The best way to address climate disruption is…burn more fossil fuels? It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what industry, media and governments want us to believe. To profit as much as possible from fossil fuels before markets fall under the weight of climate chaos and better alternatives, industry and its allies tell us fracked gas […]
Fracking
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SCIENCE MATTERS: True leaders work for us, not the fossil fuel industry
Some politicians believe protecting a sunset industry’s interests is more important than looking out for the citizens who elected them. In Australia, the coal industry holds sway over government policy. In Canada, bitumen and fracked gas rule. In the US, it’s all of the above. Fortunately, many people, especially youth, are heeding the rational voices […]
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How Nova Scotia can move forward from 300 years of coal and fossil fuel extraction
“No more coal, no more oil, keep the carbon in the soil” chanted Halifax high school students and their supporters outside Province House last Friday. They joined millions of other students around the world striking from school on Fridays protesting inaction on climate change, following the lead of Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and fuelled by […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: As fracking booms, report finds we know little about impacts
Earthquakes, methane emissions, scarred landscapes, water depletion and contamination are just a few known effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. There’s also a lot we don’t know—but that hasn’t stopped governments and industry from throwing caution to the wind and fracking as if there’s no tomorrow. Fracking wells in Saskatchewan multiplied a hundredfold in 10 […]
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Know comment
The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board has an extensive public relations department, yet it seemed determined to avoid relating with “How your paycheque supports fracking in Colorado.” The PR team did not respond to multiple phone messages, email requests for an interview or a list of emailed questions sent over the course of more than […]
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How your paycheque supports fracking in Colorado
I t’s a familiar story. A rich country develops oil fields in a heavily indebted nation with lax environmental rules. Local residents object, saying oil and gas extraction degrades their air, water, quality of life. Protests mount as the foreign energy company steamrolls the permitting process. The rich country tries to influence local elections in […]
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Here’s to a new Nova Scotian economy
I have spent several weeks on a rollercoaster of feelings when it comes to fracking. First came relief, as the Nova Scotia review of hydraulic fracturing, led by David Wheeler, acknowledged the complete lack of social license for development of Nova Scotia’s unconventional onshore resources. The panel’s final report enshrined community consent as the only […]
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Province breaks up with fracking
It’s not you, fracking. It’s us. The province just isn’t ready for that kind of commitment right now, says Energy Minister Andrew Younger, who today announced Nova Scotia will introduce legislation in the fall to prohibit hydraulic fracturing. “Nova Scotians have overwhelmingly expressed concern about allowing high volume hydraulic fracturing to be a part of […]
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Giving credit where it’s due
[Image-1] On Thursday, something truly miraculous happened. Something that happens once in a blue moon, in a dog’s age, in a right smart spell—the environmental movement won something. And it was good. The Wheeler panel on fracking turned over its recommendations to Energy Minister Andrew Younger, and they were a lot better than most people […]
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Hundreds of fracking protesters take to Halifax streets
Yesterday, some 40 anti-fracking protesters, mostly from the Elsipogtog First Nation, were arrested in New Brunswick. The protesters had been blocking a highway in order to prevent seismic testing in preparation for shale gas extraction through fracking. Their supporters say the RCMP’s enforcement of an injunction against the blockade was heavy-handed, while the RCMP claim […]
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Fracking comes to Lake Ainslie
Residents around Lake Ainslie in Cape Breton are concerned they’ll be the next to deal with fracking fallout. “Fracking” is hydraulic fracturing, a process used to drill for natural gas; it has been associated with fouled reservoirs and other environmental problems, and the province of Nova Scotia is now figuring how to regulate the industry. […]