The Globe and Mail gave big play today to a story on Fort McMurray and how oilsands expansion has been put on hold.

I offer some background (I lived there in 1987-1988).

NYT columnist Thomas L. Friedman argues the only way to send the price signals needed to begin retooling the U.S. economy into a lower-carbon model is through the tax system. He would like to see Barack Obama boost the U.S. federal gasoline tax.

A food expert notes that per-capita food production is dropping off even as the human population continues its march towards nine billion souls by 2050. To cope, the global food production system needs to be radically rethought for the 21st century.

From the BBC:

Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was beaten by medieval prince Alexander Nevsky in a poll held by a TV station to find the greatest Russian.

Stalin came third, despite being responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets in labour camps and purges.

From the Washington Post:

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.

For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.

Richard Black suggests that with climate change not sucking up quite as much air time, there was a chance for some other important environmental issues to move up in prominence.

From the Salon blurb: "The South's attempt to kill the North's auto industry is the latest battle in an ongoing conflict. It's time for a Third Reconstruction to put an end to it."

BlogTO had a post today on the impending demise of Pages bookstore at Queen St. W. and John.

The problem facing the bookstore is essentially this:

• The landlord wants to double the rent when the lease expires at the end of February
• Pages founder Marc Glassman has been looking for a new location for two years, to no avail
• "From Leslieville to Parkdale to St. Clair West, he's encountered landlords that he believes are asking way too much, and doesn't feel that even a reduced rent in any of those locations would necessarily make the business sustainable given their lower retail foot traffic compared to Queen and John"

If you can't stay and you can't move, you're in a bit of a conundrum.

While the Globe and Mail took Canada's Conservative government to task for a weak GHG emissions goal for 2020, Australia's just-announced goal is only marginally better.

Incidentally, both Australia and Canada are in the top five of the world's per-capita emitters of GHGs.

From the BBC:

Barack Obama has named physics Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu as his energy secretary and tasked him with finding alternatives to fossil fuels.

The US president-elect said the new administration's priorities were to end US dependence on foreign oil and fight climate change.

Naming his environment team, he said US energy dependence had grown even as global resources were disappearing.

During last week's U.S. Senate showdown over auto sector aid, some southern U.S. Republicans blocked the package, ostensibly on the grounds that the unions hadn't given up enough. Salon explores why.

The Globe and Mail wrote the following in an editorial:

When Jim Prentice took over the environment brief six weeks ago, he emphasized the need to balance environmental action with economic realities. But there appears to be little balance in the government's approach. When Mr. Prentice asserts that Canada will reduce its carbon emissions by 20 per cent as of 2020, he means from 2006 emissions levels, not the 1990 levels, as would be the base line if the Kyoto Protocol were to be the goal.

Canada is committing itself to a three-per-cent reduction in emissions by 2020. ...

I could have sworn the Globe was opposed to any attempt to meet Kyoto on the grounds it would hurt the economy, although the above only notes the weakness of the Tory target -- without suggesting anything tougher, let alone trying to meet Kyoto.