Dave Skinner's Blog

Ta'Lee:In Search of a Queen

Ta'Lee: In search of a Queen is the last swords and sorcery novel I wrote. Chronologically it takes place between the end of the Warriors, Heroes, and Demons (WHD) series and the beginning of the Wizard's Spawn (WS) series fifteen years later. It is the story of Ta'Lee, a young woman who is an important secondary character in the WHD series. Accomplished and famous as a dancer and a warrior she is uncomfortable as the new queen of Nadia. She volunteers to investigate disturbing accounts of brutal happenings in the two neighbouring cities on north lake. Travelling incognito in a Traveller's caravan she manages to elude the people who are after her, meets a water elemental (Sprite), free the Queen of Bernadice and save her son, before she is captured.Technically, it is not a young adult novel because the protagonist is not a teen, but it is appropriate for that age group as long as they can accept the violence and deaths depicted. There isn't a lot of killing, but my WS series has been criticised for my character's ease with violence. I feel that the truthful depiction of what this world is like in a feudal time period requires acknowledging that life was cheap.I urge you to take a chance on this novel, and know that the author will appreciate it.

Ford Government Lying to the Public

 

 

Ford Government Expanded For-Profit Hospital in Violation of the Law and While Lying to the Public:

Health Coalition and Democracy Watch Call for Concrete Measures

to Protect the Public Interest in Wake of Revelations

about Former Health Minister Lobbying for For-Profit Hospital

 

The revelation that former Health Minister Christine Elliott has registered as a lobbyist for a for-profit hospital known as Don Mills Surgical Unit, now owned by Clearpoint Health Network, has raised serious questions about ethics and conflict of interest. The Ontario Health Coalition has looked into the funding increases given to that for-profit hospital during Christine Elliott’s tenure as Minister, and the restrictions on expanding for-profit hospitals. The Coalition is raising questions about why Don Mills Surgical was singled out for special treatment, receiving huge funding increases and an increase in its size, despite legislation forbidding expansion of private for-profit hospitals. CBC also revealed last week that the private hospital is being paid more than double per surgery than public hospitals.

 

The facts:

The Coalition found that private for-profit hospital Don Mills Surgical Unit, now owned by Clearpoint, was expanded from three operating rooms in 2019 and mainly outpatient surgery unit, into a 20-bed inpatient unit hospital with 6 operating rooms and 7 recovery bays currently. This, despite the fact that the Private Hospitals Act in Ontario forbids expanding for-profit hospitals under Subsection 22 (1) and (6). The Act, amended in 1971, imposed a ban on any new private hospitals and forbids the expansion of the existing for-profit hospitals, grandfathered in under the legislation. While such expansion of a private hospital is clearly unlawful, any renovations or alterations to a private hospital also requires the express written approval of the Minister under the Act.A recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found, through Freedom of Information requests, that the Don Mills Surgical Unit received a 278% funding increase between 2017-18 – the year the Ford government was elected – and 2021-22. Christine Elliott was Health Minister from 2018 – 2022 (page 20).An investigative report by CBC found that Don Mills Surgical (aka Clearpoint) is being paid more than double what public hospitals are funded for the same surgeries. For example, Don Mills Surgical is being paid $1,264 for cataract surgery while public hospitals are getting $508, and Don Mills Surgical is being paid $4,037 for knee arthroscopies while public hospitals are getting $1,692.In the lead in to the last election, the government lied to the public stating categorically that they were not expanding private hospitals and clinics. In one example, a Ministry spokesperson told the media: “These claims are categorically false…To be clear, the government is committed to supporting the province’s public health care system. The use or function of private hospitals and independent health facilities in Ontario is not being expanded or changed.” https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/03/17/privatization-of-health-care-claims-are-categorically-false-ministers-spokesperson-says.htmlSubsection 18(4) of Ontario's Members' Integrity Act prohibits former Cabinet ministers from ever making representations to the provincial government in relation to a transaction or negotiation that the minister was substantially involved in as a member of the Cabinet, if the representation could result in a specific benefit for a person or entity.  Subsection 18(5) states that it is an offence to violate subsection 18(4) that is punishable by a fine of up to $50,000. 

 

The Coalition held a press conference along with legal expert on conflict of interest and integrity legislation, Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch, to release their findings and lay out what the government and Ontario's Integrity Commissioner must do in response.

 

“The expansion of the remaining two private for-profit hospitals is expressly forbidden under the Private Hospitals Act, which banned any new private hospitals in 1971 and barred the expansion of the existing few that were grandfathered in,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “For-profit hospitals were banned for good reason and it is unlawful to expand them. In fact, the Ford government expressly denied such expansion leading into the last election, even while they were doing it. The fact that the former Health Minister expanded a for-profit hospital, gave them an extraordinary funding increase of 278%, and the government is paying them more than double the rate of our public hospitals for the same procedures is terrible public policy. Add to that, the former Minister has now registered to be a lobbyist for Clearpoint, the parent company of the private hospital, and it rises to the level of very serious questions that must be answered by the Ford government about integrity and ethics.”

 

"Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake has refused for the past seven years to enforce the clear rule in Ontario's lobbying law that prohibits lobbyists from placing politicians and public officials in a real or potential conflict of interest, and has let dozens of lobbyists, including Christine Elliott, violate this rule and corrupt provincial government policy and spending decision-making processes," said Duff Conacher. "Democracy Watch has filed several lawsuits challenging Commissioner Wake's negligently bad rulings, but he should not wait for the courts to strike down his rulings and should instead do the right thing by making it clear that anyone who has been a Cabinet minister or worked for the Premier or a minister cannot lobby the government for several years afterwards, and anyone who has assisted, fundraised, campaigned or worked for any political party, politician or their riding association cannot lobby them for several years afterwards."

 

Former Health Minister Christine Elliott has claimed that she did not participate in decisions concerning funding for specific institutions. It is difficult to believe that she would not be involved as Health Minister in such decisions and, given Ms. Elliott has become a lobbyist for Clearpoint, owner of Don Mills Surgical Unit Ltd. whose funding the Ford government increased by at least 278% while she was Health Minister, a full investigation is warranted.

 

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Greenbelt Rant

 

Greenbelt Rant

A few days ago I emailed the OPP at oppa@oppa.ca today to ask if they weregoing to investigate how Ford's government handled removing lands assigned tothe Greenbelt. I don't expect them to admit if they are investigating or not,but I wanted to let them know that someone thinks they should. You have to be apatheticor complicit to not see that the process was corrupt.

I watched, for about three minutes, Ford's televised response to the devastatinginformation in the Auditor General of Ontario's special 2023 report on Changesto the Greenbelt, before it became obvious that he was just going to spew moregarbage about our need for housing instead of addressing the shady, underhandedbusiness that occurred in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housinginvolving the Housing Minister's Chief of Staff. Specifically, that 92% of theacres excised from the Greenbelt were suggested by two developers, or the factthat the developers purchased the 5 sites before the land was identified andexcised.

We in the Haliburton Highlands havebeen blessed this year as far as the consequences of climate change areconcerned. Unfortunately, the rest of the country and the world have not beenas lucky. The Editor’s Desk of The Bestof Maclean’s (August 2023) put it like this:

“This summer, all over the country, there is no escapingthe impact of a warming planet.

The swath of land in Canada that burned over the lastfew months is unfathomable. The fires have wiped out nearly 25 million aces,roughly the size of Iceland. I did not expect the future to arrive so quickly.Experts and activists predicted wildfires, floods and smoke years ago, and yetthe sheer volume of climate catastrophes in the last few months was a shock.Parts of Europe reached 46 degrees, India was hit by deadly floods, Japan hadthe heaviest rainfall ever and Arizona experienced record breaking heat.”

And yet Premier Ford sells offparts of the Greenbelt to his supporters with no concern for the environment,or the benefits of the Greenbelt to the environment and in mitigating climatechange.

 

The Auditor General’s SpecialReport points out that “In 2007, the Housing Minister at that time (a Liberal) wona prestigious national planning award from the Canadian Institute of Plannersfor the Greenbelt Plan and recognition of excellence in natural systemsplanning.” If you search for Greenbelt information you will see the following:

“Ontario’sGreenbelt protects farmland, communities, forests, wetlands and watersheds. Italso preserves cultural heritage and supports recreation and tourism inOntario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The Greenbelt Act, 2005 provides the authority for the creation of the GreenbeltPlan (2017).

The GreenbeltPlan establishes the Protected Countryside and Urban River Valley designations.The Greenbelt Area also includes the Niagara Escarpment Plan area and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Planarea (2017).

The threeGreenbelt land use plans work together with A Place toGrow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe toprotect the natural environment and determine where and how growth should beaccommodated in the region.”

The Greenbelt Act created a Greenbelt Council to advise the Ministry ofMunicipal Affairs and Housing and other government ministries about proper useof the protected lands, but the Ford government chose to ignore theirrecommendations and included in the 2020 budget a section called Schedule 6which effectively castrated all institutions concerned with environmentalstewardship. David Crombie (former federal MP and former mayor of Toronto)resigned his position as chair of the council along with 6 other councilmembers over Schedule 6. The Greenbelt Council remains gutted with no Chair andonly four councillors appointed by the Housing Minister out of a possible nine.This is understandable, why have a full council if you are just going to ignoretheir advice.

It is obvious when you look at what the Ford conservative government hasdone that the premier has lied about not touching the Greenbelt and continuesto deceive the people of Ontario about his true intentions. There is nothing wecan do about him except expose the truth and hope people realize how corrupt heis before the next election. But the staffers involved in the selloff ofGreenbelt land are not elected figures, so hopefully the OPP can look into themand their corruption. I have my fingers crossed. Although my crossed fingerswon’t do anything to influence a Conservative government who refuses toacknowledge that Climate Change exists.

©Dave Skinner Aug. 2023

Thou Shalt Not Lie

 

Thou Shalt Not Lie

 “Hey Boss,” Linda said as she came around the cubicle’s partition. “I just got a call from my sister. She works at Toronto West. She says I should get over there. Lightning strikes are hitting people.”

“Someone getting hit by lightning is not anything new, Linda. Hardly get more than two inches on page ten for that. You sure you want to waste your time?”

“She said six people have come into the ER in the past two hours. All struck by lightning. Five are dead.”

“So, it was like a big hit that got all six of them?”

“No, they all arrived separately from different locations.”

“Okay, my interest is piqued. Chase it down.” Before she could step away he added, “Do those boots have rubber soles?”

She laughed before she realized he was serious. “Ah, these don’t, but I have a pair of boots under my desk that do.”

“Wear them. I don’t want one of my better reporters zapped.”

After changing her boots Linda caught a taxi over to the hospital. The ride along Lakeshore was uneventful, but just before they reached Toronto West she saw a man get zapped. He was walking on the sidewalk while talking on his cell phone and then wham.

“Shit, did you see that?” Her heart was racing, and her mouth felt dry as she cranked her head around to keep track of the man.

“I saw it,” the driver answered in a ho-hum voice. She was about to ask how he could be so calm about seeing someone struck by lightning when he offered more. “The first one I saw today freaked me out, but that was my sixth. All were talking on their phones. I’m turning mine off before I get out of the cab.”

It was madness inside the ER waiting room. People were grouped in front of the registration desks clamouring for information. Linda saw her sister—an emergency room nurse—step out of the triage room. An older heavy bodied nurse and a man in a suit coat with his tie loosened were trying to answer the crowd’s questions. Linda went straight to her sister.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“Fifteen more lightning strikes since I talked to you. No one knows…oh wait, our media VP just arrived. She’ll tell everyone what’s happening.”

A woman in an expensive looking dress had just walked in behind the registry clerks. She held her hands up and asked for quiet.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” she didn’t bellow, but her voice cut through the commotion. People quieted. Linda joined the crowd. “There is a sheet of paper at the last desk.” She pointed towards the last of the four registration carrels. “If you will put down your name, the name of the patient you are inquiring about, and then take a seat in the waiting area someone will speak with you as soon as possible. I am asking all reporters to join me over in that area.” She pointed to a free space beside the Emergency doors. “I will answer your questions if possible, but right now we know very little.”

Linda and three other reporters followed the woman to a doorway beside the Emergency’s sliding doors. She ushered them into a small office.

“My name is Wanda Taylor,” she began. “I am vice president of Public Relations and Media. Let me tell you what we know, and then I will take your questions.

“A few hours ago we received a patient who had been struck by lightning. In the course of an hour we received five more. The count has now reached twenty and they keep coming. We have no idea why this is happening. I contacted the Ministry of Health and was informed that similar occurrences are being reported all over the city. I will now take your questions.”

“So, in the course of three hours you have received twenty lighting strike patients?” Someone asked.

“That sounds right.”

“And you have no idea why this is happening,” someone else asked.

“That is correct.”

“Could it have something to do with the weather?”

“You would be better off asking your meteorology departments about that.”

“I saw a man get struck on my way over here. He was talking on his cell phone. Any other cases like that?” Linda asked.

“I have no way of knowing that at this time, but I will mention it to our ER docs,” Wanda Taylor answered. “I am sorry there is nothing else I can tell you.”

Linda followed the other reporters outside and then decided to walk to where she saw the man get struck, but when she arrived, there was only a police officer still on the scene. He was making notes when she knocked on his window and flashed her press ID.

“No comment,” he said when his window had slide down a few inches.

“I saw the man struck,” she said quickly before the window could close completely. “Is he okay?”

The cop just shook his head. “Did you report it? He asked.”

“No. I was in a taxi. The driver didn’t stop, but I saw another car pull over. The taxi driver said he had seen a number of lightning strikes today. Can you comment on that?”

“It is happening all over the city,” he said. “Don’t use my name”, he added when her eyes travelled to his name tag.”

Linda caught a cab back to the office. When she arrived the place was in an uproar. The news editor grabbed her as she came in and pulled her into a meeting.

“Tell us what you know,” he demanded.

“There were at least twenty lighting strikes in three hours. The hospital is going crazy. I confirmed five dead. Saw a man hit just before I got there. He was on his cell, but I don’t know if that is significant.”

“The phone doesn’t appear to be a common link. The Premier was struck while giving a press conference.”

“Yes. Write up what you have for print, keep it tight, no more than seven-hundred words, and then get on the phone. We need to follow this.”

Linda wrote up her story and submitted it, but before she figured out who to contact she was called to the bull-pen along with all the other reporters.

“This is big,” the Boss announced. “The Premier stopped to take questions before going into his cabinet meeting. Someone asked him about gutting the Conservation Authority’s power and selling the Greenbelt. As he was answering with his usual bull he was struck by lightning. This was inside the building people not outside. I want to know how that can happen.”

“I heard a rumour that the OPP are considering locking the whole city down. Stay inside, curfews, the whole ball of twine,” someone else announced.

“It isn’t just Toronto. It is happening all over. I talked to a contact at the New York Times who said Wall Street is in turmoil, the Stock Exchange is closed. There were two or three lightning strikes on the floor of the exchange. He said it killed thirty or more brokers.”

“Trump was struck at Mar-a-Lago,” someone reported.

“What, out on the golf course?”

“No, inside his office. He was autographing pictures; you know the ones they sell for five bucks each that say Trump loves you. Where he looks like a superhero.”

“I talked with a contact in Washington, DC,” a woman from the political desk said. “They thought it was a terrorist attack at first, but that was kicked to the wayside even though they have lost a slew of politicians—mostly republicans I heard”. She checked her note pad and continued. “So far Nikki, Mitch, JJ, Kevin, Lindsey, and those two airhead women are dead. Security has the whole place locked down.”

“Ted Cruz was struck in Texas,” someone added. “He was being asked about the contradictions between what he claimed the purpose of his Mexican trip was and what his wife’s emails revealed.”

“And that Evangelist preacher who claimed Trump was sent by God just got struck,” someone said holding up their cell phone.

“Is this some evil Democrat genius getting even for the Senate letting Trump off?” A young reporter asked.”

The Boss looked at him. “We deal with facts here, not fantasy.”

“I heard that a bunch of people at Fox News have been struck. Tucker Carlson was one, or so I hear, and the internet is alive with video of lightning hitting people.”

“Okay,” the Boss stated. “Get your stories in and keep working your contacts.”

Linda had been asking herself what the common denominator was. What tied all these people together? Back at her computer she started browsing conspiracy sites. They were suspiciously quiet. Some were off line. She switched to social media. It was filled with video of people getting struck, but what caught her interest were the videos of people talking on camera as they were struck. Something was scratching at her mind trying to get out. She started jotting down names, and suddenly it came to her. She jumped up and ran to the Boss.

“Lies,” she blurted. “If someone lies they get struck by lightning.”

The Boss sat back in his chair and steepled his hands. “Thou shalt not lie,” he finally said. A big smile lit his face. “That is going to make reporting a completely different job.”

“What do you mean?” Linda asked. “It is still going to be, identify the issue and ask the questions.”

“Yes, but who will dare to lie like they do now when they answer?”

 

©Dave Skinner 2021

Greed and climate change.

 

Greed is destroying the world

 

If you do not believe in climate change, this essay will not persuade you. If you wonder how we got to this point, this article could help you answer that question. If you want to understand why we, and the rest of the world, will fail to curb the climate crisis, read on.

“ No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them” (Oil Sands)

Justin Trudeau, speaking as the Prime Minister of Canada, made the above comment at the CERAWeek energy industry conference in Houston, Texas in 2017.

The main thrust of his address was the balancing of environmental and energy concerns. CBC News reported that he was;

 

“Touting his government’s approval of new pipelines, and the Liberal’s national plan to put a price on carbon, which were achieved at the same time.”

 

According to CBC News, his full statement was “No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil and just leave it in the ground. The resource will be developed. Our job is to ensure this is done responsible, safely and sustainably”

The statement was made about a year before he announced that Canada would purchase the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Therefore Mr. Trudeau should have finished his statement with the words, no matter what the cost to the environment and in human lives, instead of stopping at ‘responsible, safely and sustainably’ because that is what continuing to use fossil fuels has resulted in. The United Nation’s 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report made that undeniable when it came out recently.

 

The IPCC report states; “the world has rapidly warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, and is now careening toward 1.5 degrees—a critical threshold that world leaders agree warming should remain below to avoid worsening impacts.” CNN August 9, 2021.

 

CNN went on to report a statement from Michael E. Mann, a lead author of the IPCC’s 2001 report which states “Bottom line is that we have zero years left to avoid dangerous climate change because it is here.” We have seen those changes in the historic droughts, landscape-altering wildfires and deadly floods that the world has been battling. The past two years (2020 and 2021) are just a taste of what the world will experience from now on.

 

An online report by CBCNEWS from August 4, 2021 starts with these statements. “As the world staggers through another summer of extreme weather, experts are noticing something different: 2021’s onslaught is hitting harder and in places that have been spared global warming’s wrath in the past.

 

“Wealthy countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany and Belgium are joining poorer and more vulnerable nations on a growing list of extreme weather that scientists say have some connection to human-caused climate change .”

 

Human-caused climate change is significant in the above statement. For year’s nay-sayers, fossil fuel spokes people, and many politicians have been spewing misinformation regarding the lack of proof regarding human-caused climate change, but for the first time the 2021 IPCC report concludes “it is unequivocal that humans have caused the climate crisis and confirms that widespread and rapid changes have already occurred, some of them irreversible.” CNN August 9, 2021. How did scientists and politicians allow things to get this dire? By ignoring the warnings that many scientists have been giving about climate change since the 1980s.

 

The following is an excerpt from the Columbia University Record of October 22, 1982 regarding the Ewing Symposium, a three day gathering of 100 scientists to discuss “what the earth’s climate will be like for the next century.” Comments are from Taro Takahashi, one of the organizers of the event.

“There are three competing effects,” Takahashi said. “First, we think that the earth’s climate is warming due to the ‘greenhouse effect,’ the retention of solar heat by the discharge of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, largely by the burning of fossil fuels. Second, volcanic and industrial activity is sending dust particles into the stratosphere that shade the earth and cool it. And third, the earth’s climate has a mind of its own—there are many natural processes that have been going on for ages. Scientists will evaluate the relative strengths of these components and discuss what the climate is most likely to be like in the future. Recent changes in the polar ice caps will also be discussed. The symposium is being supported by the Exxon Corp., the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Climate Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration”

In November of 2017, Dr. James E. Hansen wrote a forward for the book Unprecedented Crime, Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival by Dr. Peter D. Carter and Elizabeth Woody. Within the forward Dr. Hansen talks about organizing that 1982 Ewing Symposium with Taro Takahashi. He recounts that the most significant presentation of the complete symposium was a dinner speech by E.E. David, Jr. then President of Exxon Research and Engineering Company. Mr. David’s speech centred on; “the characteristic of the climate system that makes human-caused global warming so dangerous and such a problem”. The “critical problem” he was reporting on was the long delay before the effects of CO2 buildup would manifest themselves.

“Delayed response of the climate system, caused by the great thermal inertia of the ocean and the slow response of ice sheets to warming, creates the possibility that we could hand young people a planet undergoing changes that would be out of control.”

In order to avoid global warming he suggested that alternative renewable energy sources needed to be developed. “Fossil fuel companies would need to become energy companies—clean energy companies.”

Most fossil fuel companies (not all) chose to ignore the warning and invested decades and billions of dollars into the development of tar sands and shale oil resources.

For informed governments and knowledgeable fossil fuel companies to ignore the warnings of science for the last 39 years was bad enough, but the industry also chose to mount a campaign of misinformation and deceit surpassing even that done by the tobacco industry regarding the relationship of smoking to cancer.

Instead of doing what was right the fossil fuel companies chose to misrepresent the information, and cast aspersions on the science and the scientists. They led us to this disaster, but they were not alone in their efforts. Many politicians were goose stepping right along with them.

 

The following is from Wikipedia page Q208645, Revision July 17, 2021

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It was signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992. It established a Secretariat headquartered in Bonn and entered into force on 21 March 1994. The treaty called for ongoing scientific research and regular meetings, negotiations, and future policy agreements designed to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

The Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and ran from 2005 to 2020, was the first implementation of measures under the UNFCCC. The Kyoto Protocol was superseded by the Paris Agreement, which entered into force in 2016. As of 2020, the UNFCCC has 197 signatory parties. Its supreme decision-making body, the Conference of the Parties (COP), meets annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty with 192 signatories. It commits the signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (1) global warming is occurring and (2) that human-made CO2 emissions are driving it. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.

It is interesting to note that the signatories or parties involved in the IPCC reports are required to review and agree on every statement made in the reports. The signatories represent the nations signing off on the report therefore there is no excuse, except for incompetence, for a politician to disagree with the statements. 

Canada was active in the negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Liberal government that signed the accord in 1997 ratified it in parliament in 2002. Canada's Kyoto target was a 6% total reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2012, compared to 1990 levels of 461 megatonnes (Mt) (Government of Canada (GC) 1994). Despite signing the accord, greenhouse gas emissions increased approximately 24.1% between 1990 and 2008. In 2011, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. Wikipedia, Page version 1036338067, Revised July 30, 2021.

Stephen Harper couldn’t get consensus and agreements from the provinces, so instead of alienating his base in the west (primarily Alberta) Harper gave in to the greed of the fossil fuel industry and pulled Canada from Kyoto in 2011, six years before President Donald Trump did the same in the U.S. Harper was a leader in supporting the fossil fuel industry’s misinformation efforts in a number of ways. He muzzled government scientists—who are paid using Canadian taxpayer’s dollars—by initiating a special media control centre where communications with the media were obstructed by delaying responses to inquiries past the reporter’s deadlines, or by making the process completely onerous. A 2017 article in Smithsoniamag.com by Joshua Rapp Learn reports that one request resulted in 110 pages of emails between sixteen different communication staffers.

The following diagram focuses on the misinformation campaign in the U.S of A. but many Canadian politicians are as complicit. The current liberal government of Canada talks a good game regarding controlling climate change, and have succeeded in putting a price on carbon pollution. This is a carbon tax that is applied to all fossil fuel purchases and is rebated back to individuals. It has a number of criticisms—mainly because some of the biggest polluters are exempt— but at least it is a step in the right direction. The previous conservative government dithered about doing something similar for years until they pulled Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol rather than govern effectively. Obviously they cared nothing about what would happen in the near future to the environment and the people of Canada which includes their own children and other family members. At their policy convention this year (2021) the Federal Conservatives voted down a policy proposal to declare that climate change is real. CBCNEWS March 19, 2021

I have wondered for some time—as I am sure others have—how the fossil fuel executives and their lackey politicians justified their decisions. They were aware that they were damaging the planet in a way that would eventually kill people. Was it simply because the problem was forecast for thirty or forty years into the future? Did they not care about what they were doing, or were they just more interested in their next re-election, paycheque, or yearly bonus. Can you imagine a person being tied for murder and defending themselves by saying; ‘sure I killed them, but there was a lot of money to be had’? Was it simply greed? I believe it was.

Thirty-nine years ago, back in 1982, Exxon executives and other fossil fuel decision makers had the choice to transition their businesses towards less destructive pursuits and to develop technologies that would alleviate the problems to come. Their own scientists told them what was going to happen if they continued down the path they were on. Instead of choosing the option best for the planet and the people, they went for immediate profits.

I highlight the word immediate to emphasise that the oil wasn’t going anywhere. They could have chosen to invest in clean energy or green technology, like electric cars, carbon capture, and carbon storage.

The Canadian government website states that;

 “Transportation is one of the largest sources of air pollution in Canada. The combustion of fossil fuels to power vehicles and engines (on and off road)—cars and trucks; large trucks and buses; recreational vehicles; lawn and gardening equipment; farming and construction; forklifts and ice resurfacers; rail and marine—has major adverse impacts on the environment and health of Canadians.

Initiatives to reduce emissions from vehicles, engines and fuels can have significant positive effects on air quality, acid rain, smog and climate change.”  https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-...

The EPA in the U.S.A  states;

“motor vehicles collectively cause 75 percent of carbon monoxide pollution in the U.S. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) estimates that on-road vehicles cause one-third of the air pollution that produces smog in the U.S., and transportation causes 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.” sites.psu.edu/hailstrompassions/2015/...

 According to a study commissioned by FuelPositive Corporation (TSX.V: NHHH) (OTCQB: NHHHF). If all carbon-free ammonia were used, the result would be a 15.3% reduction in Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. financialpost.com › globe-newswire › fuelpositive-commissions 2021-08-17

 

If the fossil fuel industry had made an effort to reduce the amount of gasoline used in transportation back in the 1980s, there would be significantly fewer climate change problems today, and they still would have made lots of money. Oil is used in so many ways that the demand for it would still be there without using it for transportation fuel. Unfortunately we have reached a point where a complete stop to its use is now necessary, in addition to the corrective actions that are needed. Scientists suggest that pulling carbon from the atmosphere (carbon capture) and carbon storage are technologies necessary to try to keep the global temperature below drastic levels. In Greta Thunberg’s recent documentaries about her battle for meaningful climate change action, she looked at a few of the technologies that are being touted as a means of fighting climate change. In every instance building the facilities required will take longer than the world has. If the fossil fuel industry had started to develop non-polluting energy alternatives, carbon capture technologies, or carbon storage technologies back in the 1990’s the world would have  years upon years more time to use oil responsibly, but they didn’t. Why didn’t the fossil fuel industry start to work on solutions back when the problem first came to light? I can only suppose that they chose to preserve profits over lives.

It isn’t just the fossil fuel industry that let greed dictate their actions. We have seen and continue to see evidence of this behaviour by business executives all the time. In addition to overseeing the running of a company, a Corporate Executive Officer’s (CEO) job is to maximize profits, and like the executives at Exxon, lying to the public and their customers is second nature to them.

The tobacco industry lied about the link between smoking and cancer for years. The plastics industry has completely ignored the mess plastics have made of the world. “After 150 years of plastic production, this material has invaded every living corner of the Earth. Every room and building and object we purchase is covered in or surrounded by plastic: plastic wrappers, plastic toys, plastic signs, plastic building blocks…the list is endless.

“What the world has received in “convenience” via mass production, it has lost in health—of humans as well as nature. Seals and sea turtles choke on plastic bags, children ingest microscopic pieces of plastic every day, and viewing the stomach contents of dissected dead birds nauseates us.” Plastics: The Other Pandemic, by Alex Hertzog, resilience.org.

Businesses were not always run with the goal of maximizing profits over lives. In his book, Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World, Fareed Zakaria—a respected business analyst, an Indian-American journalist, political commentator, and author who writes a weekly paid column for The Washington Post—reported a comment by Bill Budinger, a highly successful entrepreneur then in his eighties, reflecting on businesses change in mentality. “I grew up when things were different, a time when profits were to be reasonable, not maximized.” The whole concept of maximizing profits and continuous growth has brought the world to its knees.

At the end of many of his nature documentaries, Sir David Attenborough, speaks to the destruction that climate change is causing. He has also asked about “the moral responsibility that wealthy people have.” You can ask the same question about large wealthy corporations. Do they have a moral responsibility? The conditions caused by their actions suggest that if they do they ignore it.

The following quotes are from, The IPCC Report: Key Findings and Radical Implications by Brian Tokar August 24, 2021. (Originally published by Climate and Capitalism.)

 

Of course more extreme events remain far less predictable, except that their frequency will continue to increase with rising temperatures. For example the triple digit (Fahrenheit) temperatures that swept the Pacific Northwest of the US and southwestern Canada this summer have been described as a once in 50,000 years event in “normal” times and no one excludes the possibility that they will happen again in the near future. So-called “compound” events, for example the combination of high temperatures and dry, windy conditions that favor the spread of wildfires, are the least predictable events of all.

 

The central conclusion from the overall linear increase in temperatures relative to emissions is that nothing short of a complete cessation of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions will significantly stabilize the climate, and there is also a time delay of at least several decades after emissions cease before the climate can begin to stabilize.

 

Third, estimates of likely sea level rise, in both the near- and longer-terms, are far more reliable than they were a few years ago. Global sea levels rose an average of 20 centimeters during the 20th century, and will continue to rise throughout this century under all possible climate scenarios — about a foot higher than today if emissions begin to fall rapidly, nearly 2 feet if emissions continue rising at present rates, and 2.5 feet if emissions rise faster. These, of course, are the most cautious scientific estimates. By 2150 the estimated range is 2–4.5 feet, and more extreme scenarios where sea levels rise from 6 to 15 feet “cannot be ruled out due to deep uncertainty in ice sheet processes.”

 

With glacial melting expected to continue for decades or centuries under all scenarios, sea levels will “remain elevated for thousands of years,” potentially reaching a height of between 8 and 60 feet above present levels. The last time global temperatures were comparable to today’s (125,000 years ago), sea levels were probably 15 to 30 feet higher than they are today. When they were last 2.5 to 4 degrees higher than preindustrial temperatures—roughly 3 million years ago—sea levels may have been up to 60 feet higher than today. Again these are all cautious estimates, based on the available data and subject to stringent statistical validation.

 

There is a very good video comparing current times to the Paleocene Epock—at the time of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). It is called The Last Time the Globe Warmed and is on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldLBoErAhz4.

 

During the PETM most of the world, including Antarctica was covered in lush jungles. Glaziers and ice caps did not exist. One of the main reasons for this was the release of carbon into the atmosphere over thousands of years. The chart below shows the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere during the PETM (on the left) and the carbon being released into the atmosphere today (on the right). The Last Time the Globe Warmed

 

The fossil fuel industry’s lies and underhanded dealings have put us into a situation where the other 99% of the population, if we survive at all, is going to suffer for hundreds if not thousands of years, and it was all because of greed.

 

The last two years (2020 and 2021) have been unequaled in the number of natural disasters and out of the ordinary weather phenomenon people have suffered through. The prediction is that it will get worse. But don’t give up hope. There is always hope, or so the media says, but our history doesn’t support that conclusion. Our actions over the past 30 to 40 years tell me that despite being aware of what is happening we are too complacent to change. Our business leaders and politicians are two greedy for profits and power to do what is needed. We are already at the event horizon where 99% of us are going to suffer countless disasters, and loss of life. We can try to minimize it by changing almost everything we do. Will we? I doubt it.

 

Take a walk outside, if you don’t believe me. Our roadsides are covered with litter. Beer cans, coffee cups, plastic bags, cigarette stubs and packages are everywhere, despite the fact that there are laws against littering that have been around for fifty years or more. If people won’t even stop littering, what hope is there for stopping climate change?

 

Business executives and politicians carry most of the blame for the state of the environment today, but the rest of us have to accept some responsibility also. Even if we don’t believe it we are going to carry the brunt of the consequences. We are going to suffer for our apathy, and for the actions of the greedy. How much we suffer depends on our actions now. We can no longer accept empty promises from our politicians, or lies from our business executives if we want our children to survive. Canada is in the midst of a federal election, and a meaningful, output oriented dialog on climate change is sadly missing. The future looks bleak to me, so I will end this essay by paraphrasing a little of the Vietnam Song, by Country Joe and the Fish.

 

Well there’s no more time to wonder why,

Whoopee! Were all gonna die.

 

© Dave Skinner 2021

Pg 10, Unprecedented Crime, Carter and Woodworth.

Pg. 10, Unprecedented Crime, Carter and Woodworth

Pg. 10 Unprecedented Crime, Carter and Woodworth.

Greed is destroying the world

 

Greed is destroying the world

 

If you do not believe in climate change, this essay will not persuade you. If you wonder how we got to this point, this article could help you answer that question. If you want to understand why we, and the rest of the world, will fail to curb the climate crisis, read on.

“ No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them” (Oil Sands)

Justin Trudeau, speaking as the Prime Minister of Canada, made the above comment at the CERAWeek energy industry conference in Houston, Texas in 2017.

The main thrust of his address was the balancing of environmental and energy concerns. CBC News reported that he was;

 

“Touting his government’s approval of new pipelines, and the Liberal’s national plan to put a price on carbon, which were achieved at the same time.”

 

According to CBC News, his full statement was “No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil and just leave it in the ground. The resource will be developed. Our job is to ensure this is done responsible, safely and sustainably”

The statement was made about a year before he announced that Canada would purchase the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Therefore Mr. Trudeau should have finished his statement with the words, no matter what the cost to the environment and in human lives, instead of stopping at ‘responsible, safely and sustainably’ because that is what continuing to use fossil fuels has resulted in. The United Nation’s 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report made that undeniable when it came out recently.

 

The IPCC report states; “the world has rapidly warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, and is now careening toward 1.5 degrees—a critical threshold that world leaders agree warming should remain below to avoid worsening impacts.” CNN August 9, 2021.

 

CNN went on to report a statement from Michael E. Mann, a lead author of the IPCC’s 2001 report which states “Bottom line is that we have zero years left to avoid dangerous climate change because it is here.” We have seen those changes in the historic droughts, landscape-altering wildfires and deadly floods that the world has been battling. The past two years (2020 and 2021) are just a taste of what the world will experience from now on.

 

An online report by CBCNEWS from August 4, 2021 starts with these statements. “As the world staggers through another summer of extreme weather, experts are noticing something different: 2021’s onslaught is hitting harder and in places that have been spared global warming’s wrath in the past.

 

“Wealthy countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany and Belgium are joining poorer and more vulnerable nations on a growing list of extreme weather that scientists say have some connection to human-caused climate change .”

 

Human-caused climate change is significant in the above statement. For year’s nay-sayers, fossil fuel spokes people, and many politicians have been spewing misinformation regarding the lack of proof regarding human-caused climate change, but for the first time the 2021 IPCC report concludes “it is unequivocal that humans have caused the climate crisis and confirms that widespread and rapid changes have already occurred, some of them irreversible.” CNN August 9, 2021. How did scientists and politicians allow things to get this dire? By ignoring the warnings that many scientists have been giving about climate change since the 1980s.

 

The following is an excerpt from the Columbia University Record of October 22, 1982 regarding the Ewing Symposium, a three day gathering of 100 scientists to discuss “what the earth’s climate will be like for the next century.” Comments are from Taro Takahashi, one of the organizers of the event.

“There are three competing effects,” Takahashi said. “First, we think that the earth’s climate is warming due to the ‘greenhouse effect,’ the retention of solar heat by the discharge of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, largely by the burning of fossil fuels. Second, volcanic and industrial activity is sending dust particles into the stratosphere that shade the earth and cool it. And third, the earth’s climate has a mind of its own—there are many natural processes that have been going on for ages. Scientists will evaluate the relative strengths of these components and discuss what the climate is most likely to be like in the future. Recent changes in the polar ice caps will also be discussed. The symposium is being supported by the Exxon Corp., the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Climate Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration”

In November of 2017, Dr. James E. Hansen wrote a forward for the book Unprecedented Crime, Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival by Dr. Peter D. Carter and Elizabeth Woody. Within the forward Dr. Hansen talks about organizing that 1982 Ewing Symposium with Taro Takahashi. He recounts that the most significant presentation of the complete symposium was a dinner speech by E.E. David, Jr. then President of Exxon Research and Engineering Company. Mr. David’s speech centred on; “the characteristic of the climate system that makes human-caused global warming so dangerous and such a problem”. The “critical problem” he was reporting on was the long delay before the effects of CO2 buildup would manifest themselves.

“Delayed response of the climate system, caused by the great thermal inertia of the ocean and the slow response of ice sheets to warming, creates the possibility that we could hand young people a planet undergoing changes that would be out of control.”

In order to avoid global warming he suggested that alternative renewable energy sources needed to be developed. “Fossil fuel companies would need to become energy companies—clean energy companies.”

Most fossil fuel companies (not all) chose to ignore the warning and invested decades and billions of dollars into the development of tar sands and shale oil resources.

For informed governments and knowledgeable fossil fuel companies to ignore the warnings of science for the last 39 years was bad enough, but the industry also chose to mount a campaign of misinformation and deceit surpassing even that done by the tobacco industry regarding the relationship of smoking to cancer.

Instead of doing what was right the fossil fuel companies chose to misrepresent the information, and cast aspersions on the science and the scientists. They led us to this disaster, but they were not alone in their efforts. Many politicians were goose stepping right along with them.

 

The following is from Wikipedia page Q208645, Revision July 17, 2021

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It was signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992. It established a Secretariat headquartered in Bonn and entered into force on 21 March 1994. The treaty called for ongoing scientific research and regular meetings, negotiations, and future policy agreements designed to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

The Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and ran from 2005 to 2020, was the first implementation of measures under the UNFCCC. The Kyoto Protocol was superseded by the Paris Agreement, which entered into force in 2016. As of 2020, the UNFCCC has 197 signatory parties. Its supreme decision-making body, the Conference of the Parties (COP), meets annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty with 192 signatories. It commits the signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (1) global warming is occurring and (2) that human-made CO2 emissions are driving it. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.

It is interesting to note that the signatories or parties involved in the IPCC reports are required to review and agree on every statement made in the reports. The signatories represent the nations signing off on the report therefore there is no excuse, except for incompetence, for a politician to disagree with the statements. 

Canada was active in the negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Liberal government that signed the accord in 1997 ratified it in parliament in 2002. Canada's Kyoto target was a 6% total reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2012, compared to 1990 levels of 461 megatonnes (Mt) (Government of Canada (GC) 1994). Despite signing the accord, greenhouse gas emissions increased approximately 24.1% between 1990 and 2008. In 2011, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. Wikipedia, Page version 1036338067, Revised July 30, 2021.

Stephen Harper couldn’t get consensus and agreements from the provinces, so instead of alienating his base in the west (primarily Alberta) Harper gave in to the greed of the fossil fuel industry and pulled Canada from Kyoto in 2011, six years before President Donald Trump did the same in the U.S. Harper was a leader in supporting the fossil fuel industry’s misinformation efforts in a number of ways. He muzzled government scientists—who are paid using Canadian taxpayer’s dollars—by initiating a special media control centre where communications with the media were obstructed by delaying responses to inquiries past the reporter’s deadlines, or by making the process completely onerous. A 2017 article in Smithsoniamag.com by Joshua Rapp Learn reports that one request resulted in 110 pages of emails between sixteen different communication staffers.

The following diagram focuses on the misinformation campaign in the U.S of A. but many Canadian politicians are as complicit. The current liberal government of Canada talks a good game regarding controlling climate change, and have succeeded in putting a price on carbon pollution. This is a carbon tax that is applied to all fossil fuel purchases and is rebated back to individuals. It has a number of criticisms—mainly because some of the biggest polluters are exempt— but at least it is a step in the right direction. The previous conservative government dithered about doing something similar for years until they pulled Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol rather than govern effectively. Obviously they cared nothing about what would happen in the near future to the environment and the people of Canada which includes their own children and other family members. At their policy convention this year (2021) the Federal Conservatives voted down a policy proposal to declare that climate change is real. CBCNEWS March 19, 2021

I have wondered for some time—as I am sure others have—how the fossil fuel executives and their lackey politicians justified their decisions. They were aware that they were damaging the planet in a way that would eventually kill people. Was it simply because the problem was forecast for thirty or forty years into the future? Did they not care about what they were doing, or were they just more interested in their next re-election, paycheque, or yearly bonus. Can you imagine a person being tied for murder and defending themselves by saying; ‘sure I killed them, but there was a lot of money to be had’? Was it simply greed? I believe it was.

Thirty-nine years ago, back in 1982, Exxon executives and other fossil fuel decision makers had the choice to transition their businesses towards less destructive pursuits and to develop technologies that would alleviate the problems to come. Their own scientists told them what was going to happen if they continued down the path they were on. Instead of choosing the option best for the planet and the people, they went for immediate profits.

I highlight the word immediate to emphasise that the oil wasn’t going anywhere. They could have chosen to invest in clean energy or green technology, like electric cars, carbon capture, and carbon storage.

The Canadian government website states that;

 “Transportation is one of the largest sources of air pollution in Canada. The combustion of fossil fuels to power vehicles and engines (on and off road)—cars and trucks; large trucks and buses; recreational vehicles; lawn and gardening equipment; farming and construction; forklifts and ice resurfacers; rail and marine—has major adverse impacts on the environment and health of Canadians.

Initiatives to reduce emissions from vehicles, engines and fuels can have significant positive effects on air quality, acid rain, smog and climate change.”  https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-...

The EPA in the U.S.A  states;

“motor vehicles collectively cause 75 percent of carbon monoxide pollution in the U.S. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) estimates that on-road vehicles cause one-third of the air pollution that produces smog in the U.S., and transportation causes 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.” sites.psu.edu/hailstrompassions/2015/...

 According to a study commissioned by FuelPositive Corporation (TSX.V: NHHH) (OTCQB: NHHHF). If all carbon-free ammonia were used, the result would be a 15.3% reduction in Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. financialpost.com › globe-newswire › fuelpositive-commissions 2021-08-17

 

If the fossil fuel industry had made an effort to reduce the amount of gasoline used in transportation back in the 1980s, there would be significantly fewer climate change problems today, and they still would have made lots of money. Oil is used in so many ways that the demand for it would still be there without using it for transportation fuel. Unfortunately we have reached a point where a complete stop to its use is now necessary, in addition to the corrective actions that are needed. Scientists suggest that pulling carbon from the atmosphere (carbon capture) and carbon storage are technologies necessary to try to keep the global temperature below drastic levels. In Greta Thunberg’s recent documentaries about her battle for meaningful climate change action, she looked at a few of the technologies that are being touted as a means of fighting climate change. In every instance building the facilities required will take longer than the world has. If the fossil fuel industry had started to develop non-polluting energy alternatives, carbon capture technologies, or carbon storage technologies back in the 1990’s the world would have  years upon years more time to use oil responsibly, but they didn’t. Why didn’t the fossil fuel industry start to work on solutions back when the problem first came to light? I can only suppose that they chose to preserve profits over lives.

It isn’t just the fossil fuel industry that let greed dictate their actions. We have seen and continue to see evidence of this behaviour by business executives all the time. In addition to overseeing the running of a company, a Corporate Executive Officer’s (CEO) job is to maximize profits, and like the executives at Exxon, lying to the public and their customers is second nature to them.

The tobacco industry lied about the link between smoking and cancer for years. The plastics industry has completely ignored the mess plastics have made of the world. “After 150 years of plastic production, this material has invaded every living corner of the Earth. Every room and building and object we purchase is covered in or surrounded by plastic: plastic wrappers, plastic toys, plastic signs, plastic building blocks…the list is endless.

“What the world has received in “convenience” via mass production, it has lost in health—of humans as well as nature. Seals and sea turtles choke on plastic bags, children ingest microscopic pieces of plastic every day, and viewing the stomach contents of dissected dead birds nauseates us.” Plastics: The Other Pandemic, by Alex Hertzog, resilience.org.

Businesses were not always run with the goal of maximizing profits over lives. In his book, Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World, Fareed Zakaria—a respected business analyst, an Indian-American journalist, political commentator, and author who writes a weekly paid column for The Washington Post—reported a comment by Bill Budinger, a highly successful entrepreneur then in his eighties, reflecting on businesses change in mentality. “I grew up when things were different, a time when profits were to be reasonable, not maximized.” The whole concept of maximizing profits and continuous growth has brought the world to its knees.

At the end of many of his nature documentaries, Sir David Attenborough, speaks to the destruction that climate change is causing. He has also asked about “the moral responsibility that wealthy people have.” You can ask the same question about large wealthy corporations. Do they have a moral responsibility? The conditions caused by their actions suggest that if they do they ignore it.

The following quotes are from, The IPCC Report: Key Findings and Radical Implications by Brian Tokar August 24, 2021. (Originally published by Climate and Capitalism.)

 

Of course more extreme events remain far less predictable, except that their frequency will continue to increase with rising temperatures. For example the triple digit (Fahrenheit) temperatures that swept the Pacific Northwest of the US and southwestern Canada this summer have been described as a once in 50,000 years event in “normal” times and no one excludes the possibility that they will happen again in the near future. So-called “compound” events, for example the combination of high temperatures and dry, windy conditions that favor the spread of wildfires, are the least predictable events of all.

 

The central conclusion from the overall linear increase in temperatures relative to emissions is that nothing short of a complete cessation of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions will significantly stabilize the climate, and there is also a time delay of at least several decades after emissions cease before the climate can begin to stabilize.

 

Third, estimates of likely sea level rise, in both the near- and longer-terms, are far more reliable than they were a few years ago. Global sea levels rose an average of 20 centimeters during the 20th century, and will continue to rise throughout this century under all possible climate scenarios — about a foot higher than today if emissions begin to fall rapidly, nearly 2 feet if emissions continue rising at present rates, and 2.5 feet if emissions rise faster. These, of course, are the most cautious scientific estimates. By 2150 the estimated range is 2–4.5 feet, and more extreme scenarios where sea levels rise from 6 to 15 feet “cannot be ruled out due to deep uncertainty in ice sheet processes.”

 

With glacial melting expected to continue for decades or centuries under all scenarios, sea levels will “remain elevated for thousands of years,” potentially reaching a height of between 8 and 60 feet above present levels. The last time global temperatures were comparable to today’s (125,000 years ago), sea levels were probably 15 to 30 feet higher than they are today. When they were last 2.5 to 4 degrees higher than preindustrial temperatures—roughly 3 million years ago—sea levels may have been up to 60 feet higher than today. Again these are all cautious estimates, based on the available data and subject to stringent statistical validation.

 

There is a very good video comparing current times to the Paleocene Epock—at the time of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). It is called The Last Time the Globe Warmed and is on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldLBoErAhz4.

 

During the PETM most of the world, including Antarctica was covered in lush jungles. Glaziers and ice caps did not exist. One of the main reasons for this was the release of carbon into the atmosphere over thousands of years. The chart below shows the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere during the PETM (on the left) and the carbon being released into the atmosphere today (on the right). The Last Time the Globe Warmed

 

The fossil fuel industry’s lies and underhanded dealings have put us into a situation where the other 99% of the population, if we survive at all, is going to suffer for hundreds if not thousands of years, and it was all because of greed.

 

The last two years (2020 and 2021) have been unequaled in the number of natural disasters and out of the ordinary weather phenomenon people have suffered through. The prediction is that it will get worse. But don’t give up hope. There is always hope, or so the media says, but our history doesn’t support that conclusion. Our actions over the past 30 to 40 years tell me that despite being aware of what is happening we are too complacent to change. Our business leaders and politicians are two greedy for profits and power to do what is needed. We are already at the event horizon where 99% of us are going to suffer countless disasters, and loss of life. We can try to minimize it by changing almost everything we do. Will we? I doubt it.

 

Take a walk outside, if you don’t believe me. Our roadsides are covered with litter. Beer cans, coffee cups, plastic bags, cigarette stubs and packages are everywhere, despite the fact that there are laws against littering that have been around for fifty years or more. If people won’t even stop littering, what hope is there for stopping climate change?

 

Business executives and politicians carry most of the blame for the state of the environment today, but the rest of us have to accept some responsibility also. Even if we don’t believe it we are going to carry the brunt of the consequences. We are going to suffer for our apathy, and for the actions of the greedy. How much we suffer depends on our actions now. We can no longer accept empty promises from our politicians, or lies from our business executives if we want our children to survive. Canada is in the midst of a federal election, and a meaningful, output oriented dialog on climate change is sadly missing. The future looks bleak to me, so I will end this essay by paraphrasing a little of the Vietnam Song, by Country Joe and the Fish.

 

Well there’s no more time to wonder why,

Whoopee! Were all gonna die.

 

© Dave Skinner 2021

Pg 10, Unprecedented Crime, Carter and Woodworth.

Pg. 10, Unprecedented Crime, Carter and Woodworth

Pg. 10 Unprecedented Crime, Carter and Woodworth.

Thou Shalt Not Lie

 

Thou Shalt Not Lie

 “Hey Boss,” Linda said as she came around the cubicle’s partition. “I just got a call from my sister. She works at Toronto West, and says I should get over there. Lightning strikes are hitting people.”

“Someone getting hit by lightning is not anything new, Linda. Hardly get more than two inches on page ten for that. You sure you want to waste your time?”

“She said six people have come into the ER in the past two hours. All struck by lightning. Five are dead.”

“So, it was like a big hit that got all six of them?”

“No, they all arrived separately from different locations.”

“Okay, my interest is peaked. Chase it down.” Before she could step away he added, “Do those boots have rubber soles?”

She laughed before she realized he was serious. “Ah, these don’t, but I have a pair of boots under my desk that do.”

“Wear them. I don’t want one of my better reporters zapped.”

After changing her boots Linda caught a taxi over to the hospital. The ride along Lakeshore was uneventful, but just before they reached Toronto West she saw a man get zapped. He was walking on the side walk while talking on his cell phone and then wham.

“Shit, did you see that?” Her heart was racing, and her mouth felt dry as she cranked her head around to keep track of the man.

“I saw it,” the driver answered in a ho-hum voice. She was about to ask how he could be so calm about seeing something like that when he offered more. “The first one I saw today freaked me out, but that was my sixth so far. All were talking on their phones. I’m turning mine off before I get out of the cab.”

It was madness inside the ER waiting room. People were grouped in front of the registration desks clamouring for information. Linda saw her sister, a triage nurse, step out of the triage room. An older heavy bodied nurse and a man in a suit coat with his tie loosened were trying to answer the crowd’s questions. Linda went straight to her sister.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“Fifteen more lightning strikes since I talked to you. No one knows…oh wait, our media VP just arrived. She’ll tell everyone what’s happening.”

“A woman in an expensive looking dress had just walked in behind the registry clerks. She held her hands up and asking for quiet.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” she didn’t bellow, but her voice cut through the commotion. People quieted. Linda joined the crowd. “There is a sheet of paper at the last desk.” She pointed towards the last of the four registration carrels. “If you will put down your name, the name of the patient you are inquiring about, and then take a seat in the waiting area someone will talk with you as soon as possible. I am asking all reporters to join me over in that area.” She pointed to a free space beside the Emergency doors. “I will answer your questions if possible, but right now we know very little.”

Linda and three other reporters followed the woman to a doorway beside the main sliding doors. She ushered them into a small office.

“My name is Wanda Taylor,” she began. “I am vice president of Public Relations and Media. Let me tell you what we know, and then I will take your questions.

“A few hours ago we received a patient who had been struck by lightning. In the course of an hour we received five more. The count has now reached twenty and they keep coming. We have no idea why this is happening. I contacted the Ministry of Health and was informed that similar occurrences are being reported all over the city. I will now take your questions.”

“So, in the course of three hours you have received twenty lighting strike patients?” Someone asked.

“That sounds right.”

“And you have no idea why this is happening,” someone else asked.

“That is correct.”

“Could it have something to do with the weather?”

“You would be better off asking your meteorology departments about that.”

“I saw a man get struck on my way over here. He was talking on his cell phone. Any other cases like that?” Linda ask.

“I have no way of knowing that at this time, but I will mention it to our ER docs,” Wanda Taylor answered. “I am sorry there is nothing else I can tell you.”

Linda followed the other reporters outside and then decided to walk to where she saw the man get struck, but when she arrived there was only a police officer still on the scene. He was making notes when she knocked on his window and flashed her press ID.

“No comment,” he said when his window had slide down a few inches.

“I saw the man struck,” she said quickly before the window could close completely. “Is he okay?”

The cop just shook his head. “Did you report it? He asked.”

“No. I was in a taxi. The driver didn’t stop, but I saw another car pull over. The taxi driver said he had seen a number of lightning strikes today. Can you comment on that?”

“It is happening all over the city,” he said. “Don’t use my name, he added when her eyes travelled to his name tag.”

Linda caught a cab back to the office. When she arrived the place was in an uproar. The news editor grabbed her as she came in and pulled her into a meeting.

“Tell us what you know,” he demanded.

“There were at least twenty lighting strikes in three hours. The hospital is going crazy. I confirmed five dead. Saw a man hit just before I got there. He was on his cell, but I don’t know if that is significant.”

“The phone doesn’t appear to be a common link. Ford was struck while giving a press conference.”

“The Premier got zapped!”

“Yes. Write up what you have for print, keep it tight, no more than seven-hundred words, and then get on the phone. We need to follow this.”

Linda wrote up her story and submitted it, but before she figured out who to contact she was called to the bull-pen along with all the other reporters.

“This is big,” the Boss announced. “Ford stopped to take questions before going into his Covid update today. Someone asked him about gutting the Conservation Authority’s power and as he was answering with his usual bull he was struck by lightning. This was inside the building people not outside. I want to know how that can happen.”

“I heard a rumour that the OPP are considering locking the whole city down. Stay inside, curfews, the whole ball of twine,” someone else announced.

“It isn’t just Toronto. It is happening all over. I talked to a contact at the New York Times who said Wall Street is in turmoil, the Stock Exchange is closed. There were two or three lightning strikes on the floor of the exchange. He said it killed thirty or more brokers.”

“Trump was struck at Mar Logo,” someone reported.

“What, out on the golf course?”

“No, inside his office. He was autographing pictures, you know the ones they sell for five bucks each that say, Trump loves you.”

“I talked with a contact in Washington, DC,” a woman from the political desk said. “They thought it was a terrorist attack at first, but that was kicked to the wayside even though they have lost a slew of politicians—mostly republicans I can add”. She checked her note pad and continued. So far Nikki Haley, Mitch McConnell, Jim Joran, Kevin McKarthy, Lindsey Graham, and Mark Walker are dead. Security has the whole place locked down.”

“Ted Cruz was struck in Texas,” someone added. “He was being asked about the contradictions between what he claimed the purpose of his Mexican trip was and what his wife’s emails revealed.”

“And that Evangelist preacher who claimed Trump was sent by God just got struck,” someone said holding up their cell phone.

“Is this some evil Democrat genius getting even for the Senate letting Trump off?” A young reporter asked.”

The Boss looked at him. “We deal with facts here, not fantasy.”

“I heard that a bunch of people at Fox News have been struck. Tucker Carlson was one, or so I hear, and the internet is alive with video of lightning hitting people.”

“Okay,” the Boss stated. “Get your stories in and keep working your contacts.”

Linda had been asking herself what the common denominator was. What tied all these people together? Back at her computer she started browsing conspiracy sites. They were suspiciously quiet. Some were off line. She switched to social media. It was filled with video of people getting struck, but what caught her interest were the videos of people talking on camera as they were struck. Something was scratching at her mind trying to get out. She started jotting down names, and suddenly it came to her. She jumped up and ran to the Boss.

“Lies,” she blurted. “If someone lies they get struck by lightning.”

The Boss sat back in his chair and steepled his hands. “Thou shalt not lie,” he finally said. A big smile lit his face. “That is going to make reporting a completely different job.”

“What do you mean?” Linda asked. “It is still going to be, identify the issue and ask the questions.”

“Yes, but who will dare to lie like they do now when they answer?”

 

©Dave Skinner 2021

An Unusual Pet

 

An Unusual Pet

His mouth did it. It was so sensuous that I couldn’t say no to his invitation, but you have to understand that getting picked up by men in bars is not something I allow to happen. I have to admit his approach was intriguing though.

“What is the most unusual animal you have ever encountered?” He asked, as he sat down at my table.

“Pardon?”

“Unusual creatures, name one you have seen.”

I was going to tell him to get lost, but his mouth caught me. It reminded me of Julia Roberts, a little large, with well-shaped sensuous lips, and a really pleasant smile that lit up his grey eyes. It almost made me forget his question.

“I suppose it was a hedgehog,” I finally said. “A friend of mine at University had one as a pet. What is yours?” In for a penny, in for a loonie.

“Mine is my pet cat,” he told me, and his eyes sparkled with mirth.

“A cat is not unusual, unless it is one of the hairless breed. I would love to see one of those.” Yes, I realize that was an opening on my part. “Tell me you have a sphyns, a bambino, a donskoy, a peterbald, or one of the other three.”

“Ooh, no. I would never have one of those things. A cat has to be able to sit on your lap while you pet it. I can rub my own belly if I want to feel skin.”

His physical appearance, viewed as he approached my table, suggested that the word ‘belly’ should be replaced with ‘abs’--firm sculpted abs at that.

“Long hair, short hair?”

“On my belly?” He actually looked puzzled. I had to laugh.

“No. On your cat.”

“It is a long haired tabby.”

“It sounds pretty, but not really unusual.”

“There is something special about it—trust me.”

I gave him my untrusting look.

“Would you like another drink?”

I said, yes. It destroyed my untrusting expression, but I was having fun for the first time in some time. Drinks came. We talked while getting to know each other. He was a professional like me. We compared student loans, universities, home towns, and a bunch more easy topics. He was funny, quick, and a pleasure to talk with. After a few hours I think we were both feeling amicable, and perhaps a little amorous.

“Would you like to see my cat?” He asked. His eyes were sparkling again. I think mine were too, so I didn’t pick up on the ‘see my cat’ thing. Most cat people would ask if you wanted to meet their cat.

He lived in a condo unit about eight blocks from the bar. It was a warm, spring, evening, so the weather, and the company made for a pleasant walk. By the time we closed his door behind us, I didn’t care if he had a cat or not, but there it was sitting, cat like, on the windowsill. He put on soft music, and made herbal tea which was good because my quota for alcohol had been reached. I sat on the couch and admired the room—nice furniture, well decorated, and reasonable messy. The cat didn’t move, didn’t even open an eye like cats normally do. When he brought in the mugs I mentioned it.

“Your cat hasn’t moved. Does it always sleep that deeply? Is that what makes it unusual?”

“He never moves. He’s dead.”

I spit out a little tea, and had to wipe my chin off. “You have a dead cat!”

“Well, I had it stuffed by a taxidermist. It’s not just dead-dead, and it makes a perfect pet. Doesn’t require feeding, doesn’t make a mess, no cat odour, but it still feels good to sit it on my lap and stroke it. Unusual, wouldn’t you say?”

 The End

© Dave Skinner 2021

 

 

The First Time I Drove

 Mr. and Mrs. Lake lived in a small house just off Kingston Road on a street that dropped downhill towards the lake. They were friends of my Mom and Dad’s—mostly my Dad’s. Mister Lake was a drinking buddy of his. He would take my sister and me along for a visit sometimes. On one of those visits I caused trouble.

The details of the incident are lost to me along with most things from those years. I believe we were looking at a car that the Lakes had just bought. I remember that the passenger door was open. My sister was sitting in the front seat next to me. I stood in the driver’s seat pretending to steer, pulling the steering wheel back and forth, and probably making a vroom- vroom sound.

I liked playing with toy cars and trucks. This was before the toymakers added noises to their products. We had to make our own sound effects, as I was doing. My sister was just being a girl, doing girl stuff while watching her little brother. Do you remember what a gear shift was like back then?

It was mounted on the steering column. Three forwards and one reverse in the shape of an H. The emergency brake was down by the petals on the door side. It wasn’t used a lot back then. Years later there were a few accidents when people left their cars running in neutral, or later—with automatics—in park, and didn’t set the brake. The cars took off, people were killed or injured, hence the recommendation to always set the emergency brake was born, but back then most people didn’t bother. They simply left the car in gear. In reverse if the nose of the car was pointed downhill or first gear if the grade dropped off at the back. You were supposed to turn your wheels slightly towards the curve. Few people bothered with that either. Mr. Lake was one of those.

Somehow, in my driving exuberance, yanking back and forth on the wheel, I must have moved the gear shift lever. The car started to move. I was elated. I was driving. Then my sister started making demands.

 “Get out! Stop driving! Give me your hand! Reach over!” she screamed, in the time with the slap, slap, slap, sound of her shoes as she ran beside the car. We passed some parked cars, getting closer to each one. Suddenly I was wretched from my seat, as her flailing hand finally made contact with my shirt. The car left us standing in the road. It didn’t travel far after that. The crash wasn’t as loud as I thought it would be. My punishment was harsh. It was a somber drive home.

The End

© Dave Skinner 2017

One way to stop Trump's shit show support

 One way to stop the Trump shit show support 

The Supreme Court has just quashed Trumps latest effort to undermine US democracy, but a whole slur of politicians went along with his attempt. How do you stop this from occurring? One novel idea would be to make those politician's jobs dependent on the outcome. If they lose the case they lose their jobs. Back in my work life we would ask if "you would bet your job on the outcome". If these people truly believe that Trump is right they should be willing to stand up and risk their positions--their jobs--on it.