Author name: Mitch Anderson

In 1944, German war planners apparently dismissed reports about the staggering scale of U.S. wartime production. The newly constructed Willow Run plant operated by the Ford Motor Company in Michigan eventually produced a B-24 bomber every hour, 24 hours a day. This mile-long factory consumed 16 million pounds of aluminum each month and employed 42,000 workers. The four-engine B-24 could carry four […]

The post What Wartime Hubris Can Teach Us About the Global Energy Transition appeared first on DeSmog.

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“I miss recess,” said Asher, a Grade 5 student when asked for comment by CityNews on the Alberta’s teachers strike, adding that he even missed math class. “It’s fun. I get to learn more skills.” Adults are supposed to ensure students like Asher have an opportunity to learn, that teachers are properly paid and that […]

The post What Is Alberta’s Oil Wealth Paying for? Not Better Education appeared first on DeSmog.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced five proposals he intends to fast track to defend our economy from the hostile Trump administration, live up to Canada’s climate commitments, and demonstrate respect for Indigenous rights. Do the projects live up to these aspirational values? Let’s take a closer look. Among the first five projects is an […]

The post Why Is Canada Fast-Tracking LNG? Not for Economy, Climate or Reconciliation appeared first on DeSmog.

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“This is a test of whether Canada works as a country,” warned Alberta Premier Danielle Smith after she finally announced a proposal for a bitumen pipeline to the B.C. coast sponsored by… the government of Alberta. After months of futile door knocking and arm twisting in the oil patch, Smith obviously failed to find a […]

The post Danielle Smith’s Pipeline Without a Proponent Is All Dollars and No Sense appeared first on DeSmog.

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith boasted in June that a private sector proponent for a new bitumen pipeline to British Columbia’s coast would come forward “within weeks.” Three months have passed and exactly zero companies have bet their own money to back up the pipeline hype constantly coming from Smith.  Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the first tranche […]

The post Renewables Are a Global Economic Engine, Not a Culture War Threat appeared first on DeSmog.

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Of the many health impacts linked to fossil fuels perhaps the most gruesome is chimney sweep testicle. Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, chimneys were required by law to be regularly cleaned to avoid another catastrophic conflagration. Coal was the common fuel in the 1700s and boys as young as four years old were forced to […]

The post What ‘Chimney Sweep Testicle’ Can Teach Us About Fossil Fuels’ Staggering Health Consequences appeared first on DeSmog.

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“This is what happens when ideology runs the power grid,” said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in July 2023 when asked about the province’s sky-high electricity rates. Smith was attempting to cast blame on renewable energy policies of the former New Democratic Party government that had left office more than four years earlier. Just one month later the premier […]

The post Understanding Alberta’s Expensive, Ideological War on Renewable Energy appeared first on DeSmog.

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On Sept. 29, 2015, then-Bank of England Governor Mark Carney strode to the podium at Lloyd’s of London and delivered a landmark speech on the threat of climate change to the financial sector, insurance industry and the world in general.  To avoid catastrophic consequences, Carney urged governments and business leaders to recognize that the “vast […]

The post Mark Carney’s Climate Warning from 2015 and the Perils of Pragmatism appeared first on DeSmog.

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Canadians have been bombarded with media stories promoting a common and simplistic theme equating more oil production with greater Canadian prosperity. But what if the opposite was true? Lost in the oil-friendly media cacophony was a recent report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) — an award-winning independent think tank — showing that as the […]

The post The Peak Numbers Canada’s Oil-Friendly Newspapers Keep Ignoring appeared first on DeSmog.

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Does production equal prosperity? Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been throwing around some very optimistic what-if numbers in her relentless lobbying efforts to build ever-more oil pipelines. “If we had the Energy East, if we had Keystone XL, if we had Northern Gateway, we would be producing two and half million barrels a day more […]

The post Oil Sands Expansion Hasn’t Brought Alberta the Prosperity Its Leaders Promised appeared first on DeSmog.

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“Now the real work starts.” These words from Prime Minister Mark Carney marked the rapid passage of Bill C-5, which grants sweeping powers to his cabinet to fast-track infrastructure projects. While his recent meeting with Canada’s premiers was described as a love-in, the love may be short lived if certain powerful industries don’t get the […]

The post Fast Tracking a Pipeline to BC’s Coast Will Undermine Canada’s Security appeared first on DeSmog.

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Close observers of Alberta politics might be forgiven for wondering if official announcements are actual attempts at public policy, or performative trolling on behalf of the oil patch. Case in point is the latest kneecapping of the province’s once-booming renewable energy sector by imposing what might be the most onerous reclamation requirements of any jurisdiction in […]

The post Alberta Is Making It Even Harder to Develop Renewable Energy appeared first on DeSmog.

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