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I wonder if John Lennon ever realized how prophetic his words would be:Nobody told me there’d be days like theseStrange days indeed.I never understood how a pandemic would destroy the world economy. Millions of people out of work. Millions w…
Read time: 7 mins
There are only two things that have made any real difference in protecting the public from the dangers of oil trains: activism that has stopped new infrastructure, and low oil prices. While activism is currently on hold during the pandemic, impacts on oil prices abound.
The latest numbers show that U.S. oil-by-rail volumes are down 11% vs. where they were a year ago, which is likely just the beginning of the decline in volumes.
The industry is actually looking to fill rail tank cars with oil and then just park them as a form of additional storage as the current oil glut, combined with the huge drop in demand due to the coronavirus, is likely to fill all available storage in the next 2-3 months.
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Italian novelist, Francesca Melandri, in The Guardian, writes you a letter to you from Italy explaining what you’re about to be facing.
Stuart Richie, in Unherd, on why you might not want to trust psychologists on matters coronavirus
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with a characteristically great deep dive on whether or not we should all be wearing masks.
Harlan Krumholz, in The New York Times, needs you to know there are many false negative #COVID19 tests and why if you have symptoms, you should assume that’s what you’ve got.
J. Kenji López-Alt, in Serious Eats, with the definitive guide to food safety and the coronavirus (a must read if you watched that long, scary, YouTube video about same)
Mary Chris Jaklevic, in HealthNewsReview, explains why you need to consider stories detailing #COVID19 scientific studies with caution.
Read time: 12 mins
Last Friday, the Iowa Utilities Board issued an order that would allow the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) to double the amount of oil that flows through the state from 550,000 barrels a day to 1.1 million barrels a day. The utilities board, which also announced it had waived a hearing on the matter, made its move over the objections of environmental organizations and other civic groups opposed to DAPL operator Energy Transfer’s expansion plans.
Iowa’s approval landed just two days after a federal judge in North Dakota found that the project must undergo a full environmental review in a March 25 order, throwing the pipeline’s legal status into question. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who issued that order, also asked attorneys involved in that dispute to submit briefs on whether DAPL should be shut down while the pipeline undergoes its environmental review.
The DAPL expansion, meanwhile, still needs approval from Illinois state regulators, and environmental groups have asked the Illinois Commerce Commission to hold off from making any decisions for the time being, citing not only Judge Boasberg’s ruling but also the turmoil in the global oil market and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on oil demand.
Faucimania is upon us!
“People are waking up, saying, ‘Wait a minute, what do you mean I need a gun?’ All of a sudden they’re realizing that this affects them.”
The COVID-19 news is so depressing, beaten only by the economic news, which is absolutely awful. So here’s something a little more lighter-hearted, on a cold Friday.
This is Toby he is now working from home… pic.twitter.com/RB6na9bUsT— Stuart Antony (@STU_ACTOR) March 31, 2020
A true friend is someone who helps you in good & bad times, no matter what. pic.twitter.com/6UW6JNEhl1— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) April 3, 2020
How the livestock keep warm in Russia. pic.twitter.com/qlh8s8JuUB— 🇷🇺Only In Russia 🇷🇺 (@CrazyinRussia) April 3, 2020
Math magic pic.twitter.com/eeAsHp6tpr— Engineering (@engineeringvids) April 2, 2020
Sandra the orangutang started washing her hands because she saw all the zookeepers doing it repeatedly during the COVID-19 crisis.Wash your hands.
Be more like Sandra.🌎❤️🧼🌎 pic.twitter.com/t8TTizDGeD— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 1, 2020
Grizzly bear casually fixing a fallen safety cone as they walk down the road pic.twitter.com/c4klDbdGOJ— Nature is Lit🔥 (@NaturelsLit) April 1, 2020
Smooth recovery pic.twitter.com/z0eZmz2AIF— Animal Life (@animalIife) March 14, 2020
I think I just got a group of goats in Llandudno arrested.Let me explain… first, I saw this from inside a dark pub (the one I live in currently). I thought I was seeing things. So I took some video: pic.twitter.com/RtxYG6htLC
— Andrew Stuart (@AndrewStuart) March 27, 2020
His weak attempt at TikTok fame is one of the few ways his audience can relate to an otherwise unrelatable man.
The province removed cannabis stores from its list of essential businesses but online sales will still be available.
The ill-conceived “Harbor” promises group respite from COVID-19 for as little as $3,000 a month and flies in the face of every known warning about the pandemic.
Read time: 9 mins
At the same time a price war is raging in the global oil markets, a regional price war is playing out in the shale fields of Texas. The Texas oil war is between the major oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron and the many independent shale oil producers.
VICE News followed three opposition supporters through the first anti-government protest of 2020 as Juan Guaido stokes a flagging movement.
Gov. Cuomo plans to sign an executive order on Friday.
All throughout the coronavirus crisis, the rich have been accidentally making the argument that they need less money as soon as possible.
“Our only path forward is to make significant and painful cuts, layoffs and furloughs to prevent The Wing from closing as a business. We are so very sorry about this.”
On his third full day on the job, he fired the heads of the gang and homicide units, and at least five other prosecutors.
Read time: 8 mins
Aviation has been one of the sectors worst hit by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. With revenues expected to drop by 44 percent this year, many airlines will go bankrupt without government aid, airline trade body the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned.
Across the world, the industry is now asking for huge sums of government money to help it get through. IATA says $200 billion is needed globally. Many consider bailouts of some kind are essential to support those working in the airline industry and avoid throwing them into economic insecurity.
Due to COVID-19, the Canadian Geographic, Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Canadian Geographic Education teams are working from our homes, spread across Ontario and Quebec.
This means a number of new coworkers have joined our organization. They’re not always helpful, but we wanted to introduce them to you anyway.
Meet the team:
Read time: 7 mins
Thousands of Americans are dying, millions have filed for unemployment, and frontline health care workers are risking their lives as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the U.S. In the midst of this crisis, the fossil fuel industry, particularly the oil and gas sector, has been actively seeking both financial relief and deregulation or dismantling of environmental protection measures.
A new briefing by U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap summarizes this fossil fuel lobbying during the time of the pandemic, pointing to specific examples of how fossil fuel interests around the world are using the cover of the coronavirus crisis to advance their agenda.
Read time: 3 mins
A federal appeals court ruled April 1 that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had no basis to withhold one key part of a computer model used by the agency to develop its less stringent greenhouse gas emission standards for new vehicles. The ruling came just one day after EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a final rule rolling back clean car standards set under the Obama administration.
Read time: 7 mins
The $2 trillion stimulus bill that the U.S. Congress rushed to pass in order to respond to millions of job losses provided a once-in-a-generation opportunity for corporate lobbying. The oil and gas industry has been no exception, but some of the proposed initiatives are dividing the industry.
Forest fires have left colourful scars on the hills near Dease Lake, B.C. (Photo: Richard Eckert/Can Geo Photo Club)
Spring floods and summer forest fires are facts of life in some parts of Canada. Normally, emergency services in high-risk areas are well prepared to deal with the natural disasters common to their landscapes.
But as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency agencies are stretched to their limits.
Michelle Parrish, whose background is teaching middle school, has switched her focus to support other teachers across her board by providing resources and guidance to bring Indigenous history and knowledge into the classroom. (Photo: Michelle Parrish)
Michelle Parrish spent a good portion of this past winter travelling around northern Ontario with Can Geo Education’s Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Giant Floor Map, going from school to school in her district to help teachers bring Indigenous history and knowledge into their classrooms.
The number of reported Canadian cases of COVID-19 by regional health authority focusing on the parts of each authority where people actually live. (Map: Chris Brackley/Can Geo)
If there’s one thing that’s true about COVID-19, it’s that the scale of direct transmission is local. Which is to say that to acquire the virus you must come in personal contact with it. The safe zone, we are told, is two metres. If you are more than two metres from the virus, you are almost assured not to get it.
Read time: 9 mins
The Trump administration today announced the final rule that rolls back Obama-era clean vehicle standards, a move that, according to the government’s own analyses, is expected to benefit the oil industry and harm consumers, public health, and the climate.
Experts also warn it will result in litigation and global market inconsistency to the detriment of automakers.
Baffin Island, where a fragment of one of Earth’s ancient continents was found. (Photo: iStock)
The Earth’s ever-changing physical geography has intrigued humanity for centuries, with scientists working to explore the history of ancient landforms and how they diverged to form the continents we know today. Now, researchers in Canada can add a new piece to this puzzle.
Across the country, schools and businesses have shut down to help control the spread of COVID-19, and Canadians are making an effort to “flatten the curve” by staying home and practicing physical distancing. The closure of schools has placed exceptional pressure on millions of families, who are now faced with the challenge of homeschooling while juggling other responsibilities.
Read time: 6 mins
By Dave Anderson, Energy and Policy Institute. Originally posted on Energy and Policy Institute.
Major electric utilities and fossil fuel producers that are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce remained silent when asked whether they supported the lobbying group’s controversial opposition to using the Defense Production Act to address a shortage of medical supplies and equipment crucial to fighting the coronavirus.
Some of those same energy companies, and their trade associations, have for years lobbied for the use of the Defense Production Act to bail out struggling coal plants.
Read time: 14 mins
By Amy Westervelt, with additional reporting from Emily Gertz, Drilled News. Originally published on Drilled News.
Recently, President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin both made clear their intentions to include some sort of bailout for the oil and gas industry as part of the federal government’s emergency economic response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read time: 6 mins
Bucking President Trump’s directive for buying oil to fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), Senate Democrats last week nixed what they say was a $3 billion bailout for oil producers from the coronavirus economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate on March 25. An earlier version of the $2 trillion relief bill favored by Senate Republicans allocated $3 billion for filling up the SPR to aid a struggling oil sector.
Timber wolves in captivity at the Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve’s Wolf Centre. The centre aims to educate the public about the animals and the role they play in their ecosystem. (Photo: Sharon Gallina/Can Geo Photo Club)
The year was in its last few bone-chilling hours when Peter Schleifenbaum got the call that a timber wolf from his 324-square-kilometre forest sanctuary near Haliburton, Ont., was on the loose. At first, he wasn’t too worried. Alarms like that happened every few months and, so far, all had been false.
The Rainbow Bridge is a Canada-U.S. border crossing in Niagara Falls. (Photo: Alyssa Malette/Can Geo Photo Club)
Most international borders adhere to some sort of logic. They follow coastlines or rivers, watersheds or natural barriers. They make sense. Not so the 49th parallel.
The border from the Lake of the Woods to the Rockies was set in October 1818, and was later extended all the way to the Pacific Coast. A Procrustean solution that causes more problems than it solves, it plays havoc with water reservoirs and mountain routes along the way, which more naturally fall north and south.
Jennifer Yang, in The Toronto Star, speaks with 3 of Toronto’s health care heroes.
Adam Rogers, in Wired, explains what convalescent plasma is and how it might help treat COVID19.
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, being Ed Yong and writing an incredible piece on how this pandemic might end.
David Enrich, Rachel Abrams and Steven Kurutz, in The New York Time, on the sewing army rising up to help.
Helen Branswell, in STAT, summarizing all the we’ve learned to date about the SARS-CoV2 virus.
Daniela J. Lamas, in The New York Times, writing as a critical care physician in Boston on the unfathomable reality she’s facing there.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, in The New Yorker, on how the coronavirus behaves inside of our bodies.
Read time: 10 mins
The Washington Post reported March 10 that the Trump administration was considering some type of financial help for the failing U.S. shale oil and gas industry, “as industry officials close to the administration clamor for help.” Those officials — billionaire shale CEO Harold Hamm was likely among them — seemed desperate for government assistance because, as DeSmog has documented, their deeply indebted businesses have lost billions of dollars during the fracking boom. Even before the recent oil price war and COVID-19 pandemic, these companies could hardly stay afloat, making cries for some type of corporate welfare likely unavoidable.
But that’s not the same message across the entire oil and gas industry.
Read time: 5 mins
Electric cars are better for the climate than gas-powered vehicles in nearly every part of the world. That’s the clear, unequivocal finding of the first study that conducted a global examination of the current and future greenhouse gas emissions of electric vehicles (EVs) and gas-powered cars. This study directly refutes myths perpetuated by climate science deniers and EV antagonists, who claim that EVs are really not all that green.
A misty Toronto skyline is seen from Tommy Thompson Park in the city’s east end. (Photo: Oli Moorman/Can Geo Photo Club)
Lake Ontario’s ecology experienced a major shift in the 19th century as logging and land management practices changed, according to new research by Eric Guiry, a postdoctoral fellow at Trent University.
Published in the Journal of Limnology and Oceanography, Guiry’s research suggests nitrogen levels in the lake increased in the 1830s after at least 800 years of stability due to widespread deforestation in its watershed.
Steven Jackson heading to Inuvik on day five of the 6633 Arctic Ultra, a gruelling 617-kilometre footrace from the Yukon to the Northwest Territories. (Photo courtesy 6633 Arctic Ultra)
On day four of the world’s toughest footrace, Steven Jackson was marching along an ice road in the Northwest Territories when he looked to the side and saw what looked like petroleum railway cars rolling alongside him, stretching far into the distance.
Above him, he could hear an unsettling buzz of drones, and far to the right, he could see a Romanian opponent being interviewed by a documentary crew. Jackson knew there was no railway beside this lonely, frozen stretch of road, but his exhausted brain had begun to conjure visions from the snowbanks.
Read time: 6 mins
Today, a federal judge tossed out federal permits for the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), built to carry over half a million barrels of Bakken crude oil a day from North Dakota, and ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the pipeline project.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg indicated that he would next consider whether to shut down the current flows of oil through DAPL while the environmental review is in process, ordering both sides to submit briefs on the question.
Read time: 5 mins
Leading experts in the medical community, including two former U.S. Surgeons General, recently filed supporting briefs backing a youth climate lawsuit against the federal government because, like the current coronavirus pandemic, the climate crisis poses “unprecedented threats to public health and safety.”
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