"You can't be saying these deals are still compatible with net-zero by 2050. They're not. The deal is not compatible with it. Just be honest with Canadians about this." said @simondonner.bsky.social @ubcgeography.bsky.social @ires.ubc.ca www.cbc.ca/news/politic... via @cbcnews.ca

I am testifying before the House of Commons' Environment and Sustainable Development committee on Tues June 9 at 3:30 pm EDT about why I resigned from Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body. You can watch live, if that's your jam... www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...

The business case for LNG just keeps getting weaker... www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/03/o...

New modelling supports what many have been saying about the Canada-Alberta deal. It is bad emissions math. This may lock Canada into a industrial C pricing system that is far too weak to make up for concessions around a new pipeline, carbon capture, etc. 440megatonnes.ca/insight/cana...

Interesting debate about the limits of pressuring investors on climate change action, which is essentially an argument for strengthening climate policy. www.climatechangenews.com/2026/06/03/i...

This is a devastating loss. Dr Raúl Pacheco-Vega, a UBC alumnus and former UBC faculty member, was a warm and engaging human being who put great effort into supporting students and other early career researchers develop their scholarship. Such an authentic person. He will be greatly missed.

How the Words "Be Average" Saved Me open.substack.com/pub/mypublis...

Hope for meaningful emissions cuts from industrial pricing now rest heavily on negotiations around tightening the emissions benchmarks and the delivery of "contracts for difference", which encourage companies to act by locking in the future carbon price (regardless of future policy changes). (1/2)

... and there it is. The Canadian gov't has officially cut the rate of increase in the industrial carbon price by 75%, matching the deal with Alberta. Sadly predictable. You let one province weaken a federal policy, and it reverberates nationally. www.canada.ca/en/environme...

... we will look back in 10 years and think, ‘What the hell were we doing?’ grist.org/business/onc...

One of the biggest challenges in climate action is imagining what a better future could actually look like: especially when solutions are so often framed as sacrifices that require loss, instead of opportunities to benefit from. This week's good news and what-to-do takes those on directly!

Thanks to Destination Vancouver for featuring Urban Future Walks! www.destinationvancouver.com/inspirations...

So sadly predictable. The Pathways project is 99% about marketing and leverage. This is laying the groundwork for the alliance refusing to build the project unless the government covers most or all of the cost.

Canada's new language of "low emissions oil" is as bad as the old "decarbonized oil". First, many people don't know this refers only to emissions from production (~20% of total emissions). Second, those emission are NOT low internationally, and will not become low with the weak policies in place.

This grand bargain of an oil pipeline in exchange for climate policy may be good political math, but is bad actual math. This compromise will increase emissions and have Canada double-down on fossil fuels at a time that the world is moving towards clean energy. (1/3) www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

How "Write Every Day" Made My Life Miserable. And the Realistic Advice I Wish I’d Heard When I Was Just Starting Out open.substack.com/pub/mypublis...

Summers are getting longer each year, and it isn’t all fun and games. More from @climate-ted.bsky.social on his latest research. theconversation.com/summers-are-...

Looks like there is a deal on Canada's industrial carbon pricing system that would push the goal of a $130 price floor back a decade to 2040, which effectively decreases the planned rate of increase by around two-thirds. The how of all this will matter... (1/3) www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

The conclusions are bang on. Academic writing and reviewing seems to be getting worse, and AI is not really helping anyone get their work out. pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10....

In this dataset, AI use is highest for abstracts. That also gels with my anecdotal observation as an editor. It is *such* a mistake too! The abstract is often the most read + hence most important of the paper. It's SO important to use real thought and care in the abstract.

Ooof... this paper on AI use in academic writing, based on submissions to the journal Organization Science. Sadly agrees with my anecdotal observations as an editor. AI-tinged submissions have increased, and readability and quality have decreased. pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10....

In its economic update, the Canadian govt expanded its Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage investment tax credit to include "enhanced oil recovery": pumping carbon dioxide in the ground to increase oil extraction. This is deeply cynical for two reasons... (1/3)

The brand new "Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets" is a mouthful... but the effort emerging out of COP30 might get countries working together on carbon pricing, and help avoid the spread of cheap, illegitimate carbon credits. climate.ec.europa.eu/news-other-r...

Want to learn about how cities are preparing for the future? If you're in Vancouver this summer, sign up for Urban Future Walks! It involves a free guided tour of downtown Vancouver, and a chance to contribute to university research. Register at urbanfuturewalks.com. Tours start May 16th!

Appreciate this dose of sanity from @brianphillips.lol www.theringer.com/2026/05/06/t...

Visiting Vancouver this summer? Sign up for Urban Future Walks, our new FREE public experience exploring how cities are evolving in response to a changing world. Participants take part in a guided walking tour or a virtual tour. Register at urbanfuturewalks.com. Tours begin May 16th.

To borrow from my mother's lifelong attitude about Mother's Day: every day should be Earth Day.

Here are the trends in summer length for the mid-latitudes globally, as well as for 10 cities with consistent long-term local observational records. Sydney, Minneapolis and Toronto had the steepest trends. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

One of the locations that jumped out in @climate-ted.bsky.social's analysis of changing summers was Syndey, Australia, where local weather data shows that the length of summer weather season has almost doubled over the past sixty years. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The 'tell' that the old "let's spend money on alleviating poverty not climate change" argument is BS? The people who make that argument oppose international aid and money spent alleviating poverty. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/b...

I'll be giving the keynote at the Sunshine Coast Climate Faire in next Friday night. Take the ferry over to beautiful Gibsons if you want to hear about the latest on climate action, the importance of courage, and how to find your way home if lost at sea. blueact.org/sunshine-coa...

I'm flattered to be appointed to this new council informing guidelines for sustainable investments. Can setting such guidelines help cut emissions? Yes! Do I think about classifying organisms not investments when I see the word taxonomy? Also yes! www.businessfuturepathways.ca/inaugural-le...

The magnitude of these forecasts continues to surprise me. Strong El Nino events are quite uncommon, happening only once every 15 years or so, and often on the heels of a moderate event like the 2023-24 El Nino.

Do you have the sense that summers feel different than when you were younger? That they start quickly, and remain intense until the fall? You’re not wrong. (thread)

You aren't imagining things... summer is starting earlier and lasting longer. Here's @climate-ted.bsky.social describing our new research on how summer is changing around the world. youtu.be/I0SANexZUbg?...

🍁 HEY CANADIANS I will be on your gorgeous west coast next week to 1) be jealous of your political leadership 2) talk about Heated Rivalry 3) speak at UBC. Please come say hi!

Do you feel like summer is getting longer, hotter, worse? Spring and fall are shorter and faster? Science agrees. This is another example of #climatechange. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

New research led by @climate-ted.bsky.social finds that summers are getting longer and starting faster, on land, on the coasts and at sea. The paper: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... Plain language summary: news.ubc.ca/2026/04/summ...

Join us at UBC on Tuesday April 14 for the annual Climate Solutions Summit, where researchers will talk about new cutting-edge work on subjects ranging from footprint of cloud computing to bringing climate justice into teacher education. Register here: climatesolutions.ubc.ca/news-and-eve...

Next Wednesday, @drkatemarvel.bsky.social will be at UBC to talk about about her beautiful book Human Nature. Join us if you are in the Vancouver region, there are still a few tickets available. sustain.ubc.ca/events/ubc-r...

Artemis 2 astronauts see Earth in the rear-view mirror | Space photo of the day for April 3, 2026 "That's us, together, watching as our astronauts make their journey to the moon."

This is a policy decision from the 1990s. Might as well release it on a floppy disk or VHS tape. abcnews.com/Business/wir...

I had a great visit to Univ. of British Columbia a few weeks ago. Thanks to @simondonner.bsky.social for inviting me and hosting the visit. Here is a copy of my first talk, which was a public lecture so less technical than a normal seminar. youtu.be/Vz_cDMwZ1TA?...

" Once you've got your solar panel there's no cost for the sun." "With a stroke," says @kingsmillbond.bsky.social, "this war has dramatically increased the power and the influence of those who want to go down the solar route." Here's why countries are glad they invested in solar, batteries+ EVs ⬇️

This figure from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's last report puts climate change in perspective. We are changing the climate faster than any point in modern human experience, such that the planet is now warmer than at any time in the history of human civilization.

Silently hoping that @doctorow.pluralistic.net will apply the enshitification theory to WorkDay, the omnipresent finance and HR management tool that every user wants to launch into the sun.

I hear you, but don't share the existential dread. People today, especially my generation and that after me, have the opportunity to influence the future of the planet in a way that has never happened before in history. I find that inspiring... it's why I talk so much www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ_M...

At the end of an excellent NY Times column about solidarity in Minneapolis is this passage, which speaks to why I dislike calling climate change an environmental issue. It is dynamically more like a global systemic issue than it is other environmental issues. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/o...

The meandering narrowness of atmospheric rivers makes it seem personal, like the atmosphere is going out of its way to target your neighbourhood.