It takes about a decade to build a nuclear reactor. In the time I've observed the climate debate, we could have replaced every single coal power plant in this country, simultaneously eliminating one of the top emitters and fostering a high-tech industry. Oh, and provide cheap energy giving us huge advantages in other parts of our economy. The money from that could go towards preparation for, and mitigation of, future disasters.
Instead, at one end of the spectrum we have stubborn denial, at the other end we have useless virtue signalling and lint-picking. No nuance. No pragmatism. No progress. Just bullshit.
Our leaders are not serious people, because we're not serious people. I fear what it will take to change that.
Terrific to hear a conservative-side writer going on about "resiliency". Because "resiliency" is what the beloved Free Market actually sucks at. Resiliency never makes economic sense at the time the decision is made.
The heavily-regulated landline industry has resiliency. I've never heard dead air on a phone in my life, always a dial tone, even with all other power out. The cell-phone industry is a great example of a lightly-regulated alternative, where call quality is JUUUUUST good enough to keep you from angrily cancelling your contract with the oligopoly, and no better.
A strong military - never needed even once to defend Canada, and needed only once a generation to defend our "strategic partners" (or participate in their power-move adventures) - is another great example of resiliency. Harper cut their budget 5%.
Frankly, we need to re-purpose our military to be a civil disaster defense organization primarily, that also practices killing when they have spare time, instead of the other way around. There's no need to participate in "large unit manuvers"; just train lots of highly independent snipers, we're good at that anyway.
I think we are very lucky to be able to watch Jen Gerson rise to be one of the top Canadian journalists before our eyes. Another fantastic article that once again nails it. Well done!!
Perhaps alternative routes from the coast are in order. The current configuration creates a single point of failure for 4 highways (TCH, Highway 7, Coquihalla, Crowsnest), 2 railways (CP and CNR) and 2 pipelines (TransMountain and West Coast) at Hope. The only alternatives I could imagine would be upgrading Highway 99 to full freeway all of the way to Kamloops, or better connectivity into the US Interstate System (upgrade 99 south to full freeway and then US/BC 97 into freeway). Of course Canadian and BC government policy favors real estate NIMBY's and activist groups over building essential infrastructure.
Great point about our underequipped military and weak warning systems. Maybe Stephen Harper's agenda of "tightening the screws" on Ottawa and deliberately kneecapping Ottawa's ability to get things done and cutting funding to everything from coastal rescue systems to the military wasn't such a good idea after all.
Preston Manning talked for years about the need for things like carbon pricing, and how the conservative movement needs to stop ceding the environment as an issue to the left. For his troubles he was largely ignored by Stephen Harper and publicly shit on by Ezra Levant.
Now I can just imagine Manning shaking his head and thinking "told you so!" at both the political and physical developments since then.
What is not talked about is adaptation. Media loves to talk about climate change, how we should implement carbon taxes, shut down our oil and gas. This will of course do nothing to affect climate change unless the rest of the world magically start acting. And even then it will take decades to see any impact. In the meantime we need to finally invest in adaptation measures which are totally controlled by Canada. Every nation should also finally invest in serious research into finding cheaper alternative energy sources that could replace oil and gas.
We are a country that chose to create our whole identity around universal cradle to grave social benefits (and not being America) rather than soverignty, nation building and the maintenance of our nation. We chose universal daycare over soverignty and the infrastructure of a modern society.
We also have a cultural aversion to self sufficiency and accountability. Too American for our chattering classes no doubt.
This is not how countries that survive the long term and thrive act. Every disaster poorly handled means one less reason to even bother with the Canadian project. Good thing there isn't a rebellious bone in the Canadian body or there would be hell to pay.
Even the darkest writer's choice to set pen to paper, keyboard to screen, is animated by the presumption that somewhere in the endless swirl of Time, someone out there will hear you and acknowledge your efforts.
Doubtless, shouting from the rooftop has its momentary personal rewards.
However the trend lines of human history are not encouraging. Humans are, despite all the self-promotional advertising, by and large, dumb animals addicted to their incremental habits. Evolutionary incrementalism however is not the time frame for surviving catastrophic systemic crises of one's own making.
Humans are simply not capable of acting in concert to alleviate the consequences of their own behaviours on a planetary scale. Catastrophic collapse is the hard teacher of civilizations. 'Build back better' is not the philosophy of cockroaches.
Which brings me to Big Data. Big Data?
Big Data is part of the human effort to build a form of intelligence humans do not have. In order to overcome its own deficits of perception, analysis, memory and synthesis a particular form of life attempts to create a new form of life without those deficiencies within a non-evolutionary time frame. No surprise if said creature fails to anticipate all the consequences of its efforts.
Approaching the planet like you're just re-arranging the furniture in your room is not just a micro-macro disconnect. God, The Creator, Evolution's Sorcerer in Chief, The Animating Principles of All Things, is not just a built back better human. Bigger, stronger, smarter, faster than the previous edition.
In other words.
The idea that a bunch of humans can micro-manage the planet is just a dumb idea. If my observations are unconvincing, I suggest a conversation with cockroaches.
It's appropriate to talk about climate change in this context. Let's avoid the pointless debate about whether the flooding in B.C. is caused by climate change. That's irrelevant. Even if this single flood were not caused by climate change, we can expect more. You should have stopped here.
Adopt carbon taxes to demonstrate global leadership? When was the last time Canada had enough political wherewithal or international respect to be thought a leader in anything? And how convenient to think of it as someone else’s problem. Instead of throwing our hands up and saying that addressing the climate crisis falls to countries more powerful than Canada, how about tackling it head-on (carbon taxes are a start) simply because keeping our own house in order is the right thing to do? Naïve, I know, and nostalgic for a Canada that, again, is long gone, if it ever really existed in the first place. In any case, it’s not as if our hands are clean on this score – Canada’s per capita CO2 emissions are higher than any country/region the writer lists. We have tremendous reserves of untapped carbon in the ground, which gives us outsized leverage in determining which direction the response to the crisis is going to go. Canada figures more in the causes and solutions to the climate crisis than we have the courage or the moral compass to admit.
It takes about a decade to build a nuclear reactor. In the time I've observed the climate debate, we could have replaced every single coal power plant in this country, simultaneously eliminating one of the top emitters and fostering a high-tech industry. Oh, and provide cheap energy giving us huge advantages in other parts of our economy. The money from that could go towards preparation for, and mitigation of, future disasters.
Instead, at one end of the spectrum we have stubborn denial, at the other end we have useless virtue signalling and lint-picking. No nuance. No pragmatism. No progress. Just bullshit.
Our leaders are not serious people, because we're not serious people. I fear what it will take to change that.
Jen, you nailed it!
Exactly right from beginning to end. Thank you.
Terrific to hear a conservative-side writer going on about "resiliency". Because "resiliency" is what the beloved Free Market actually sucks at. Resiliency never makes economic sense at the time the decision is made.
The heavily-regulated landline industry has resiliency. I've never heard dead air on a phone in my life, always a dial tone, even with all other power out. The cell-phone industry is a great example of a lightly-regulated alternative, where call quality is JUUUUUST good enough to keep you from angrily cancelling your contract with the oligopoly, and no better.
A strong military - never needed even once to defend Canada, and needed only once a generation to defend our "strategic partners" (or participate in their power-move adventures) - is another great example of resiliency. Harper cut their budget 5%.
Frankly, we need to re-purpose our military to be a civil disaster defense organization primarily, that also practices killing when they have spare time, instead of the other way around. There's no need to participate in "large unit manuvers"; just train lots of highly independent snipers, we're good at that anyway.
I think we are very lucky to be able to watch Jen Gerson rise to be one of the top Canadian journalists before our eyes. Another fantastic article that once again nails it. Well done!!
Perhaps alternative routes from the coast are in order. The current configuration creates a single point of failure for 4 highways (TCH, Highway 7, Coquihalla, Crowsnest), 2 railways (CP and CNR) and 2 pipelines (TransMountain and West Coast) at Hope. The only alternatives I could imagine would be upgrading Highway 99 to full freeway all of the way to Kamloops, or better connectivity into the US Interstate System (upgrade 99 south to full freeway and then US/BC 97 into freeway). Of course Canadian and BC government policy favors real estate NIMBY's and activist groups over building essential infrastructure.
Great point about our underequipped military and weak warning systems. Maybe Stephen Harper's agenda of "tightening the screws" on Ottawa and deliberately kneecapping Ottawa's ability to get things done and cutting funding to everything from coastal rescue systems to the military wasn't such a good idea after all.
Preston Manning talked for years about the need for things like carbon pricing, and how the conservative movement needs to stop ceding the environment as an issue to the left. For his troubles he was largely ignored by Stephen Harper and publicly shit on by Ezra Levant.
Now I can just imagine Manning shaking his head and thinking "told you so!" at both the political and physical developments since then.
What is not talked about is adaptation. Media loves to talk about climate change, how we should implement carbon taxes, shut down our oil and gas. This will of course do nothing to affect climate change unless the rest of the world magically start acting. And even then it will take decades to see any impact. In the meantime we need to finally invest in adaptation measures which are totally controlled by Canada. Every nation should also finally invest in serious research into finding cheaper alternative energy sources that could replace oil and gas.
We are a country that chose to create our whole identity around universal cradle to grave social benefits (and not being America) rather than soverignty, nation building and the maintenance of our nation. We chose universal daycare over soverignty and the infrastructure of a modern society.
We also have a cultural aversion to self sufficiency and accountability. Too American for our chattering classes no doubt.
This is not how countries that survive the long term and thrive act. Every disaster poorly handled means one less reason to even bother with the Canadian project. Good thing there isn't a rebellious bone in the Canadian body or there would be hell to pay.
Jen, I believe you are hopelessly optimistic.
Even the darkest writer's choice to set pen to paper, keyboard to screen, is animated by the presumption that somewhere in the endless swirl of Time, someone out there will hear you and acknowledge your efforts.
Doubtless, shouting from the rooftop has its momentary personal rewards.
However the trend lines of human history are not encouraging. Humans are, despite all the self-promotional advertising, by and large, dumb animals addicted to their incremental habits. Evolutionary incrementalism however is not the time frame for surviving catastrophic systemic crises of one's own making.
Humans are simply not capable of acting in concert to alleviate the consequences of their own behaviours on a planetary scale. Catastrophic collapse is the hard teacher of civilizations. 'Build back better' is not the philosophy of cockroaches.
Which brings me to Big Data. Big Data?
Big Data is part of the human effort to build a form of intelligence humans do not have. In order to overcome its own deficits of perception, analysis, memory and synthesis a particular form of life attempts to create a new form of life without those deficiencies within a non-evolutionary time frame. No surprise if said creature fails to anticipate all the consequences of its efforts.
Approaching the planet like you're just re-arranging the furniture in your room is not just a micro-macro disconnect. God, The Creator, Evolution's Sorcerer in Chief, The Animating Principles of All Things, is not just a built back better human. Bigger, stronger, smarter, faster than the previous edition.
In other words.
The idea that a bunch of humans can micro-manage the planet is just a dumb idea. If my observations are unconvincing, I suggest a conversation with cockroaches.
It's appropriate to talk about climate change in this context. Let's avoid the pointless debate about whether the flooding in B.C. is caused by climate change. That's irrelevant. Even if this single flood were not caused by climate change, we can expect more. You should have stopped here.
Adopt carbon taxes to demonstrate global leadership? When was the last time Canada had enough political wherewithal or international respect to be thought a leader in anything? And how convenient to think of it as someone else’s problem. Instead of throwing our hands up and saying that addressing the climate crisis falls to countries more powerful than Canada, how about tackling it head-on (carbon taxes are a start) simply because keeping our own house in order is the right thing to do? Naïve, I know, and nostalgic for a Canada that, again, is long gone, if it ever really existed in the first place. In any case, it’s not as if our hands are clean on this score – Canada’s per capita CO2 emissions are higher than any country/region the writer lists. We have tremendous reserves of untapped carbon in the ground, which gives us outsized leverage in determining which direction the response to the crisis is going to go. Canada figures more in the causes and solutions to the climate crisis than we have the courage or the moral compass to admit.
Good article Jen ... except for this incongruous sentence -
"However, the residents of British Columbia sure didn't get the same kind of notice of imminent danger that their American counterparts surely did."
???
Nailed it! Well said Jen Gerson.