STORIES

everything is too simple. stories. they all want to have bad guys and good guys. it's not really like that. we all do some bad things and some good things. sometimes we don't know which is which. not that we are confused. we just really don't know. we don't think we are confused. but we are. we really get it wrong. our good things are bad. or our bad things are good.

i want to read stories like that. i'm sick of simple bullshit. if we have to write bullshit, at least we could make it subtle. complicated. surprising. i want to read stories where you and the characters aren't so damn sure who is right and who is wrong. and when.

WHY I DON'T LIKE THE PIPELINE

the pipeline debate in british columbia and canada fails to account for what exactly this pipeline promotes — the use of tar sands oil. proponents of the pipeline say that if we don't use tar sands oil it will just be replaced by oil from saudi arabia. i wish that were true. saudi arabian oil, while we still need some during this transition period, is much cleaner, cheaper and safer to extract, refine and ship. the worst oil in the world from a pollution perspective, in both production and shipping, is tar sands oil from alberta. unfortunately, it will actually be replaced if it can be stopped, by fracking shale oil in the US, which is nearly, though not quite, as harmful.

why does the federal government in canada insist that this is good for canada and the canadian people? by any rational yardstick this is not in canada's interest. most of the ownership is american, norwegian, chinese and other. canadian ownership is actually minor. even the pipelines are not candian owned. the only thing remotely canadian about it from the getgo has been its accidental location on the earth and its labor force. well, we need massive amounts of labor right now to help us transition to wind and solar energy. this is the biggest growth industry in the world and every dollar wasted on obsolete energy production could be redirected toward that end. that might not only save alberta, and canada, it might even save the planet we ignorant humans cling to.