The SCAN! Blog

This morning, for me, it started with Finn’s cheery chirp before he hopped up on the bed purring breakfast suggestions. Cuillin, on the other side of the bed, chimed in. I whispered that it was too early. Then the numbers began. No, not the cats’ unfortunately, but...

The Canadian government should insist on absolute emission-reduction targets instead of continuing the deceptive practice of carbon offsets. Setting net-zero emissions as a target for 2050 is so vague and ambiguous as to be almost meaningless. If an absolute reduction...

April Fool’s Day was auspicious this year, falling as it did on a Saturday when downtown Toronto has little traffic.  Even construction work in the financial district seemed muted heading into the weekend.  By 10:45 am the pavement was still damp from the previous...

The Web They Weave – the arachnids - the Goliaths of economic and political power.  There are two main obstacles to reducing GHG emissions and transitioning to renewable forms of energy – but not money or technology as often thought: The existing, massive, physical...

Energy sector models show that nearly all countries can provide all their energy needs from renewable energy: especially wind, water and solar.  But it’s not so simple. Mark Jacobson is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University who has...

I’ve had an account at the Royal Bank account for some thirty-five years, much longer than I have lived in Kingston. I have, however, just removed virtually all the money from RBC as part of a “divestment” effort by fellow seniors who are appalled by the bank’s...

The Ontario Electrical Grid is operated by Hydro One. It consists of Transmission Lines, Switching Stations, Transformer Stations, and Distribution Lines. It is the power broker's bank for the Electricity Market. Some wholesale participants deposit, while others...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) headquartered in The Hague is currently empowered by the Rome Statute to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression.  A movement has been underway around the world (Stop...

The title of this recent book evokes the local and global Commons (Elinor Ostrom, “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action”). The many enclosed European Commons and the vaster and more numerous Indigenous Commons were and are being...

COP 27 failed. Countries must rapidly shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy and yet the COP accord failed to even mention it. The UN secretary general, with growing dismay, concluded that the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C is “gasping for breath”....

It is not news that there is huge public opposition to Doug Ford`s recent attacks on our environment.  But can anything be done to stop the changes that will come about by the passage of legislation like Bills 23 and 39? The short answer is yes. “Government wants us...

In early December, 2022, the Ford government broke ground for the construction of the GE-Hitachi, Small Modular Reactor (SMR) at the Darlington nuclear site. The time between shovels in the ground and the production of energy is expected to be about 6 years. But only...

Much has been written and said by experts, advocates and citizens regarding Bill 23 the More Homes Built Faster Act (2022). Thousands continue to take to the streets in protest.  Keep reading to find out what the Act does but first let’s talk about the rationale for...

The COP 15 Biodiversity Conference took place in Montreal this past December from which came an agreement on a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). In the three years prior to the conference several workshops were convened to produce a draft framework using...

Canada’s oil and gas industry is expected to make $147 billion after taxes this year. The profits have been described as “extraordinary”, “record-breaking” and “eye-popping” An even more graphic description came from a Calgary-based financial manager: "This is...

Political cynicism has reached a level in Canada where there is now little surprise when government leaders break election promises. Two such promises recently broken by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have prompted no calls for...

Conferences of the Parties, COPs, to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are an annual venue for shaming the countries responsible for producing the greenhouse (GHG) gas emissions causing man-made climate change.  Where else can the voices of Less...

Sometimes the improbable happens as when the ordinary is revealed as exceptional, or the exceptional as commonplace. So it was with live music during the dog days of the pandemic, when theatres and concert halls were shuttered. Some musicians took to the streets and...

The federal government wants to ‘future proof’ carbon pricing but still lets big emitters off the hook. At the beginning of November, the federal government delivered its fall Economic Statement. It was another failing on the climate front. In the foreword to the...

Canada and Germany look set to ink a major energy project in Newfoundland that will see that province manufacture large amounts of green hydrogen over the next decade and ship the gas over to Germany. It’s an ambitious proposal but Germany is in a bind.  It needs...