climate change policy, science, and activism; photography; cartography and mapmaking
This morning I was on “The Green Majority” on CUIT (89.5 FM in Toronto). I was talking about Toronto 350.org and our two major ongoing campaigns: to oppose the reversal of the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline to carry oil sands bitumen and to encourage the University of Toronto to divest from fossil fuel companies.
Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) of tight and shale oil in the United States may be the biggest economic force determining the future of Canada’s bitumen sands. The Globe and Mail recently printed an interesting article on how the development of unconventional oil in the United States could undermine the business model of the oil sands: “a … Continue reading “American unconventional oil and the economic viability of the oil sands”
Today I am attending a conference on opposing Enbridge’s plan to reverse their Line 9 pipeline in order to carry diluted bitumen from the oil sands to Montreal. I will be posting detailed notes on the Toronto 350.org planning forum. If you are in Toronto and have some time before 5pm, I recommend coming out. … Continue reading “Conference on Enbridge Line 9 today”
Today, thousands of British Columbians and allies will be outside the provincial legislature to protest the egregious Northern Gateway pipeline. The pipeline is a bad idea for so many reasons: because it will fuel the destructive growth of the bitumen sands, because of the forests that will be affected by the spills that are certain … Continue reading “Defend Our Coast protest, Victoria, B.C.”
As far as the atmosphere is concerned, it doesn’t matter if an extra molecule of carbon dioxide (CO2) comes from a recently-felled tree, from a molecule of methane in burned natural gas, from oil burned in an airplane, or from a coal-fired power plant. Regardless of the source, it adds to the already-dangerously-large stock of … Continue reading “We usually count climate pollution badly”
With the commencement of hearings, the political fight over the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline is now beginning in earnest. The proposed pipeline would carry bitumen from the oil sands to the Pacific coast for export. It would encourage the development of the oil sands and contribute to the fastest-growing category of emissions of greenhouse gas … Continue reading “The Northern Gateway pipeline”
According to Morgan Downey’s Oil 101, it actually takes more energy to produce a barrel of synthetic crude oil from the oil sands than the barrel of crude contains. Most of that extra energy comes from natural gas. It is worth paying that energy cost because crude oil is a valuable product that can be … Continue reading “Fighting oil sands emissions by burning natural gas?”
Apparently, Energy Secretary Steven Chu thinks that technology will somehow make oil sands extraction compatible with climatic stability. While the The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers was quick to praise his statement, it is wrong for a series of reasons. When it comes to emissions from the extraction and upgrading of bitumen, many are to … Continue reading “Steven Chu on the oil sands”
National Geographic has released a feature article on Alberta’s oil sands. It highlights the immense scale of what is going on: geographically, economically, and in terms of water and energy usage: Nowhere on Earth is more earth being moved these days than in the Athabasca Valley. To extract each barrel of oil from a surface … Continue reading “National Geographic on the oil sands”
Set aside, for the moment, the very reasonable doubts about whether carbon capture and storage (CCS) is safe and effective, affordable, and capable of rapid deployment. Even if CCS could be implemented rapidly and cheaply, it would not render the oil sands acceptable from a climatic perspective. The reasons for that are as follows: CCS … Continue reading “Carbon capture cannot redeem the oil sands”