,” he said.
You can have a scientifically rigorous diagnosis of climate change, together with a plethora of reasonable policies to tackle the problem, but if your program lacks a strong coalition and powerful political strategy, it will fail.
As power needs of AI push emissions up and put big tech in a bind, companies put their faith in elusive — some say improbable — technologies.
The mighty Columbia River has helped power the American West with hydroelectricity since the days of FDR’s New Deal. But the artificial intelligence revolution will demand more. Much more.
