At the end of an enlightening conversation over coffee with a friend, I found myself in a quandary, facing four refuse and recycling bins. Where was my coffee cup to go? There is an opening for trash, for refundable containers, for mixed recyclables, and for compostables. Is this cup recyclable? If so, which recycling bin does it go into? Or is it trash? Or is it compostable? If it should go into the recycling bin,...
Not too many years ago in the late 20th century, governments were really focused on energy security. They realized that cheap, abundant, and reliable energy supplies were essential to support industry, housing, transportation – and, indeed, our very lives. Resource-rich countries such as Canada and the United States restricted the amount of oil and natural gas that could be exported, ensuring that decades of reserves remained for domestic consumption. Resource-poor countries including Japan scrambled...
A recently published article by Fisman et al., “Impact of population mixing between vaccinated and unvaccinated subpopulations on infectious disease dynamics: implications for SARS-CoV-2 transmission”, has received widespread acceptance and coverage in the mainstream media despite major flaws in its methodology.
At BIG Media, we have examined the article of Fisman et al. and find its main conclusion – that risk of infection among vaccinated people is disproportionately attributed to unvaccinated people – is an exaggerated claim and does...
Barack Obama recently took aim at misinformation on social media, calling it a threat to our society. Once the lies are widespread enough, he said, “ lose trust in their leaders, mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, the possibility of truth – the game’s won.”
Obama was arguing toward the need for more regulation of social media. However, the problem of disinformation arises not just from social media. Falsehoods are all around us, being...
Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6_WGIII) entitled “Mitigation of Climate Change”. There is a Final Draft Technical Summary, a Final Draft Full Report, and a Summary for Policymakers document – all with the stated goal of assessing literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic, and social aspects of mitigation of climate change.
The Final Draft Full Report is an...
A recent CDC discussion document claimed that the, “Risk of myocarditis in individuals post-SARS-CoV-2 infection was 6-34 times higher compared to those who received mRNA vaccine.”The “6-34 times” number refers to the risk ratio (or morbidity ratio) of the disease versus the vaccine, and is of great interest, particularly with the expectation of immediate FDA vaccine submissions for children under 5 years old.At such time these vaccines are approved for young children, it would be incumbent...
Both Pfizer and Moderna have been working for some time on a protocol for their mRNA COVID vaccines for children under the age of 5 years. The expectation is that Moderna will submit data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) some time in the next few weeks.There are numerous challenges associated with producing an effective vaccine for children under 5 against COVID, including:
a) The vaccines are designed for the original COVID strain rather than...
Amid the noisy debates around hydrocarbons and the transition to alternative forms of energy, basic physical facts are often overlooked. Fundamentally, there are the differences between hydrocarbon energy density and that of the alternatives. Perhaps equally important, other attributes including cost, transportability, storability, availability, volatility, and safety differ greatly between types of energy.
Spoiler alert – when most factors are considered, hydrocarbons are by far the most attractive all-round forms of energy. It’s not even...
Every activity, natural or manmade, from breathing to driving, generates emissions of some kind. Certain emissions are worse than others, causing pollution or, in large quantities, affecting the composition of the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases (GHGs), in particular carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), generated by modern industry, transportation, and agriculture, have been rising steadily since the industrial revolution. These emissions are implicated in manmade influence on climate. Figure 1 shows the relative proportion of...
There are at least two ways to look at just about every event, each differing significantly. Whether it is the Canadian truckers’ protest against COVID mandates, the current conflict in the Ukraine, feelings around racial issues, or any other social issue, there will never be unanimity in perception and viewpoint.
Often, disagreement is conveyed in passionate and dogmatic terms, with those on the other side of the divide being viewed pejoratively. Look no further than...
