Enjoyed writing about carbon offsets in Canada as part of @UBC's Solutions Scholars Program. Our conclusions: Carbon offsets probably don't offset carbon. Do we just throw the whole thing out?
Climate scientist, writer, speaker, dragger of sand into the house. Works at UBC, co-chair of Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body.
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Enjoyed writing about carbon offsets in Canada as part of @UBC's Solutions Scholars Program. Our conclusions: Carbon offsets probably don't offset carbon. Do we just throw the whole thing out?
Thoughts on what is, and what is not working, on climate change communication in the final (!) blog post from @stewartjc.bsky.social. As with any good writing about climate communication, there's ample mention of the late Stephen Schneider: doctorclimatechange.com/f/the-future...
This discussion went in a direction I didn't expect!
Question for scholars and experts on countries that descended into authoritarianism or fascism: In the countries you study, how long did it take for the majority of citizens to recognize the path the country was on? (I'm not subtweeting the US, I'm curious about other experiences)
Yes, though that's more indirect because climate change is globally driven. Canada's emissions are only one driver of climate change, and local emissions don't directly cause the local impacts.
What's the state of climate policy in Canada? What happens if we miss the 2030 emissions target? I talked about these and other questions with CTV's Your Morning... from an undisclosed location with lighting issues... www.youtube.com/watch?v=edsa...
I recommend this episode of CBC's The House dedicated to whether Canada can meet its climate goals (and not b/c I'm the first guest!). It'll be interesting even to non-Canadians, to hear how Canada is struggling over climate policy amid outside pressures. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/s...
What makes this rejection of science even more sad and pathetic is that the folks involved can't even come up with a new bullshit arguments, they are using old ones recycled from the 1980s and 1990s. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/c...
Carbon offsets aren't working -- what can we do instead? Great article following on research done by a team here at UBC, as part of our Solutions Scholars program (more here: climatesolutions.ubc.ca). medium.com/@lucybinfiel...
Incisive short article from @climateinstitute.bsky.social on what should be an easy climate "win" -- cutting methane emissions from oil and gas, an action for which the technology is ready to go. 440megatonnes.ca/insight/fina...
That's why doom-ism irks many experts. The message of climate science is not “1.5°C or bust.” It is that “every action counts.” To put it simply, the IPCC reports find that he more that the world can do to reduce emissions, the less the planet will warm, and the less that people will suffer. (2/2)
The Paris temperature limits, and also the planetary boundary thresholds, are often incorrectly seen as fundamental features of planet, when they are really policy judgments, geopolitically and socio-culturally mediated verdicts on the levels of change that the world may consider dangerous. (1/2)
Been part of many debates about the ideal plural for Prius.
Valuable comparison of different sea surface temperature datasets, with implications for computing global temperature trends and extremes, climate model experiments and marine climate impacts research www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"Climate solutions will continue gaining momentum and change the world. It might not unfold as quickly as we want, or in the exact way that feels most logical, but is inevitable - @globalecoguy.bsky.social www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
What are we doing? File this under the any attention = good attention theory of politics. The letter strikes me as 100% performative, written to generate a public response and news cycle, rather than to be taken seriously as a policy matter. www.cbc.ca/news/world/c...
Flow of the Guadalupe River outside Kerrville, Texas. What gets me is thinking about what all those people experienced, the shock and panic as the river quickly rose. We can be mad about the lack of warning systems, about a million other decisions that weren't made. We can also just be sad.
UBC is recruiting a new Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Ecological Modelling. This is a great opportunity for a mid-career scientist studying our changing oceans - CERCs are the best funded research chairs in the Canadian research system. research.ubc.ca/media/file/c...
Myles Allen with a straight forward message: To stop climate change, companies must stop selling stuff that cause global warming. @gsiexeter.bsky.social
I spend quite a bit of my time around energy policy wonks and am regularly reminded that even people whose job it is to track the energy industries often don’t fully get how quick the solar+storage biz is moving
Full budget: www.noaa.gov/sites/defaul... Summary: www.axios.com/2025/07/01/n... Snapshots below
... this isn't that. This is ideology (climate = bad) leading people to act in a coarse manner against their own self-interest, as it risks wasting the capital investment in building the programs, giving away leadership in science, and undermining American's ability to prepare for extreme events...
The proposed NOAA budget cuts all climate research, closing labs, offices and measurement systems. Other countries (🇨🇦) are jealous of NOAA's depth, breadth, quality and history of atmospheric and ocean research. If you want to streamline that work, cut budgets, there may be a rational discussion...
This comes to mind because I've seen the dynamic is SO many professional settings (faculty meetings, etc.), in which folks might have voted differently had their vote been private, for better or for worse. Again, a better solution may be to prioritize professional integrity and courage in hiring!
The US Senate vote for that destructive bill seems like a game theory problem. Secret ballots might have led to a very different outcome... though arguably bad precedent in a democracy, and may not work given media pressure. Alternative is to just elect people with a least a sliver of courage.
Recently discovered the Electrotech Revolution blog from the smart folks @ember-energy.org and it's absolutely nailing some loose ideas I've been circling around for years. This piece, "Rewiring the energy debate," has me nodding along throughout electrotechrevolution.substack.com/p/rewiring-t...
Voice recognition on? I've had that happen, not realized that the mic was still on, and had Microsoft insert background song lyrics into the paper I'm editing...
Er.. the proposed $400 million parking garage on Toronto's waterfront is necessary and expensive because every spot will have an EV charger to meet future demand... right? www.thestar.com/politics/pro...
The figure is from the IPCC Sixth Assessment's Synthesis Report: www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/s...
Climate action is not just about future generations. The choices we make today will help determine the climate impacts that people alive today, people in our lives, will experience over the rest of the century (and beyond).
Figure is from IPCC Working Group 1's Summary for Policymakers: www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/w...
We talk a lot about the level of climate warming, have we passed a given threshold, and less about the rate. The rate is the core problem: we are changing climate faster than society or the environment can adapt. If it took 10,000 years to warm by 2 C, this would be a different conversation.
New analysis: How solar panels and batteries can now run ‘close to 24/365’ in some cities www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-h...
This is one of the sharpest and darkly funniest things I've ever read. theonion.com/letter-to-co...
There's value in both for sure. In this case, the department doing the hiring has many of the people you describe, but is shorter on natural scientists.
Ha, thanks. More of a pipe dream and in-joke right now... folks around me are probably tired of me saying I wish I could find the time to write more.
Uh... so I shouldn't start a Substack?
These are the questions to be asking right now in Canada, especially given that the industry is pushing for the public to heavily subsidize the carbon capture project. What's the realistic capture rate, and what will be done about the residual emissions?
That's the question and among the reasons I have been so vocal about not using the term "decarbonized oil".
Natural gas combustion does emit CO2. But the fugitive methane emissions issue is different. It is about leakage of methane, and the warming effect of the methane molecules themselves (which have a larger radiation effect than CO2, but don't survive in the atmosphere for nearly as long).
This would only be for CO2. There are other ways to steeply cut methane emissions, that's arguably easier to address if they will just spend the money
Like most things in life, it depends on the circumstances. In this case, it could work, but capture rate is questionable, it's not clear who will pay for it, and there's a greater question around the sustainability of the oil industry itself.
If Canada is going to fast track anything it should be electricity transmission and clean generation. It will be our ace in the hole in terms of competitiveness until the Americans realize on their solar, which looks like it may take awhile.
Good summary of the policy and financial hurdles to building the main carbon capture project for Canada's oil sands. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/9858ffb...
In addition to slowing the fight against climate change, repealing the clan energy policies and incentives will set the US back in innovation and the market for low carbon technology. Similar issue here in Canada: smart climate policy is smart economic policy. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/c...
Hourly water temperature
Interesting article on climate disinformation - it’s more systemic than we generally conceive of it being www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Every time someone argues to cancel an existing or announced climate policy, ask them this question: What will you do instead? Canada is already off pace in meeting targets to reduce emissions and build a competitive low-carbon economy. Keep removing bricks, at some point the building collapses.
Ooh, I can't reveal the maps to our hidden treasures....
Yes! What causes the resilience of equatorial Kiribati reefs in the face of repeated El Nino driven marine heat waves is the core question of our local research program journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Awesome new faculty job -- the University of British Columbia is looking for a senior ecosystem scientist to fill a new research chair position. geog.ubc.ca/job-opportun...
There may be nothing more thrilling than finding a data logger buried in the ocean for two years. We rely on hand-drawn underwater maps b/c we can't leave obvious markings. This is i-Kiribati colleague Aranteiti Tekiau revealing our hidden treasure, recovered on a dive in Abaiang Atoll last month.
Clean and quiet off the southeast coast of Tarawa Atoll... they were just playing and saying hello.
Little reminder during a tough news week that the planet is still awesome... here are some dolphins jumping along side our boat during field surveys in Kiribati last month.
The initial objective was to use available experimental data to test for hormesis (low doses of heat stress are beneficial, but high dose are harmful). It proved hard to evaluate, because lab "heatwaves" were too hot and too short, more akin to heat shock than real heatwaves. (2/2)
Predicting the effects of climate change on ecosystems starts in the lab. But are we emulating real-world conditions well? In this new study, we found that heat stress experiments on corals rarely match the conditions of real-world marine heatwaves. (1/2) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
There is no "new normal" on a warming planet. As long as we keep adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, what's "normal" will keep warming, and we'll keep struggling to adjust.
Environment and Climate Change Canada released its summer forecast today, predicting warmer than normal conditions across most of the country. Notably, "normal" is considered 1991-2020, which for Canada is ~1-2 C warmer than the pre-industrial climate.
Climate.gov, a major US government website supporting public education on climate science, will likely shut down after almost all of its staff were fired. What would be worse is if the website were co-opted to publish climate denial content.
We need to plan for the future, not the past. I talked to @theenergymix.com about the risks of a "grand bargain" of pipelines for carbon capture, and the problem with some of the energy conversation in Canada. www.theenergymix.com/grand-bargai...
3. Develop a net-zero energy vision: With demand for oil, gas and coal set to peak in the next decade, we need an energy vision for Canada that includes achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 to shape our actions, policies and investments. We laid out a template: www.nzab2050.ca/publications...
2. Send the right policy signals: The government needs to finalize announced policies and strengthen existing policies to provide certainty to investors and industry. It is crucial, for example, to increase performance standards and transparency in the industrial pricing system.
1. Industrial policy: Work with key stakeholders to identify technology-specific goals and align policies + spending to achieve those goals. Fast-tracking big projects has merits, but we must also invest to build new homegrown industries that suit a net-zero world. www.nzab2050.ca/publications...
Canada has the chance to build a modern energy system without compromising on climate policy. In a new article, the members of the Net-Zero Advisory Body, charged with advising the federal government on long-term climate policy, identify three key areas of action🧵 www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/0...
Among the many flaws in the proposed grand bargain of a gov't pipeline approval in exchange for industry going ahead with its carbon capture project (who pays, how effective is capture, oil demand peaking, etc. )... is that the industry was supposed to go ahead with the capture project anyway.
Out best foot? I did that on purpose of course.
In all seriousness: I criticize the language in order to be helpful. This is a tough time for Canada. We need to put out best foot forward. I'm concerned that the government will embarrass itself by using words bound to irritate our allies and mislead people. www.theenergymix.com/hoping-for-d...
This is my experience of government - things move frustratingly slowly because of regulatory processes, and that's a real problem, but the people are conscientious, work hard, and have a sense of accountability.
Alright, who put their money on June 5th?
In my experience, the discussion about future heavy oil and LNG demand is radically different outside of Canada, and that should give Canadians pause and concern. IEA projections get dismissed too often by people in positions of power and influence here, at our own peril.
Exactly. The real test of seriousness here would be a condition that the pipeline can't operate until the CCS project is operational and achieving a set mean capture rate. But I can't see the parties involved being comfortable with that, politically or financially, as it could take 10+ years.
Here’s the issue. There was once an implicit deal AB would get TMX for accepting O&G GHG constraints. Once TMX was in the ground AB destroyed confidence in provincial renewables investment & tore up the deal accepting Fed govt O&G GHG constraints. How can 🇨🇦 trust AB with another pipeline for X deal?
That's not to say I support such a compromise, and certainly not the Orwellian "decarbonized oil" language, rather that if this is the direction, opening the renewables market should be a condition.
If a compromise is being made, wherein a new oil pipeline from Alberta will be approved under certain conditions, namely that the Pathways carbon capture project is built... this should be one of the conditions. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/9858ffb...
💯
I agree. I think it would be much smarter for the government to just say that, rather than use these made up terminology that is easily mocked.
Three issues with the term "decarbonized" oil: i) It is silly. Oil contains carbon and emits CO2 when combusted. ii) Doesn't even make sense for production emissions, because carbon capture and storage doesn't capture all emissions (can be <50%) iii) Our trading partners know (i) and (ii)
Oh, you know, I'm just out there making friends www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
A hurricane season like no other www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/o...
This election is about climate change, whether you're aware of it or not -- an updated assessment of the Canadian party positions on climate change, from @profkharrison.bsky.social and I www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
This election is about climate change, whether voters are aware or not, write @profkharrison.bsky.social & @simondonner.bsky.social www.nationalobserver.com/2025/04/21/o...
That's mostly about space; only including the three parties isn't intended as a slight to other parties. As we explained in the piece, we focused on the parties able to form government, or to have sufficient seats to support a minority government.
We put together a table (below) summarizing Canadian party positions on key climate and energy issues. Our full comparative assessment of the party platforms is available here: www.nationalobserver.com/2025/04/21/o...
Climate may not be getting much attention but #elxn2025 will have huge implications for Canadian climate policy. @simondonner.bsky.social and I compare climate-related commitments of the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP. 🧵 w bonus summary table! #cdnpoli www.nationalobserver.com/2025/04/21/o...
While by no means proof of alien life discovering dimethyl sulfide in the atmosphere of another planet is a big deal. I wish we lived in a time and place that this was the biggest headline, and most important news. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/s...
Hard to believe it is coming to this. A US travel warning to all university researchers in Canada... the vast majority of whom have ongoing collaborations with people in the US, have field work in the US, and/or attend meetings in the US to share their work. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
🚨 The Canadian Association of University Teachers has just advised against any non-essential travel to the United States.🚨 Was doing this anyway, but still shocking to see it officially in writing. www.caut.ca/latest/2025/...
At UBC on Wednesday? Join us from 1-3 pm for the 2nd annual Solutions Summit. It's a chance to learn - and chat -about new, ongoing climate solutions projects in the areas of AI, carbon offsets, reducing emissions from agriculture, and improving heatwave forecasts. Register here: lnkd.in/gAmYzrbc
As baseball gets set to celebrate the trailblazer’s legacy, it’s also placating a president who wants to dismantle everything Jackie Robinson stood for... theringer.com/2025/04/15/m...
Forward thinking decision, as sharing electricity across provinces and territories is key to helping Canada cut emissions and increase reliability. globalnews.ca/news/1113052...
Rural communities want the benefits of EVs, so they're making their own charging networks. www.cbc.ca/news/science...
It won't solve ALL of our trade and productivity challenges... but there is a market for a large Canadian matzoh manufacturer.
AI may well provide ways to cut climate pollution in certain sectors. But no one can state confidently today that it'll decrease emissions more than the data center boom is driving them up. So lofty promises shouldn't earn the industry a pass on that (too often dirty) energy consumption.
The Trump Administration's approach to climate change: youtu.be/5_Ap9IxnrZc?...
The Trump admin is cancelling a series of important climate research programs wasn't shortsighted enough... and the rationale is essentially that it's safer to put your hands over your ears and yell "I can't hear you". www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...
Our funding model, in which students are dependent upon PIs to bring in their salaries, is broken and was called out in a 2018 Academies report on sexual harassment in academia. This is a big move in wrong direction.
This makes zero sense.
Yet more evidence that a) the tariff list was prepared with the help of LLMs, and b) LLMs still aren't that's smart.
Among the inanities of today's US tariff decisions: 10% tariffs on the Marshall Islands and on "Micronesia" (Federated States of, I presume). These countries have Compacts of Free Association with the US, meaning economic support, access to US programs, freedom of movement, and no duty on imports.
Calling for the west to secede from Canada if your party loses an election, at the same time that US President Trump announces worldwide tariffs that experts are calling batshit crazy... is a choice.
