Andrew Nikiforuk

An honest and imperfect response to the climate crisis would require a political, behavioural, economic and moral transition that would systematically reduce our energy and material consumption at an unprecedented pace. But that’s not an action any modern politician seems to be able to contemplate, let alone discuss.

In an unprecedented move Rob Morgan, the CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator, has bowed to intense bullying from an Australian-based coal company and cancelled a planned public hearing on a large underground project near the town of Grande Cache.

The colossal energy demands of artificial intelligence have earth-shaking implications for everyone. Already rising steeply, they are set to accelerate at a dizzying pace as various global powers race to be the first to achieve supreme intelligence over everything.

Mountain top removal coal mines in the historic Crowsnest Pass present a clear and present danger to downstream fish populations even decades after their closure, according to a new scientific paper funded by the government of Alberta.

The much-vaunted “energy transition” that promised a great leap forward from fossil fuels to renewables along with a cornucopia of technologies is now struggling with history and complexity. A few facts tell the story.

As John Gray has written, utopian visions, whether fascism, communism, globalism or the Singularity, invariably promise “dreams of collective deliverance.” But in waking life, they “are found to be nightmares.”