Dealing with climate change requires a global transition to zero-carbon forms of energy. If that is to be achieved, a wide variety of people need to be made aware of the seriousness of the climate change problems and the realistic solutions that exist.
The following correspondence was written with the intention of helping that process along. Letters and replies are posted here for general reference, and to assist others in formulating convincing arguments.
1) Letters to politicians
Canadian Prime Ministers:
- Stephen Harper
Canadian Ministers:
- Peter Kent (Minister of the Environment)
- Jim Prentice (Minister of the Environment)
Canadian Members of Parliament:
- James Bezan
- Bernard Bigras
- 16 July 2010 letter
- Awaiting response
- David J. McGuinty
- 16 July 2010 letter
- Awaiting response
- Paul Dewar
- 29 April 2010 letter
- 19 May 2010 response
- 7 October 2010 letter and 21 October 2010 response
- Andrew Cash
2) Letters to civil servants
Canadian civil servants:
- Wayne Wouters (Clerk of the Privy Council)
- 29 April 2010 letter
- Awaiting response
British civil servants:
- Anthony Cary (British High Commissioner to Canada)
- 15 December 2010 letter
- 31 December 2010 response
3) Letters to scientists
Nobel Laureates:
- Robert Laughlin (1998 Nobel Prize in physics)
4) Letters to journalists
Milan Ilnyckyj archives his letters to the editor about climate change on his own site.
5) Letters to decision-making bodies
Northern Gateway pipeline Joint Review Panel
Last updated: 7 March 2012
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I plan to write a response to this article, but others should as well: Dirty Coal, Clean Future
In it, James Fallows claims that: “the only way to meet the world’s energy needs, and to arrest climate change before it produces irreversible cataclysm, is to use coal—dirty, sooty, toxic coal—in more-sustainable ways.”
Given the many problems with carbon capture and storage, this claim is open to substantial criticism.
Open letter to ING Direct and PC Financial
A question for James Fallows about coal and focus
I waded into “Dirty Coal, Clean Future,” James Fallows’ new cover piece for The Atlantic, prepared to be outraged, what with coal being the enemy of the human race and all. But it turns out to be an incredibly cogent, accessible walk through some extremely vexed issues. I should have known — Fallows is one of the most reliably excellent journalists working today. Definitely read the whole thing.
There’s a lot to say about the piece, but for the purposes of this post I just want to make one broad observation about the way Fallows chooses to frame it. He makes four broad points:
1. Coal does enormous damage to people and the environment.
2. It will be impossible to meet future global energy demand without coal, which is cheap and plentiful. We can not eliminate it from the energy mix.
3. We urgently need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a radical amount.
4. Given 2 and 3, it follows that making coal cleaner must be a priority, alongside an “all-out effort on all other fronts, from conservation and efficiency to improved battery technology to wind- and solar-power systems to improved nuclear facilities”
Now, not everyone agrees with all these points. There is a group of hardcore coal critics who do not believe 2 and 4. Let’s call them Dirty F*ckin’ Hippies (DFHs). And there is another group of coal boosters who do not believe 1 and 3. Let’s call them Powers That Be (PTBs), since they constitute most of the U.S. political establishment.
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The Northern Gateway pipeline Joint Review Panel has posted my letter.