Cambridge Strategies joined forces this week with CAUSE, Enmax, Mountain Equipment Co-op, ConocoPhillips, Calgary Centre for Global Community, Take Action Grants, the Calgary Foundation, the UofC Students' Union, the City of Calgary, Alberta Acts of Climate Change and the Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery to sponsor the Hunter Lovins lectures.
Hunter spoke on "Lean and Green: Sustainable Energy Solutions for Alberta." She spoke about options for our current electrical challenges. She made the business case for climate change protection, She outlined a way for Alberta to lead the way to energy solutions. All of these themes are near and dear to my heart and my business partner Satya Das and are outlined in his book "Green Oil: Clean Energy for the 21st Century?"
She and her husband co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute and co-authored a book called Natural Capitalism with Paul Hawken. That is one of the most dog-eared books on my shelf and was a epiphany producing read for me a few years ago.
The Calgary Herald sure captured the essence of Lovins message in this editorial "Go Green and Get Rich!".
There is a great deal of soul searching for business and Albertans around our oil sands development as a source of prosperity, pride, innovation and most of all environmental stewardship. These are integrated aspects of responsible and sustainable oil sands development not mutually exclusive issues to be managed politically or with public relations.
I went into the Lovins lecture with an aspiration the my Alberta to be not merely destined to be the best place in the world but rather to aspire to be the best place for the world.
I came out of the Lovins lecture with more resolve than ever around the implications and potential that Alberta Aspiration to become reality. Progressive thinking Albertans have to get over their compliant complacency and return to full citizenship and activist participation in the political culture of this province to make that happen.
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
Showing posts with label Green Oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Oil. Show all posts
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Some Facets of My Focus These Days
Lots happening in my cyberworld.http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2010/05/alberta-needs-viable-political.html
As the publisher of Satya Das' "Green Oil" I was delighted to see Stephen Murgatroyd write a blog post on the subject "Making Green Oil Happen."
Marshall Boyd did a blog post following up on my post on the Democratic Renewal Project suggesting limiting choice for voters may split votes but limited voices and points of view at elections is no way to bolster participation in democracy.
Just got off the phone with David Peat the Quantum Physicist who was a contemporary of David Bohm working on reconciling quantum theory with relativity. He now runs the Pari Centre for New Learning in Tuscany Italy and spends his thoughtspace on things from Carl Jung to Synchronicity to Art and Artist and his encounters with Blackfoot culture in Alberta. He is speaking at public dialogues in Edmonton and Calgary and symposium I am working on at the end of the month on the theme "Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta" I expect he will expand on the themes in his book on "Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World."
Then I have been in fascinating Reboot Alberta based conversations with Dr. Haley Simons on the possibilities of a Creative Alberta and the 2010 World Creativity Forum in Oklahoman City this fall and the thought of making Alberta the next and 13th "District of Creativity."
I have a rich and full life and now I have to get back to work.
As the publisher of Satya Das' "Green Oil" I was delighted to see Stephen Murgatroyd write a blog post on the subject "Making Green Oil Happen."
Marshall Boyd did a blog post following up on my post on the Democratic Renewal Project suggesting limiting choice for voters may split votes but limited voices and points of view at elections is no way to bolster participation in democracy.
Just got off the phone with David Peat the Quantum Physicist who was a contemporary of David Bohm working on reconciling quantum theory with relativity. He now runs the Pari Centre for New Learning in Tuscany Italy and spends his thoughtspace on things from Carl Jung to Synchronicity to Art and Artist and his encounters with Blackfoot culture in Alberta. He is speaking at public dialogues in Edmonton and Calgary and symposium I am working on at the end of the month on the theme "Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta" I expect he will expand on the themes in his book on "Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World."
Then I have been in fascinating Reboot Alberta based conversations with Dr. Haley Simons on the possibilities of a Creative Alberta and the 2010 World Creativity Forum in Oklahoman City this fall and the thought of making Alberta the next and 13th "District of Creativity."
I have a rich and full life and now I have to get back to work.
Monday, February 15, 2010
How Dare Jean Charest Suck and Blow on Alberta's Oilsands
Prime Minister of Quebec Jean Charest is high quality politician and an staunch Federalist. He is someone I admire and have met a few times. He is a leader that I value very much in his Quebec role in Canadian politics. What I can't fathom is his duplicitous political posturing over the oilsands.
He has a responsibility in Quebec and every right to "go it alone" on emissions control standards for Quebec. Environment is a shared Fed-Prov constitutional responsibility. Minister Prentice has to learn to adapt and realize he can't dictate provincial policy from Ottawa.
But Mr. Charest must learn to adapt and not dictate to others as well. He has no right to dictate to Alberta as to what we should be doing in the relationship of our energy based economy. His uninformed interference on how we meet our ecological responsibilities or what impacts we will allow on our societal well-being from rapid and poorly planned growth in the past is our business, not his. Albertans are well aware of the blessinsg and the burdens of the oilsands. We Albertans are very engaged in dealing with the consequences as well as the opportunitity and stewardship responsibility of our oil sands.
There is lots of history that shows Quebec is hardly an environmental poster boy. It has a history of allowing destructive forestry practices to go on for far too long. It has shown a breathtaking lack of concern for sewage treatment and condoned dumping raw sewage into the St Lawrence for decades. But I digress and risk engaging in the same rhetoric I bemoan from Mr. Charest.
What burns me about Mr. Charest is the anti-Alberta rhetoric coupled with the recent advertising campaign and political push by the Quebec government to subsidize local business to come on a trade mission to exploit the business opportunities of our oil sands. This Quebec government program encourages Quebec business to take come to Alberta in late March and learn how to advantage of the opportunities that the oil sands offers. Isn't that running the risk that Quebec will be seen as adding to the "problem" and not become part of the solution as they too move in to exploit the so-called dirty oil in Alberta?
As a Canadian and as an Albertan, I welcome Quebec businesses to our province to find oil sands business opportunity. I enthusiastically encourage Quebec businesses to come to Alberta and seek out oil sands based opportunities. I applaud that these are opportunities enabled by Alberta that they can take home and use to benefit my fellow Canadians living in Quebec.
I also ask those same Quebec business people to push their own provincial politicians to eliminate the isolationist and protectionist policies in Quebec. That province adheres to that protectionist stance to the point that it often makes interprovincial trade with Quebec harder than international trade with other nations. I live in a province that encourages and creates interprovincial trade opporunities. The best recent example is the TILMA trade agreement with B.C. Look it up and learn from this example of regional co-operation. With these trade linkages between Alberta and B.C. we have created an market with the population of Quebec and a GDP about 50% larger than Quebec.
What burns me is the concurrent finger pointing, myopic political rhetoric and self-serving sanctimony inherent in the posturing of the Quebec Prime Minister over the Alberta oilsands. These are not core character elements in the Jean Charest personality that I know. Still he has consistently spouted inaccurate public statements decrying an alleged disproportionate amount global damage he deems to be caused by Alberta's oilsands. And he does this at the same time he is subsidizing Quebec business to jump on the economic gravytrain of the oilsands. That is hard to reconcile logically and morally - never mind politically. It is not the sutff of nation building that I have come to depend on over the years from Mr. Charest.
Oilsands are a dirty business but it is not nearly as bad as its opponents pretend it to be. Its environmenal future is destined to be significantly better as we move forward from open pit to about 80% SAGD extraction. With new cleaner technologies, reduced GHG emissions and lower water use we are making significant progress as the demand for oil sands sourced energy grows. SAGD, like conventional oil and gas extraction, will still destroy and fragment significant amounts of wildlife habitat. That habitat destruction can be alleviated and mitigaged with an accelerated reclamation approach coupled with a conservation and biodiversity offsets policy to ensure equivalent habitat protection in other parts of the province. (Full disclosure - I am working on establishing a policy on conservation and biodiversity offsets in Alberta).
On a well-to-wheels, full-cost accounting of equivalent conventional oil sources, including lives lost, defense spending and the funding of global instability caused by the US sourcing of Middle East oil, the Alberta oilsands come out as an economic, ecolgical, social and political bargain...all things considered. That full-cost accounting approach does not reduce the ecological stewardship responsibility of Albertans one iota. It does show why the oil sands are a preferred, reliable, safe and stable energy source and put the oil sands issues in a more comprehensive and proper perspective.
As an Albertan I welcome the Quebec businesses to Alberta and encourage them to learn how they can gain economically from the oilsands development. I also hope that they spend some time learning what Alberta industry and government is doing to reduce the ecological impacts and mitigate the other damages inherent in this development.
I encourage them to ensure whatever oil sands business opportunites they undertake that they do so with a serious commitment to sustainable ecological and responsible economic principles. I hope the Quebec business people will come and bring some new and practical ideas to help Albertans serve the ecological stewardship efforts around reducing the impact of oilsands deveopment. That is a responsibility they might also bear. It presents another way for them to benefit as they come to cash in on the oilsands business opportunities.
We Albertans are far from perfect stewards of our oil sands development. We are aware of our stewardship duty and we are on the right track towards meeting it. We have to pick up our game and the pace of our environmental play for sure. That said, we are far from the irresponsible philistines that many would like label us when it comes to our oilsands development.
I hope the Quebec business people spend some time while in Alberta to learn more about the reality and not just the rhetoric around oilsands development. I hope they take the business opportunities and their new found and informed reality of the oilsands back to Quebec. I hope they have the opportunity to debrief their politicians. I hope they can help to temper and teach Mr. Charest a thing or two about the reality of the oilsands. Constructive criticism is always welcomed by Albertans. Destructive self-serving rhetoric is not.
Might I also suggest a business opportunity of my own around oil sands development? To those from Quebec and elsewhere, who are planning to find some new business in Alberta. I encourage them, to read the book "Green Oil" before they come. It was written by my business partner Satya Das. It serves well as an owners manual for Albertans on how to better develop the oilsands but also as an instruction manual for others to help them undersantd what this oil sands resource is all about.
BTW, you can go online at Green Oil and download it. That way you can save some trees and reduce your own carbon footprint in the process. There is an interesting online conversation happening on the Green Oil book site too. I encourage you to join in and share your thoughts and ideas on the oil sands too.
He has a responsibility in Quebec and every right to "go it alone" on emissions control standards for Quebec. Environment is a shared Fed-Prov constitutional responsibility. Minister Prentice has to learn to adapt and realize he can't dictate provincial policy from Ottawa.
But Mr. Charest must learn to adapt and not dictate to others as well. He has no right to dictate to Alberta as to what we should be doing in the relationship of our energy based economy. His uninformed interference on how we meet our ecological responsibilities or what impacts we will allow on our societal well-being from rapid and poorly planned growth in the past is our business, not his. Albertans are well aware of the blessinsg and the burdens of the oilsands. We Albertans are very engaged in dealing with the consequences as well as the opportunitity and stewardship responsibility of our oil sands.
There is lots of history that shows Quebec is hardly an environmental poster boy. It has a history of allowing destructive forestry practices to go on for far too long. It has shown a breathtaking lack of concern for sewage treatment and condoned dumping raw sewage into the St Lawrence for decades. But I digress and risk engaging in the same rhetoric I bemoan from Mr. Charest.
What burns me about Mr. Charest is the anti-Alberta rhetoric coupled with the recent advertising campaign and political push by the Quebec government to subsidize local business to come on a trade mission to exploit the business opportunities of our oil sands. This Quebec government program encourages Quebec business to take come to Alberta in late March and learn how to advantage of the opportunities that the oil sands offers. Isn't that running the risk that Quebec will be seen as adding to the "problem" and not become part of the solution as they too move in to exploit the so-called dirty oil in Alberta?
As a Canadian and as an Albertan, I welcome Quebec businesses to our province to find oil sands business opportunity. I enthusiastically encourage Quebec businesses to come to Alberta and seek out oil sands based opportunities. I applaud that these are opportunities enabled by Alberta that they can take home and use to benefit my fellow Canadians living in Quebec.
I also ask those same Quebec business people to push their own provincial politicians to eliminate the isolationist and protectionist policies in Quebec. That province adheres to that protectionist stance to the point that it often makes interprovincial trade with Quebec harder than international trade with other nations. I live in a province that encourages and creates interprovincial trade opporunities. The best recent example is the TILMA trade agreement with B.C. Look it up and learn from this example of regional co-operation. With these trade linkages between Alberta and B.C. we have created an market with the population of Quebec and a GDP about 50% larger than Quebec.
What burns me is the concurrent finger pointing, myopic political rhetoric and self-serving sanctimony inherent in the posturing of the Quebec Prime Minister over the Alberta oilsands. These are not core character elements in the Jean Charest personality that I know. Still he has consistently spouted inaccurate public statements decrying an alleged disproportionate amount global damage he deems to be caused by Alberta's oilsands. And he does this at the same time he is subsidizing Quebec business to jump on the economic gravytrain of the oilsands. That is hard to reconcile logically and morally - never mind politically. It is not the sutff of nation building that I have come to depend on over the years from Mr. Charest.
Oilsands are a dirty business but it is not nearly as bad as its opponents pretend it to be. Its environmenal future is destined to be significantly better as we move forward from open pit to about 80% SAGD extraction. With new cleaner technologies, reduced GHG emissions and lower water use we are making significant progress as the demand for oil sands sourced energy grows. SAGD, like conventional oil and gas extraction, will still destroy and fragment significant amounts of wildlife habitat. That habitat destruction can be alleviated and mitigaged with an accelerated reclamation approach coupled with a conservation and biodiversity offsets policy to ensure equivalent habitat protection in other parts of the province. (Full disclosure - I am working on establishing a policy on conservation and biodiversity offsets in Alberta).
On a well-to-wheels, full-cost accounting of equivalent conventional oil sources, including lives lost, defense spending and the funding of global instability caused by the US sourcing of Middle East oil, the Alberta oilsands come out as an economic, ecolgical, social and political bargain...all things considered. That full-cost accounting approach does not reduce the ecological stewardship responsibility of Albertans one iota. It does show why the oil sands are a preferred, reliable, safe and stable energy source and put the oil sands issues in a more comprehensive and proper perspective.
As an Albertan I welcome the Quebec businesses to Alberta and encourage them to learn how they can gain economically from the oilsands development. I also hope that they spend some time learning what Alberta industry and government is doing to reduce the ecological impacts and mitigate the other damages inherent in this development.
I encourage them to ensure whatever oil sands business opportunites they undertake that they do so with a serious commitment to sustainable ecological and responsible economic principles. I hope the Quebec business people will come and bring some new and practical ideas to help Albertans serve the ecological stewardship efforts around reducing the impact of oilsands deveopment. That is a responsibility they might also bear. It presents another way for them to benefit as they come to cash in on the oilsands business opportunities.
We Albertans are far from perfect stewards of our oil sands development. We are aware of our stewardship duty and we are on the right track towards meeting it. We have to pick up our game and the pace of our environmental play for sure. That said, we are far from the irresponsible philistines that many would like label us when it comes to our oilsands development.
I hope the Quebec business people spend some time while in Alberta to learn more about the reality and not just the rhetoric around oilsands development. I hope they take the business opportunities and their new found and informed reality of the oilsands back to Quebec. I hope they have the opportunity to debrief their politicians. I hope they can help to temper and teach Mr. Charest a thing or two about the reality of the oilsands. Constructive criticism is always welcomed by Albertans. Destructive self-serving rhetoric is not.
Might I also suggest a business opportunity of my own around oil sands development? To those from Quebec and elsewhere, who are planning to find some new business in Alberta. I encourage them, to read the book "Green Oil" before they come. It was written by my business partner Satya Das. It serves well as an owners manual for Albertans on how to better develop the oilsands but also as an instruction manual for others to help them undersantd what this oil sands resource is all about.
BTW, you can go online at Green Oil and download it. That way you can save some trees and reduce your own carbon footprint in the process. There is an interesting online conversation happening on the Green Oil book site too. I encourage you to join in and share your thoughts and ideas on the oil sands too.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Greener Oil Sands, Greener Planet and Alberta's Role.
The op-ed in today’s Globe and Mail “Greener Oil Sands, Greener Planet” by my business partner Satya Das is a perfect example of how to integrate the guiding principles I set for myself in 2010. Those were, citizenship, ownership and stewardship, especially in an Alberta context.
We clearly need to get serious about a low-carbon future and it is Alberta with the best opportunity and duty to lead the way in Canada and the world for that matter. We have a $15 trillion concentration of hydrocarbon based wealth in the oil sands. That wealth is a key to an effective transition to alternative energy and cleaner greener hydrocarbons too.
Alberta is also the best place for ethical investors to place their energy, and innovation investments, especially when compared to the uncertainty and corruption of other large energy providers in regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq.
Albertans have to exercise their citizenship right and responsibilities and as owners of the oil sands to ensure they are developed sustainably and responsibly. We also have to ensure we get the best value from the resource for the benefit of current and future generations of Albertans and yes – Canadians too.
Stewardship is about the environment and preserving biodiversity. But it is also part of policy and programs to encourage Albertans to personally adapt and adopt new and greener practices in our personal and community lives. That includes investment in capturing the wealth of the oil sands. One way is to have a Natural Resources Severance Tax that would fund the transition and new technologies necessary for a carbon neutral future for oil sands development.
Here is the link to Satya’s Globe and Mail op-ed piece. Here is a link to his book Green Oil too.
Finally if you are also an Albertan interested and concerned about you citizenship, your resource ownership and stewardship you may want ot join in the movement known as Reboot Alberta. That where you will find like-minded people who are gathering together and starting to get actively engaged in these and other aspects of our democracy in Alberta.
We clearly need to get serious about a low-carbon future and it is Alberta with the best opportunity and duty to lead the way in Canada and the world for that matter. We have a $15 trillion concentration of hydrocarbon based wealth in the oil sands. That wealth is a key to an effective transition to alternative energy and cleaner greener hydrocarbons too.
Alberta is also the best place for ethical investors to place their energy, and innovation investments, especially when compared to the uncertainty and corruption of other large energy providers in regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq.
Albertans have to exercise their citizenship right and responsibilities and as owners of the oil sands to ensure they are developed sustainably and responsibly. We also have to ensure we get the best value from the resource for the benefit of current and future generations of Albertans and yes – Canadians too.
Stewardship is about the environment and preserving biodiversity. But it is also part of policy and programs to encourage Albertans to personally adapt and adopt new and greener practices in our personal and community lives. That includes investment in capturing the wealth of the oil sands. One way is to have a Natural Resources Severance Tax that would fund the transition and new technologies necessary for a carbon neutral future for oil sands development.
Here is the link to Satya’s Globe and Mail op-ed piece. Here is a link to his book Green Oil too.
Finally if you are also an Albertan interested and concerned about you citizenship, your resource ownership and stewardship you may want ot join in the movement known as Reboot Alberta. That where you will find like-minded people who are gathering together and starting to get actively engaged in these and other aspects of our democracy in Alberta.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Alberta Oil Magazine Article on "Green Oil"
Here is a link to an article by Patrycja Romanowska in this months edition of Alberta Oil magazine on the book Green Oil by Satya Das. Most every regular reader of this blog knows Satya is my business partner and the book is a project of our company Cambridge Strategies Inc. but full disclosure is a constant duty.
You can read more about the concept behind the book at http://www.greenoilbook.com/ and join in the growing conversation amongst Albertans who are coming to the realization that we need to start acting like owners of the oilsands. That means taking responsibility for the stewardship duty around how the oil sands are exploited. We also have to ensure we get a good return on these non-renewable resource for now and to also protect the birthright and benefits of this massive resource for future generations.
Our government is nowhere near being even adequate on either of these two fundamental issues for protecting and adding value for Albertans as owners of the resource. Citizens of Alberta are coming to the conclusion that have to re-engage in the politics of the times if they are to ensure this happens. That does not mean coming back to politics as usual either. There is ample evidence that the status quo is not working at so many levels.
There is a response happening to politics as ususal. It is in the form of a new and emerging movement to reestablish the rights and responsibilities of citizenship amongst progressive Albertans. It is called Reboot Alberta. Check it out here and here
Join in if you are inclined. If you need to know more, visit these sites and follow the folks and bloggers who are engaged in this progressive political movement.
You can read more about the concept behind the book at http://www.greenoilbook.com/ and join in the growing conversation amongst Albertans who are coming to the realization that we need to start acting like owners of the oilsands. That means taking responsibility for the stewardship duty around how the oil sands are exploited. We also have to ensure we get a good return on these non-renewable resource for now and to also protect the birthright and benefits of this massive resource for future generations.
Our government is nowhere near being even adequate on either of these two fundamental issues for protecting and adding value for Albertans as owners of the resource. Citizens of Alberta are coming to the conclusion that have to re-engage in the politics of the times if they are to ensure this happens. That does not mean coming back to politics as usual either. There is ample evidence that the status quo is not working at so many levels.
There is a response happening to politics as ususal. It is in the form of a new and emerging movement to reestablish the rights and responsibilities of citizenship amongst progressive Albertans. It is called Reboot Alberta. Check it out here and here
Join in if you are inclined. If you need to know more, visit these sites and follow the folks and bloggers who are engaged in this progressive political movement.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Green Oil Author Satya Das Drops the Gauntlet
Here is a link to an interview Satya Das did with the Toronto Star that ran last Saturday in their business section. It is a strong statement that says Albertans need to start acting like owners of their resources and demanding better public policies from their government and more accountability and revenues from the energy industry.
That means the citizens of the province need to take back some political control and make demands of the political class to better represent the public interest and not just the interests of the resource industry - the tenants! The Premier promised to make some changes coming out of the 77% party support at the PC AGM last week end. Here is another area that needs some serious policy changes by the Premier - especially in royalty revenues and reclamation responsibilities.
The royalty rates for energy resources are ridiculously low compared to all other energy jurisdictions. Alberta is using non-renewable resource revenues as substitute for a responsible rate of taxation that would fund a pay-as-you go approach to the public interest. What we do now is mortgage the future of our children with social and environmental problems and precious little long term value added benefits from the oilsands in particular.
The Lougheed legacy of saving a significant portion of the resource revenues in the Heritage Trust Fund has been dishonoured for too long. It is time to take the money from royalties off the policy and political table. We should make a stretch goal to save 80% of those revenues in the Heritage Fund as our legacy to future generations. Then we need to tax ourselves at the level needed to pay for the necessary operational needs of the province that we decide are in the public interest. This is instead of the current model of constantly subsidizing the energy industry and beggaring everybody else.
The long term benefits of the Alberta energy resources are being squandered by poor planning, lax royalty collection and revenue policies that favour short term industrial growth and ignoring longer term potential benefits and turning a blind eye to the ecological and social costs of unrestrained growth.
Time to wake up Alberta. Time to dust off your citizenship and start paying attention to what is going on. Time to take on the responsibility of citizenship again. Time to get informed and involved in the politics of this province in a positive way. Indifference is a luxury Albertans can't afford any more. The world is run by those who show up.
Learn more about Satya's ideas for the future of Alberta in his book Green Oil
That means the citizens of the province need to take back some political control and make demands of the political class to better represent the public interest and not just the interests of the resource industry - the tenants! The Premier promised to make some changes coming out of the 77% party support at the PC AGM last week end. Here is another area that needs some serious policy changes by the Premier - especially in royalty revenues and reclamation responsibilities.
The royalty rates for energy resources are ridiculously low compared to all other energy jurisdictions. Alberta is using non-renewable resource revenues as substitute for a responsible rate of taxation that would fund a pay-as-you go approach to the public interest. What we do now is mortgage the future of our children with social and environmental problems and precious little long term value added benefits from the oilsands in particular.
The Lougheed legacy of saving a significant portion of the resource revenues in the Heritage Trust Fund has been dishonoured for too long. It is time to take the money from royalties off the policy and political table. We should make a stretch goal to save 80% of those revenues in the Heritage Fund as our legacy to future generations. Then we need to tax ourselves at the level needed to pay for the necessary operational needs of the province that we decide are in the public interest. This is instead of the current model of constantly subsidizing the energy industry and beggaring everybody else.
The long term benefits of the Alberta energy resources are being squandered by poor planning, lax royalty collection and revenue policies that favour short term industrial growth and ignoring longer term potential benefits and turning a blind eye to the ecological and social costs of unrestrained growth.
Time to wake up Alberta. Time to dust off your citizenship and start paying attention to what is going on. Time to take on the responsibility of citizenship again. Time to get informed and involved in the politics of this province in a positive way. Indifference is a luxury Albertans can't afford any more. The world is run by those who show up.
Learn more about Satya's ideas for the future of Alberta in his book Green Oil
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Toronto Star Covers Sayta Das' Green Oil
TORONTO STAR Business Section gives GREEN OIL, the new book by SATYA DAS, some great coverage.
GREEN OIL on the EDMONTON JOURNAL Best Seller List fourth week in a row. Thanks for the support Edmonton. On Line sales at http://www.greenoilbook.com/ are growing too.
Had the chance to introduce speakers and participate in the World Wildlife Fund "Ice and Oil" presentations by Andrew Nikiforuk and Ed Struzik in Edmonton and Calgary last week too. Lots of people showed up and there were lots of questions.
GREEN OIL on the EDMONTON JOURNAL Best Seller List fourth week in a row. Thanks for the support Edmonton. On Line sales at http://www.greenoilbook.com/ are growing too.
Had the chance to introduce speakers and participate in the World Wildlife Fund "Ice and Oil" presentations by Andrew Nikiforuk and Ed Struzik in Edmonton and Calgary last week too. Lots of people showed up and there were lots of questions.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Climate Leadership and Economic Prosperity has to be an Alberta Destiny
All Albertans and Canadians need to read the Pembina Institute and David Suzuki Foundation report "Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity" released today. Congratulations to the authors and thank you Toronto-Dominion Bank for funding the report.
There needs to be an open citizens debate about climate change. It looks like Copenhagen is going to be a failure because the Amereicans are not ready and our Canadian government is too disengaged in getting the issues in a serious way.
So if the world fails to come to grips with climate change in Copenhagen, then Harper's hosting of the G20 in Huntsville Ontario in July 2010. That will be the nest best chance to get something serious solutions happening on the climate change agenda. Is Harper up to the task? Does he want to deal with the issue? Will he even be Prime Minister in July 2010?
Here is book review on Green Oil, a book that frames the opportunity for Alberta to show climate leadership and economic prosperity. These issues are just some of the policy and political questions that need to be discussed by Albertans. One venue for that conversation is at http://www.greenoilbook.com/.
Hope you visit and share your views on the next Alberta.
There needs to be an open citizens debate about climate change. It looks like Copenhagen is going to be a failure because the Amereicans are not ready and our Canadian government is too disengaged in getting the issues in a serious way.
So if the world fails to come to grips with climate change in Copenhagen, then Harper's hosting of the G20 in Huntsville Ontario in July 2010. That will be the nest best chance to get something serious solutions happening on the climate change agenda. Is Harper up to the task? Does he want to deal with the issue? Will he even be Prime Minister in July 2010?
Here is book review on Green Oil, a book that frames the opportunity for Alberta to show climate leadership and economic prosperity. These issues are just some of the policy and political questions that need to be discussed by Albertans. One venue for that conversation is at http://www.greenoilbook.com/.
Hope you visit and share your views on the next Alberta.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Ambassador Doer Is Doing the Right Thing
Gary Doer, the new Canadian Ambassador to the United States, recently came out with a very helpful comment about the importance of the Alberta oilsands. He also noted that we all need to do a better job in how we develop them, especially environmentally. Albertans, as owners of this non-renewable strategically important resource, have to be very engaged in its development.
Satya Das has written a blog post on the http://www.greenoilbook.com/ website where he explores the Ambassador's comments.
Satya is speaking at the Woodrow Wilson Centre Cross-Border Energy Forum in Washington DC next week. He will be speaking about the themes in his new book Green Oil. He will also be meeting with Ambassador Doer to explore the implications and opportunities available for more responsible and sustainable oilsands development.
Do you have any questions or comments you would like Satya to pass on at these meetings? Put them in the comments on this blog or the Green Oil blog! Looking forward to your responses.
Satya Das has written a blog post on the http://www.greenoilbook.com/ website where he explores the Ambassador's comments.
Satya is speaking at the Woodrow Wilson Centre Cross-Border Energy Forum in Washington DC next week. He will be speaking about the themes in his new book Green Oil. He will also be meeting with Ambassador Doer to explore the implications and opportunities available for more responsible and sustainable oilsands development.
Do you have any questions or comments you would like Satya to pass on at these meetings? Put them in the comments on this blog or the Green Oil blog! Looking forward to your responses.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Green Oil Book is Launched - AG Says Albertans Getting Screwed on Royalty Collection
The launch of Satya Das' Green Oil on Thursday was terrific. The books signing at Audrey's Books last night drew a good crowd. Interesting mix of people, politicians and journalists, not that the latter are not people too. We sold a bunch of books too. Go figure!
Last night we had Raj Sherman from the Alberta PC party, Edmonton Strathcona NDP MP Linda Duncan and Edmonton Centre Liberal Candidate Mary McDonald drop in for a glass of wine and a chat. Doug Roche, a true Canadian statesman, was in attendance too.
Traffic on the Green Oil website www.greenoilbook.com is starting and will grow over the coming weeks as we see Albertans start to take control of the oilsands agenda and express their concerns on the site.
I think the message in the book it resonating. Albertans need to get informed and engaged as owners in the oilsands to ensure it is developed on a responsible and sustainable basis and with a long term view. The conversation amongst Albertans has to start and get serious. The consequences of continuing to get the oilsands wrong are devastating as to many levels.
For one way we are getting it wrong according to the Auditor General is Albertans are out hundreds of millions of dollars in uncollected and unaccounted for royalty payments. The recent Royalty Review said the same thing but the government gave more industry even concessions instead of beefing up collection and accounting capacity on royalties. We are getting screwed according to the AG. Too bad he is leaving.
Put that sense of political and industry entitlement of big bonuses and "gold plated" gifts to departing government agency officials in health as we cut social services and hospital beds, Albertans better get more insistent on better governance of our assets and provincial natural resources too.
Last night we had Raj Sherman from the Alberta PC party, Edmonton Strathcona NDP MP Linda Duncan and Edmonton Centre Liberal Candidate Mary McDonald drop in for a glass of wine and a chat. Doug Roche, a true Canadian statesman, was in attendance too.
Traffic on the Green Oil website www.greenoilbook.com is starting and will grow over the coming weeks as we see Albertans start to take control of the oilsands agenda and express their concerns on the site.
I think the message in the book it resonating. Albertans need to get informed and engaged as owners in the oilsands to ensure it is developed on a responsible and sustainable basis and with a long term view. The conversation amongst Albertans has to start and get serious. The consequences of continuing to get the oilsands wrong are devastating as to many levels.
For one way we are getting it wrong according to the Auditor General is Albertans are out hundreds of millions of dollars in uncollected and unaccounted for royalty payments. The recent Royalty Review said the same thing but the government gave more industry even concessions instead of beefing up collection and accounting capacity on royalties. We are getting screwed according to the AG. Too bad he is leaving.
Put that sense of political and industry entitlement of big bonuses and "gold plated" gifts to departing government agency officials in health as we cut social services and hospital beds, Albertans better get more insistent on better governance of our assets and provincial natural resources too.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Green Oil Interview on CBC Radio "Wildrose" is About Citizen Engagement
The CBC interview with Satya Das on the Wildrose program was really good yesterday. Here is a link to the interview. http://www.cbc.ca/wildrose Click on the September 30 program and Satya is the first interview.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Why "Green Oil" the Book!
Every now and then you get an idea that just won't go away. That is what happened to Satya Das, my business partner in Cambridge Strategies Inc. The idea for a book by an Albertan about the world's addiction to fossil fuels, how to get off the addiction when in the face of climate change kept rolling around in his mind.
So he wrote a book based on this thoughts and explorations around this conflict of values and he called it "Green Oil: Clean Energy for the 21st Century?" The goal of the book is to change the Question Mark to an Exclamation Mark..
The changing dynamics of the big engineering model that is used to overcome the limits of nature versus the natural capital model of working within natural resources and limits and as stewards for future generations is the overarching question behind the book.
We at Cambridge Strategies are proud of this project and Satya explains it so much better in this link to the book's website. It is an eBook so you can buy online at http://www.greenoilbook.com/ starting October 1, 2009.
You can also buy it in paperback at independent bookstores. In the spirit of green, the print copies are Rainforest Alliance Certified and Forest Stewardship Council Certified.
We are encouraging feedback on the book and the issues it raises at http://www.greenoilbook.com/ as well. So go there and join the conversation.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Oil Sands Interview on BNN with Satya Das on Green Oil
Satya Das, my business partner was on BNN today talking about oil sands and responsible development. He is writing a book called Green Oil about responsible and sustainable oil sands and what it will take.
Here is the BNN interview link.
Here is the BNN interview link.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)