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Should oil & gas companies pay for climate impacts to BC?
According to the Tyee, British Columbia’s auditor general recently issued a report that notes that if BC continues on its same policy path, it likely won’t meet its carbon reduction goals for 2050. An environmental group faulted the report for not explicitly tallying those costs (including record-breaking forest fires in 2017), and suggested BC’s government should file suit against oil and gas companies to pay for those impacts.
Portland considering lawsuit against big pharma over opioid crisis
An article at the Portland Mercury reports that the city of Portland will likely add its name to the list of municipalities in North America that are suing drug companies for misleading doctors and patients about the risks of prescription opioids. In Vancouver, BC, a rally on the National Day of Action on the Opioid Crisis brought out activists calling for measures to help prevent the more than 1,400 lives lost to overdose in BC last year.
Is Vancouver progressive, conservative, or something in between?
Charlie Smith at The Georgia Straight ponders the question of what hue politics takes in Vancouver, ahead of a mayor’s race this year. The answer: it’s complicated. Anyone could win at this point, with Gregor Robertson’s pro-business-but-progressive Vision Vancouver, the greens, leftists, and the conservative-leaning NPA all playing off one another.
Seattle band Caspar Babypants rocks the kiddie crowd
KEXP has an interview with Seattle’s Chris Ballew, AKA Caspar Babypants, who many will remember as the lead singer of the goofy indie band Presidents of the United States of America. Now Ballew is writing and performing for kids (he’s got 14 albums and counting) and loving it. “I really write this Caspar Babypants music because it makes me happy first and foremost. It is a bonus that kids and parents like it as well. The fuel to continue comes from the sheer volcano of creativity that started erupting once that life-long search was over and I had found my place.”
Short fiction by Shawn Vestal: “The Poet’s Wife”
Spokane author and columnist Shawn Vestal has a piece of short fiction over at Moss (which is great lit mag you should definitely support by buying a copy!) called “The Poet’s Wife,” a sharp commentary on how love changes imperceptibly “When the poet’s wife met the poet, in their dating days at the university, his poetry—his own poetry and his interest in the poetry of others and the very concept of poetry—had been her least favorite thing about him…”
That’s all the news and culture from Cascadia for today. Tonight, I’m lucky to be attending a little musical by Lin Manuel Miranda about some fellow on that other coast of North America. Have a great evening! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: Caspar Babypants by Wikimedia Commons user Tarcil CC BY-SA 3.0