Author Archives: David Brett
Vancouver: Olympic Winners or Whiners?
As the games draw closer, I worry that my beloved hometown of Vancouver may blow its Olympic chance to impress the world. The scenery is world class, the venues are impressive, and the organization is impeccable. The problem? The sour … Continue reading
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Tagged New Westminster, Olympics, torch relay, Vancouver 2010, Winter Olympics
12 Comments
A Different Kind of Car Company Crisis
Remember car maker Saturn’s slogan? A Different Kind of Car Company. The sad Saturn story is key to understanding the real but often overlooked problem with the North American auto sector. It’s not just about cash. It’s about the culture. … Continue reading
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Tagged corporate culture, general motors, gm, innovation, knowledge sharing, labor, labour, management, organizational behavior, saturn, unions
15 Comments
Crisis, No Crisis; the Case for Nuclear
As a result of pure chance, I ended up on CBC national television during Canada’s hotly debated Fall 2008 federal election. Producers of a program called the “X-Challenge” were looking for 100 “necessary polluters” to make up a studio audience … Continue reading
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Tagged canadian politics, economics, environment, global warming, mining, nuclear, power, uranium
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Crisis, No Crisis; the Case for Nuclear
As a result of pure chance, I ended up on CBC national television during Canada’s hotly debated Fall 2008 federal election. Producers of a program called the “X-Challenge” were looking for 100 “necessary polluters” to make up a studio audience … Continue reading
Posted in Posts
Tagged canada, canadian federal election, carbon footprint, cbc, energy, environment, global warming, greenhouse gases, mining, nuclear, politics, power, uranium
1 Comment
Stock Market Bottoms & Intuition
The stock market bottom that is. Have we seen it? Can intuition and emotion help predict stock prices or is market timing a purely rational exercise? Do feelings count? On November 20th, 2008, we took my father out for a … Continue reading
Food for Thought
The current food crisis gripping the planet put me in mind of former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers infamous World Bank memo on pollution that cost him his job. In the memo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers_Memo), Summers appears quite bluntly to advocate for … Continue reading
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Tagged economics, food, food crisis, global warming, maslow, pollution, poor, rich, summers, the environment
1 Comment
Environtology: Sacred Earth, Profane People
These days it is not uncommon for environmentalism to be described as a kind of religion. Even without analysing such a statement, it rings true to many people. Why? Some might assume that because the environmental arena is fraught with … Continue reading
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Tagged church and state, economics, environmentalism, global warming, mercea eliade, Michael Chrichton, politics, profane, Religion, sacred
1 Comment
Corpophobia
It astonishes me how seemingly rational people buy into ridiculous conspiracy theories. A popular fantasy that people sucker into regularly these days is the myth of the evil corporation run amok. Bloodthirsty with greed, shadowy corporate operatives conspire to topple … Continue reading
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Tagged conspiracy theories, corporations, crime, economy, evil, politics, prejudice
3 Comments
Panic Locally, Warm Globally
I was having a few beers with some friends the other day and the conversation got around to global warming. “Complete bull-#$%!,” exclaimed one friend. “It’s all left-wing politics.” “He’s right!” said the other. Who in their right mind would … Continue reading
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