Articles by John McGrath

Peak oil and politics

Last week the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran part one of a two-part series on how Cuba survived without oil after the fall of the Soviet Union. (Not technically true -- there was oil, just far too little of it.) The next part runs this Sunday and has to do with the redefinition of Cuban medicine in the post-oil world. It's all very fascinating, and it's produced by one of our national treasures, David Suzuki.

“What if I just start snorting baking powder instead?”

Speaking of sequestration: The journal Science points out today that even if we can sequester carbon dioxide, it may have bad side effects -- like, say, poisoning our drinking water. Brilliant.

So the engineering problems for CO2 sequestration are immense, it won't work with existing plants, and even if it works some time in the indefinite future, it might still kill us all. So of course, this is a serious option being discussed by many in Canadian politics and punditry.

Your evening sunshine

This has me smiling: a California family that grows three tons of organic food a year -- on 1/10 of an acre.

I'm sharing this because a) what can I say, I think it's nifty, and b) it points out the problem with apocalyptic thinking.

Humans currently use various resources in horribly inefficient and destructive ways. But that's because of the specific way we prioritize inputs such as labor, capital, energy, etc. Change the priorities, you change the inputs.

In this case, the priority is expressed by the owner of the suburban farm:

Fossil fuel morality II

I absolutely agree with David, and I'd just like to point to this article from a few days ago: The Bishop of London (Church of England) has said that needlessly contributing to global warming is a sin. This is the case whether you fly somewhere for a vacation, or simply fail to winterize your home.

Making selfish choices such as flying on holiday or buying a large car are a symptom of sin. Sin is not just a restricted list of moral mistakes. It is living a life turned in on itself where people ignore the consequences of their actions.