Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
Kirk LaPointe, editor-in-chief:
Want to know a little bit about Jeff Bezos’ secret sauce? This piece examines his rapid-fire decision-making method of the richest person in the world at the centre of Amazon. - Forbes
With all our local electioneering and the remaining attention on Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump, it is important not to lose track of what’s happening in Brazil and its impact on the environment. The new likely president has plans. - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/climate/brazil-election-amazon-environment.html
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Why Bill Gates likes Washington state’s carbon tax and how he is putting his money where his mouth is with a $1 billion private venture fund (Breakthrough Energy Ventures) to help entrepreneurs develop technology and other innovations to fight climate change. - Bill Gates via LinkedIn
U.K. scientists turning coffee industry waste into electricity - The Guardian
High fuel prices sending airline industry profits south as 40% jump in oil prices over the past year drives jet fuel costs up to US$90 bbl - IATA
https://www.iata.org/publications/economics/Reports/afm/Airlines-Financial-Monitor-Sep-18.pdf
Emma Crawford Hampel, online editor:
The billionaire who led Sears into bankruptcy court, or how financial engineers like Eddie Lampert are wreaking havoc on American companies: “But in the end, this wasn’t simply about a struggling retailer unable to pay its bills. Sears succumbed to Mr. Lampert’s hubris”… “all because one of the smartest guys who has ever been in any room … stayed convinced of his own deeply flawed thinking.” - The New York Times
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
Thanks to Library and Archives Canada, which has been digitizing and making available the personnel records of Canadian soldiers of the First World War, I have been able to open a little window on my grandfather’s war years. The scanned enlistment, medical and and service documents are fascinating. After I sent the link to my mom, she pointed out that among the details are some numbers that highlight just how young he was, more vividly than any calendar date can. Lloyd Staples’ attestation papers show that when he enlisted in Nova Scotia in 1916, he was five-feet-seven. When he was discharged in 1919 after serving in France, he was five-feet-nine – and still not old enough to vote. - Library and Archives Canada
Archeologists used ground-penetrating radar in their recent discovery of a Viking ship grave in Norway. This online piece about the rare find effectively uses animation to help tell the story, with an image that reveals the familiar Viking-ship shape, from its gunwales down to its keel as the radar probes progressively deeper underground. - National Post
Glen Korstrom, reporter:
Lululemon founder and billionaire Chip Wilson’s just-released tell-all autobiography has insight into how he founded Westbeach and then Lululemon, and how he grew what is now a global yogawear giant. The book also has insights on how to deal with private-equity investors, about Wilson’s bid to outfit the 2010 Canadian Olympic team and his thoughts about Lululemon’s new CEO Calvin McDonald, mong other curious tidbits. - Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-Stretchy-Pants-Wilson/dp/1732747318
Nelson Bennett, reporter:
EPA reports a 2.7% decrease in GHGs in U.S.; acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler lavishes praise on Trump for something he didn’t do. As Bloomberg points out, a 2.7% GHG degrease between 2016 and 2017 is part of a trend that started under the Obama administration. The greatest decrease in GHGs was from the power sector – a 19.7% decrease since 2011, thanks largely to power plants switching from coal to natural gas. - Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-17/trump-touts-lower-greenhouse-gas-levels-as-u-s-is-on-defensive
The clean energy transition: 20-20 by 2035. A new study by Wood Mackenzie predicts 2035 will mark a tipping point for global energy transition, with 20% of the world’s power coming from wind and solar by then, and 20% of transportation met with electricity. - Wood Mackenzie
https://www.woodmac.com/news/feature/global-energy-transition
Carbon taxes won’t save the planet. Resource Works executive director Stewart Muir takes a deep dive on carbon taxes, and concludes they are not an effective tool for changing consumer behaviour. Muir points out that, after the carbon tax was imposed, many British Columbians actually bought larger, but more fuel efficient, SUVs. Muir says more effective measures for reducing GHGs globally should include nuclear power, LNG and incentives to replace inefficient natural gas furnaces and cars with more fuel efficient models. - Resource Works https://www.resourceworks.com/carbon-tax
Carrie Schmidt, editorial researcher:
A short poem by Leonard Cohen: “Kanye West is Not Picasso.”- via CBC
https://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/20497/read-leonard-cohen-poem-about-kanye-west
