Author Archives: David Brett
Knexa. The World’s First Knowledge Auction.
20 years ago today, I launched Knexa.com: The World’s First Knowledge Auction. In the midst of the 1999 dotcom euphoria, I came to believe that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Internet. So I started a company with a … Continue reading
Heritage Policy is Good Policy
Paper submitted to City Council June 12th, 2017 by Queens Park resident David Brett in support of the Queens Park Heritage Conservation Area in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. Quote from the Financial Times, London: “So the message to politicians who see … Continue reading
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Tagged British Columbia, canada, economics, Government Policy, Heritage, Heritage Conservation, New West, New Westminster, Planning, politics, real estate, Royal City, Vancouver
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WOW New Westminster Public Art is Visionary
This is a letter I sent to New Westminster officials on Sunday, May 4th, 2014. Dear Mayor and Council, With this letter, I would like to voice my support for the New Westminster public art arranged by the Vancouver Biennale … Continue reading
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Tagged liveability, New West, New Westminster, Royal City, traffic, transportation, Trucks
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We Were the World
It was 1985. Big hair, big ties and big budgets. Boomers were trading flower power for buying power, VW busses for BMWs, scruffy jeans for three piece suits. Then Africa happened. This is a story of changing times and shifting … Continue reading
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Tagged Africa, Cascadia, climate change, energy poverty, environmentalism, michael jackson, Poverty, Religion, Vancouver, we are the world
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Banning coal simplistic, unreasonable and unwise
Opinion: Mineral is part of the fabric of our human existence By David Brett, Special to The Vancouver Sun September 4, 2013 http://www.vancouversun.com/business/2035/Banning+coal+simplistic+unreasonable+unwise/8870473/story.html#ixzz2f4RHfEyP Poor coal. Its the mineral not even a mother could love. Its the orphaned rock, dirty to … Continue reading
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Tagged air polution, china, coal, economics, export, gateway pacific terminal, global warming, Poverty, surrey fraser docks, trains
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Kerouac. On the Road. Book Review
“I Woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn’t know who I was…I wasn’t scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, … Continue reading
The None Percent; Occupy Thyself
No one can deny that the Occupy Wall Street movement was a profound expression of dissatisfaction with capitalism world-wide. A year on, the legacy of that upheaval is less clear. A common summation of the massive protests is that the … Continue reading
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Tagged Income inequality, Lance Armstrong, Occupy Wall Street, Philip Cook, Robert Frank, the 1%, the 99%, Wall Street, Winner-Take-All Markets
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Great Jobs!
A friend recently emailed me and asked me what my thoughts were regarding the passing of Steve Jobs, asking particularly if he really was a world-changing visionary or not. The high praise for Jobs has been almost universal, but less … Continue reading
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Tagged Apple, competition, digital goods, founders, Steve Jobs, strategy, technology, vision, visionaries
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Book Review: Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist by Dr. Patrick Moore
Green Pioneer Takes On the Environmental Establishment Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore helped change the world, and now he wants to change it again through his highly enjoyable new book. Moore writes convincingly that the environmental movement has lost its … Continue reading
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Tagged environment, environmental, environmentalism, global warming, Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, sustainability, sustainable, Vancouver
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Avatarred and Feathered: Mining Gets Titanic Smear Job
I have malaria, said one of the haggard figures that emerged from the dense tropical jungle. I need medicine. It was 1996. We gave him what we had. Our tiny plane had just landed on an impossibly small runway littered … Continue reading
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Tagged amazon, Avatar, brazil, environmentalism, exploration, gold, james cameron, jungle, mining
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