I wrote this column in January of 2025. It has aged all too well. I invite a re-read today.

As a historian of Latin America, I'm pretty sure the spelling is o-i-l, not d-r-u-g-s.

Tomorrow, Sunday Dec. 14th, the Edmonton Raging Grannies are delighted to have been invited to perform - Earth's Refillery Coop, 10831 95 St, Edm. We expect to be there ~ 1 pm. The petition to end funding of private schools will be available for signing, from 12 till 3 pm. Please sign ASAP. #YEG

I was born in Alberta and I'm raising my kid here. What the province's government is doing to our environment, our democracy, our rights, our schools, and our healthcare is wrong. (Read J. Wesley's full post for great tips on speaking up and speaking out to change our province's direction) #abpoli

So much for the claim that Alberta needs oil&gas to fund social services! Some of these companies don't even pay the taxes they owe, and the government knows it. MAGA (Make Alberta Great Again) Energy: sounds like satire, but it's all too real. #abpoli thenarwhal.ca/alberta-ener...

Send a free postcard to Premier Smith and your Alberta MLA, telling them to make polluters, rather than Alberta families, pay to clean up toxic gas wells across the province. Write your message and For Our Kids will print and deliver the postcards! postcards.cleanupyourmess.ca?utm_source=F... #ableg

Alberta folks: this one is for you! Click here to send free postcards to Premier Smith and your MLA, telling them to make oil and gas polluters, rather than Alberta families, foot the bill for cleaning up toxic orphan wells across our province: postcards.cleanupyourmess.ca?utm_source=F... #abpoli

"This is about oil&gas coming on my land, taking my land away from me. I can't use it." I have endless respect for Dwight and the long battles he's waged with negligent gas companies. The Alberta government is supposed to side with farmers like Dwight, not oil billionaires. #abpoli #cleanupyourmess

"The Global South is much further ahead than rich Western nations in the energy transition, primarily because they need cheap energy and are much better positioned for it." Yet Canada clings to dangerous fossil fuels... #cdnpoli #climate www.cbc.ca/news/science...

"My animals drink the water, my mother drinks the water. So I'm not a guy flying in from L.A. on a private jet. I am a sixth generation rural Albertan, and I'm just trying to get the water clean." #abpoli #ableg #coal www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Wise words from Tzeporah Berman. "Expanding pipelines while pointing to CCS [Carbon Capture and Storage] is like telling someone with lung cancer to smoke more but use filtered cigarettes." #abpoli #cdnpoli #climate www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Canada needs to act quickly on methane...not backslide like this. #abpoli #cdnpoli #climate

I like Jared Wesley's advice for standing up and fighting government abuses. His whole thread is terrific. And if you're looking for a sign, the Alberta Beyond Coal campaign has them: albertabeyondcoal.ca/lawn-sign/

and there goes another one. @cat-abreu.bsky.social also resigning from the Net-zero advisory body, explicitly citing last week's AB-Canada MOU www.linkedin.com/posts/cather...

"If you wouldn't want to live by that, please don't expect us to." Teresa, a brave Alberta farmer, shares the devastating health impacts of a leaking well on her farm. I hope AB politicians watch her powerful video. #abpoli #ableg www.youtube.com/watch?embeds... @nagwanyyc.bsky.social

With gratitude to Heather V____, who launched this recall. #ableg #abpoli

Super exciting to see Talk Treaty To Me, by my amazing friends Crystal Fraser and Sara Komarnisky, on the HarperCollins TBR list for 2026! #booksky #cdnpoli #nonfiction

"With fossil fuel publicists touting decades of future demand, and those expectations baked into last week’s pipeline deal between Canada and Alberta, the global oil and gas industry already recognizes and is planning for its own decline, the Carbon Tracker think tank concludes in a recent review."

Oil and gas companies collectively owe hundreds of millions to Alberta citizens, municipalities and the provincial government, and making these companies pay up isn't easy. Why do they owe so much? via @drewanderson.bsky.social @thenarwhal.ca @drewanderson.bsky.social

Brilliant advice from Malinda Lo: "The reason I have managed to keep writing books and working within an often dysfunctional publishing industry is because my goal is to write books that are true to my creative voice. This goal is dependent only on myself, and it's a goal that I can achieve." #YA

If you're looking for an amazing climate organization to support, For Our Kids does terrific and important work. It's a hard moment for those of us who care deeply about climate change and the world our kids will inherit, but I get a ton of comfort and inspiration from forourkids.ca #cdnpoli #abpoli

For Our Kids Alberta signed this joint statement out of deep concern for the erosion of Indigenous Rights and environmental protections. To the oil and gas industry, we say: #CleanUpYourMess

The Beaverton has won the internet tonight. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

For Our Kids responds to the MOU. #cdnpoli #abpoli www.forourkids.ca/parents_and_...

Great news for the world and humanity; not so great news for Canadian politicians who've gone all-in on fossil fuels (hurting Canadians in the process). #cdnpoli

The Alberta/Canada pipeline MOU shows "both governments are committed to serving the interests of oil and gas companies and their wealthy executives at the expense of all Canadians, Indigenous Peoples, and the air, land, and water we all depend on." Albertans and Canadians deserve BETTER! #abpoli

Albertans like me are often led to believe that oil & gas companies employ a HUGE number of workers in our province. Nope. Only 5% of the workforce. All while the world is rapidly transitioning to renewables. Renewable energy = good, lasting jobs. #abpoli environmentaldefence.ca/report/new-f...

Imagine the hole in Alberta’s budget when the price & demand for oil is in long-term decline in 2030s as a result of the energy transition and increased demand for clean energy. Not nostalgia for the past, it’s about winning the future. Just economics, folks.

Check it out @rachelgilmore.bsky.social Methane pollution is continuously vented from O&G infrastructure and it’s supercharging global heating. And now with the MOU between Ottawa and Alberta, we can expect more of this because the #methane regs have been rolled back. 😠 #environment #pollution

Today is a truly awful day in Climate politics in Canada. This move doesn't make that better, but I have to give some respect for the integrity Minister Guilbeault is showing here. I can't imagine how anyone who cares about climate in this government can reconcile this mess.

I have so much respect and admiration for Catherine McKenna. I hope everyone reads this interview with her in the National Observer. What does she say about negotiating with oil&gas companies? "I would never trust them." #cdnpoli #climate

"We did buy a pipeline because we felt there was a need to still get Alberta's oil to market," McKenna says. "And what did we get? They did not live up to their end of the bargain under any stretch of the imagination."

Danielle Smith is dismantling public healthcare piece by piece. If she isn’t stopped, universal care will be decimated. Mark Carney must draw a line and that starts with standing up for healthcare.

I really wish Primer Minister Mark Carney would read the climate change chapters in Mark Carney's book, _Values_. 😭 #cdnpoli www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/25/a...

Very helpful article on the long history of Canada's tanker ban and, in particular, the decades-old opposition to oil tankers in BC. It's rare to read about political stances that are even older than I am, but here we are. #cdnpoli

Note the UCP's meme 👇. In this particular case, the government has broken commitments to preserve public healthcare. More worrisome, they're keeping more promises than they made in their 2023 platform. From @daveberta.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/davebert...

The version of Mark Carney who wrote _Values_ would support the Greener Homes Grant. Let's push the PM version to do the same. #cdnpoli @mark-carney.bsky.social #climate

"The world is expected to build more renewable energy projects in the next five years than has been rolled out over the last 40, according to the flagship annual report from the International Energy Agency (IEA)." Hope the UCP takes heed! #ableg #abpoli www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/24/n...

Trisha and Claire from For Our Kids Alberta and Tylene from FOKA & @scanedmonton.bsky.social sharing info about the ‘Mature Asset Strategy’ with attendees at Parkland Institute’s Fall Conference. Folks aren’t happy about the government’s plan to shift oil and gas well cleanup to taxpayers.

Budget 2025 removes the taxes on private jets & yachts, rolls back anti-greenwashing laws and scraps the underused housing tax. #CanadaStrong for the rich only, eh? 🥴 Join Common Horizon's organizing call >> actionnetwork.org/forms/member... 🎥 via @commonhorizoncommun.org IG #Cdnpoli

So impressed by kids these days. If only I could say the same about the Alberta government. . . #ableg #abpoli

The protest today was organized by the students themselves - and they are speaking powerfully about their own experiences. “How can people sleep at night, knowing they are doing this to actual children?” #ableg #abpoli

Tonight at 8! The UCP are trying to erode trust in the courts by calling judges "appointed activists", lying about rulings & by invoking the notwithstanding clause to get around legal judgement on 4 bad laws. Lawyer Will Van Engen helps us sort it all out! #abpoli #ableg

❗I'm so excited to talk with Dr. David Suzuki, Melina Laboucan-Massimo and Jordyn Burnouf - three of my movement heroes. ⚡We'll be talking about all things renewable power, and how it can bring the benefits we need at the global scale, and at the local. 📅 Dec 4th - link below! #EnergySky

Even the Churches are opposed to Bill 9. It’s a simple message. Treat everyone with basic dignity and respect, not hate or harm.

An important story here, on who should clean up oil wells. #Ableg #Abpoli #Cdnpoli

Show your support for human rights. Say NO to Bill 9.

“The decision to override Charter rights fails this test.” The Anglican, Lutheran and United Churches in Alberta have written to Danielle Smith condemning her use of the notwithstanding clause to punch down on the vulnerable Albertans. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

I ❤️ the Raging Grannies!

Albertans OVERWHELMINGLY want oil companies to clean up their own messes. Seriously: is there any other issue that 9 out of every 10 Albertans agree on? Watch the interview to find out more. #abpoli #ableg @nagwanyyc.bsky.social @naheednenshi.bsky.social youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=WX07GxtEnoo