Robert Bea is a professor emeritus at the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management at the University of California Berkeley. He has five decades experience in engineering and management of design, construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning marine systems including offshore platforms, pipelines and floating facilities. He was also one of several experts to provide analysis at […]
environment
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Degree sparks necessary debate
Shortly after completing my PhD in the U.S., I taught in the University of Alberta’s genetics department. It’s also where I started my broadcasting career. I’m honoured that the university is giving me an honorary degree for being “the face of environmental consciousness to generations of Canadians as well as viewers in more than 40 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Curbing industry’s methane emissions gives Canada a leading edge
Canada has taken a major step in cleaning up its oil and gas sector. We’re the first country to commit to methane emission regulations for the industry, marking an important shift toward climate protection. The new regulations help uphold a major plank in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, under which Canada […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Better vehicle standards drive innovation and benefit citizens
Transportation accounts for about a quarter of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second-highest source, slightly behind the oil and gas industry. In the U.S., it’s the largest source of emissions and pollution. Despite continued improvements in personal vehicle fuel standards since 1975, Canada’s transportation emissions grew by 42 percent from 1990 to 2015, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
It is easy being green
It’s not news that our planet is in trouble, but it can be hard to know what to do about it. This Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day—meaning it’s the perfect time to stop wondering what the best thing you can do is and just decide to do SOMETHING to help our overheating home. Here […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Kinder Morgan pipeline controversy proves need to shift course
On March 31, an underwater pipeline carrying oil to a refinery in Balikpapan, Indonesia, broke, spreading crude over 20,000 hectares of Balikpapan Bay. Some of it ignited, killing five fishermen. Area residents experienced health problems including nausea, vomiting and respiratory difficulties, and marine life and mangroves were also devastated. In mid-January, an Iranian tanker carrying […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Plenty to protest as Trudeau comes to Halifax (again)
From pipelines to airstrikes, Justin Trudeau will arrive in Halifax later this week still dealing with the fallout from a week of controversial political decisions. The prime minister will join hundreds of other Party faithful attending the Liberal’s national convention, which takes place Thursday through Saturday at the newly opened and already burdensome Halifax Convention Centre. Trudeau […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council looks at options for curbing “driveway spam”
Halifax wants to install some real-life spam filters for unwanted flyer deliveries. On Thursday HRM’s Environment and Sustainability committee approved a staff recommendation to strengthen regulations on how printed commercial advertisements can be distributed to the city’s doorsteps. The motion—which still needs final approval from Regional Council—would create a new bylaw banning bagged commercial leaflets […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Science Matters: Reports emphasize urgent need to reverse biodiversity decline
Our health, well-being, food security, energy and economic progress depend on healthy, diverse nature. Clean water and air are essential to human life and health. Nutrient-rich soils are necessary to grow food. Diversity makes the ecosystems on which human life depends resilient. But, as more than 550 experts from over 100 countries recently warned, “Biodiversity—the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Audit exposes Canadian climate failures
Scientists, academics, environmentalists and communicators have urged governments to take the climate crisis seriously for decades. We’ve outlined the overwhelming evidence, generated discussion and offered myriad solutions. We’ve confronted politicians who refuse to accept that a problem exists, or that we can do anything about it if it does. That’s frustrating and disheartening, especially for […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: We’re drowning in seas of plastic
The fossil fuel era must end, or it will spell humanity’s end. The threat isn’t just from pollution and accelerating climate change. Rapid, wasteful exploitation of these valuable resources has also led to a world choked in plastic. Almost all plastics are made from fossil fuels, often by the same companies that produce oil and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS Lessons from Cape Town’s water crisis
Many of us in Canada take water for granted, despite drinking water problems in First Nations communities—the subject of a recent column. World Water Day (March 22) reminds us that as the human population continues to grow, putting greater demand on all resources, and as climate change exacerbates drought in many places, we can’t be […]
