- Speaking of Benjamins, or Elizabeths, here’s a big non-surprise. Blacklock’s Reporter informs us that “A Vancouver climate news site, the National Observer, is the nation’s heaviest user of Department of Canadian Heritage grants, newly-disclosed records show. The ‘independent news site’ received more than $1.3 million in taxpayers’ aid to cover the equivalent of 23 employees’ salaries while its CEO served on a volunteer board responsible for approving grants.” And all while peddling the government line on climate. Which does not mean, be it noted, saying the government is doing all it can. It means pushing it to do even more, as it wants to do, but needs to be able to say that it’s a demand from “civil society” not some boutique obsession of the politicians.
- Speaking of cities and transitions, the Manhattan Contrarian, who has long if eccentrically insisted that before imposing some Green New Deal on entire nations or planets we should have a small-scale demonstration project showing that the concept is sound, brings us another such demonstration that in fact it’s not. It concerns “Co-op City” in the Bronx, the biggest apartment co-op in New York City or indeed the entire United States, with over 15,000 residential units in about three dozen big buildings plus some smaller ones. Co-ops. Yay socialism. Except um “Co-op City has now suddenly become ground zero in the clash between energy fantasy and reality that is starting to come into focus as the deadlines of the State’s and City’s 2019 climate statutes start to get closer. The New York Post reports on the reality side of the story in a large piece today with the headline ‘NY’s climate mandates may send fees in affordable Co-Op City complex soaring from $950 to $4K.’” The usual suspects are lined up to support the current disastrous deadlines in the state Climate Act. But Co-op City, which he points out is nearly two-thirds black and over a quarter Hispanic so “not exactly your vision of the snooty Park Avenue Manhattan co-op” is terrified that if forced to shut their efficient natural gas plant and buy inefficient electricity from Con Edison, its residents will be bankrupted. And here proponents said it would save the environment and help the poor.
- Speaking of more meetings, an email from UNFCCC, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that oversaw Kyoto, Paris and the arguably Keystone COPs, burbles “Tomorrow in Paris the COP31 Presidency and the IEA will hold the first in a series of High-Level Energy Transition Dialogues on the way to the COP31 UN Climate Conference in Antalya, this November.” The first in a series. Transition Dialogues. To set up a Conference on Transition Dialogues that will lead to more preliminary meetings to create conditions for gatherings to dialogue on the protocols for discussing further conferences.
- Oh, and from the “so you admit it” file, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe started his April 10 newsletter “It’s an exciting time in our city. The temperature is finally rising.” The municipal government, and the mayor, are of course all-in on various climate plans to stop temperatures from rising, which are about as effective as his cheering for Ottawa sports teams is to their playoff performance. But they secretly know it’s good when temperatures rise. Like New York Times “The Morning” columnist Tom Wright-Piersanti who, under the heading “Today is a good day to finally tackle the cleaning projects you’ve been putting off all winter” urges you to open the window and deal with clutter now that it’s finally nice out.
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06 May 2026 | News Roundup
