Ken N. MacTaggart
@kenmactaggart.bsky.social
Interests: #Bees #Sustainability #ClimateChange #RenewableEnergy #EnergyTransition #microbiome #Health #AI #cdnpoli #skpoli #YQR Husband, father, grandfather. Retired IT pro. Out on day parole from the twitter asylum. https://x.com/sask2267
Monsanto’s shadow still poisons Canadian policy www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/22/o...
Monsanto’s shadow still poisons Canadian policy
It's time Canada stopped following the lead of pesticide approvals in the US, whose current government is in thrall to corporations like never before.
www.nationalobserver.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Monsanto’s shadow still poisons Canadian policy www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/22/o...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
"The choice facing Carney is stark. Invest in the economy of the past, and undermine the future. Or invest in the economy of the future, and spark a new era of Canadian prosperity."
vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...
vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...
Opinion: A 'Build Canada' plan for the 21st (not 20th) century
Opinion: As a clean energy powerhouse thanks to renewable energy and critical minerals, we could create hundreds of thousands of jobs
vancouversun.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:32 PM
"The choice facing Carney is stark. Invest in the economy of the past, and undermine the future. Or invest in the economy of the future, and spark a new era of Canadian prosperity."
vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...
vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
📢 New blog: 1.5°C compatibility in Germany’s upcoming revision of export credit rules for fossil gas
Climate target assessments aren’t sufficient: gas project developers should provide country-specific proof that any additional gas capacity is 1.5°C-compatible.
Read it here 🔗 bit.ly/4sMnRoA
Climate target assessments aren’t sufficient: gas project developers should provide country-specific proof that any additional gas capacity is 1.5°C-compatible.
Read it here 🔗 bit.ly/4sMnRoA
What 1.5°C compatibility means in practice for the revision of Germany’s export credit guarantees for fossil gas infrastructure
This blog post revisits what the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature limit implies for fossil gas infrastructure and the role of federal export credit guarantees.
bit.ly
January 15, 2026 at 2:36 PM
📢 New blog: 1.5°C compatibility in Germany’s upcoming revision of export credit rules for fossil gas
Climate target assessments aren’t sufficient: gas project developers should provide country-specific proof that any additional gas capacity is 1.5°C-compatible.
Read it here 🔗 bit.ly/4sMnRoA
Climate target assessments aren’t sufficient: gas project developers should provide country-specific proof that any additional gas capacity is 1.5°C-compatible.
Read it here 🔗 bit.ly/4sMnRoA
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Recommended read: Two Harvard scholars argued in Climate Home News for COP presidencies to focus less on climate policy and more on global politics.
COP presidencies should focus less on climate policy, more on global politics
Unless host nations run climate summits in a way that accounts for the new geopolitical reality, what's agreed at COPs won't drive meaningful action
buff.ly
January 10, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Recommended read: Two Harvard scholars argued in Climate Home News for COP presidencies to focus less on climate policy and more on global politics.
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Today on Volts: "closed-loop" geothermal energy digs deeper than conventional geothermal & does not require natural hotspots, so it can be done anywhere. I talk with Eavor, a cutting-edge Canadian startup that has just opened its first closed-loop facility in Germany, about the possibilities.
What's the deal with closed-loop geothermal?
I talk to Eavor’s Jeanine Vany and Mark Fitzgerald about the engineering breakthroughs that could finally make geothermal geography-agnostic.
www.volts.wtf
January 9, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Today on Volts: "closed-loop" geothermal energy digs deeper than conventional geothermal & does not require natural hotspots, so it can be done anywhere. I talk with Eavor, a cutting-edge Canadian startup that has just opened its first closed-loop facility in Germany, about the possibilities.
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Looks like ICE is now cracking down on … Native Americans.
This letter was just posted by the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North/South Dakota:
“Our Nation is a sovereign government and our members are not immigrants. We are not subject to immigration enforcement on our own lands.”
This letter was just posted by the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North/South Dakota:
“Our Nation is a sovereign government and our members are not immigrants. We are not subject to immigration enforcement on our own lands.”
January 10, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Looks like ICE is now cracking down on … Native Americans.
This letter was just posted by the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North/South Dakota:
“Our Nation is a sovereign government and our members are not immigrants. We are not subject to immigration enforcement on our own lands.”
This letter was just posted by the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North/South Dakota:
“Our Nation is a sovereign government and our members are not immigrants. We are not subject to immigration enforcement on our own lands.”
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
54% of China’s new car sales were plugin in first 11 months of 2025 (33% BEVs alone). It took just 4 years for Norway to go from 50% to 90%, and it should not take more than that for China: the country will be at nearly-all new vehicles electric by 2030
cleantechnica.com/2026/01/04/h...
cleantechnica.com/2026/01/04/h...
How Long Until China Is At 90% Plugin Vehicle Sales? - CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. More than half of China’s new vehicle sales are plugin vehicle sales — 54% across the first 11 months of 2025 (33% BEVs alone...
cleantechnica.com
January 10, 2026 at 1:34 AM
54% of China’s new car sales were plugin in first 11 months of 2025 (33% BEVs alone). It took just 4 years for Norway to go from 50% to 90%, and it should not take more than that for China: the country will be at nearly-all new vehicles electric by 2030
cleantechnica.com/2026/01/04/h...
cleantechnica.com/2026/01/04/h...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Nutrition and public health experts worry that conflicting guidelines on saturated fat and protein may cause confusion.
Public Health Groups Challenge Trump Administration Dietary Guidelines
Nutrition and public health experts worry that conflicting guidelines on saturated fat and protein may cause confusion.
civileats.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:35 AM
Nutrition and public health experts worry that conflicting guidelines on saturated fat and protein may cause confusion.
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Transforming lives, from the bottom up, with no need for imperial wars.
Cheap Solar Is Transforming Lives and Economies Across Africa
www.nytimes.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Transforming lives, from the bottom up, with no need for imperial wars.
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
U.S. sees Canadian-controlled nuclear giant Westinghouse as its own strategic asset, documents reveal - The Logic
flip.it/9HxeIc
flip.it/9HxeIc
U.S. sees Canadian-controlled nuclear giant Westinghouse as its own strategic asset, documents reveal - The Logic
Owned by Brookfield and Cameco, the storied nuclear company is seeking billions in Canadian business as provinces green their power grids
flip.it
December 22, 2025 at 3:41 PM
U.S. sees Canadian-controlled nuclear giant Westinghouse as its own strategic asset, documents reveal - The Logic
flip.it/9HxeIc
flip.it/9HxeIc
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Separatists have 2 blind spots:
🛢️ is 📉 to $15👇 &
“Looking beyond our borders…California, Texas & Pakistan are solar giants, each installing more than 20 gigawatts of solar power in the past five years. By comparison, the #Alberta electrical grid is roughly 23 GW.”
calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...
🛢️ is 📉 to $15👇 &
“Looking beyond our borders…California, Texas & Pakistan are solar giants, each installing more than 20 gigawatts of solar power in the past five years. By comparison, the #Alberta electrical grid is roughly 23 GW.”
calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...
January 2, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Separatists have 2 blind spots:
🛢️ is 📉 to $15👇 &
“Looking beyond our borders…California, Texas & Pakistan are solar giants, each installing more than 20 gigawatts of solar power in the past five years. By comparison, the #Alberta electrical grid is roughly 23 GW.”
calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...
🛢️ is 📉 to $15👇 &
“Looking beyond our borders…California, Texas & Pakistan are solar giants, each installing more than 20 gigawatts of solar power in the past five years. By comparison, the #Alberta electrical grid is roughly 23 GW.”
calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
This is a common result from panels built from the late 1970s onward. If they don't fail for various reasons (wiring oxidation+), they seem to decay down to ~80% capacity. We'll see if this applies to panels built in the last 5 years or so, but the 2nd & 3rd lives of panels could be important.
#energysky #solar
#climatechange
Old Solar Panels Built in the Early 1990s Are Still Going Strong After 30 Years at 80% Original Power — And That’s a Big Deal for Our Energy Future
flip.it/zmDGvZ
#climatechange
Old Solar Panels Built in the Early 1990s Are Still Going Strong After 30 Years at 80% Original Power — And That’s a Big Deal for Our Energy Future
flip.it/zmDGvZ
Old Solar Panels Built in the Early 1990s Are Still Going Strong After 30 Years at 80% Original Power — And That’s a Big Deal for Our Energy Future
Thirty years later, old-school solar panels are still delivering on their promise.
flip.it
January 2, 2026 at 3:00 AM
This is a common result from panels built from the late 1970s onward. If they don't fail for various reasons (wiring oxidation+), they seem to decay down to ~80% capacity. We'll see if this applies to panels built in the last 5 years or so, but the 2nd & 3rd lives of panels could be important.
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Blaming the planning system for high prices of nuclear power is absurd
The EPR being built at Hinkley was way over budget in Finland, China & France
The AP1000 the USA is keen on bankrupted Westinghouse when built in S Carolina
Nuclear power is expensive. Period
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The EPR being built at Hinkley was way over budget in Finland, China & France
The AP1000 the USA is keen on bankrupted Westinghouse when built in S Carolina
Nuclear power is expensive. Period
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK is world's most expensive place to develop nuclear power, report says
Experts criticise “overly complex” rules and call for an overhaul of Britain's nuclear strategy.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Blaming the planning system for high prices of nuclear power is absurd
The EPR being built at Hinkley was way over budget in Finland, China & France
The AP1000 the USA is keen on bankrupted Westinghouse when built in S Carolina
Nuclear power is expensive. Period
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The EPR being built at Hinkley was way over budget in Finland, China & France
The AP1000 the USA is keen on bankrupted Westinghouse when built in S Carolina
Nuclear power is expensive. Period
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Rare Stingless Bees in the Amazon Become Some of the First Insects to Receive Legal Rights.
people.com/stingless-be...
people.com/stingless-be...
Rare Stingless Bees in the Amazon Become Some of the First Insects to Receive Legal Rights
A Peruvian scientist and her team are working together to make sure stingless bees are around for generations to come by securing worlds-firstlegal protections for the insects
people.com
January 1, 2026 at 6:42 AM
Rare Stingless Bees in the Amazon Become Some of the First Insects to Receive Legal Rights.
people.com/stingless-be...
people.com/stingless-be...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
This year, climate change continued to impact and alter the food system. Take a look back as we list our top climate-related stories from 2025.
Our Biggest Climate Stories of 2025
The year encompassed devastating fires, historic floods, tornadoes, regional droughts, with farmers caught in the crosshairs.
civileats.com
December 31, 2025 at 12:00 AM
This year, climate change continued to impact and alter the food system. Take a look back as we list our top climate-related stories from 2025.
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Plastic concentrations in our brains are 7 to 30 times those in our livers and kidneys (dementia patients have even higher concentrations): that's Big Oil and the multi-billion plastic industry lobbying their way to an epic health emergency
Another one of my charts of the year
Another one of my charts of the year
December 29, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Plastic concentrations in our brains are 7 to 30 times those in our livers and kidneys (dementia patients have even higher concentrations): that's Big Oil and the multi-billion plastic industry lobbying their way to an epic health emergency
Another one of my charts of the year
Another one of my charts of the year
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Battery pack storage costs for WindWaterSolar are dropping so low that they eliminate the argument for using fossil fuels or nuclear moving forward.
Battery pack prices for stationary storage now down to $70/kWh in 2025, a 45% decrease in just one year.
www.ess-news.com/2025/12/09/b...
Battery pack prices for stationary storage now down to $70/kWh in 2025, a 45% decrease in just one year.
www.ess-news.com/2025/12/09/b...
BNEF: Lithium-ion battery pack prices fall to $108/kWh, stationary storage becomes lowest price segment - Energy Storage
According to BNEF, battery pack prices for stationary storage fell to $70/kWh in 2025, a 45% decrease from 2024. This represents the steepest decline among all lithium-ion battery use cases and and ma...
www.ess-news.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Battery pack storage costs for WindWaterSolar are dropping so low that they eliminate the argument for using fossil fuels or nuclear moving forward.
Battery pack prices for stationary storage now down to $70/kWh in 2025, a 45% decrease in just one year.
www.ess-news.com/2025/12/09/b...
Battery pack prices for stationary storage now down to $70/kWh in 2025, a 45% decrease in just one year.
www.ess-news.com/2025/12/09/b...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
“In 2017…emails from chemical giant Monsanto…suggested its employees helped ghostwrite an influential paper that claimed to find no evidence…Roundup…caused cancer.…the scientific journal that published the 2000 paper has announced it has been retracted.…because of ‘serious ethical concerns’”
🧨🧪 Finally, after 26 years, the ‘famous’ paper claiming #Roundup #glyphosate does not cause #cancer has been retracted! This is a serious blow… but unfortunately too late with already disastrous consequences for #publichealth.
#BanGlyphosate
#StopBayer
www.science.org/content/arti...
#BanGlyphosate
#StopBayer
www.science.org/content/arti...
Journal retracts weed killer study backed by Monsanto, citing ‘serious ethical concerns’
Highly cited paper was used as evidence that the widely used herbicide Roundup is safe
www.science.org
December 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
“In 2017…emails from chemical giant Monsanto…suggested its employees helped ghostwrite an influential paper that claimed to find no evidence…Roundup…caused cancer.…the scientific journal that published the 2000 paper has announced it has been retracted.…because of ‘serious ethical concerns’”
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Financial markets see the end of fossil fuels on the horizon & they're beginning to price it in.
www.forbes.com/sites/we-don...
www.forbes.com/sites/we-don...
www.forbes.com
December 14, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Financial markets see the end of fossil fuels on the horizon & they're beginning to price it in.
www.forbes.com/sites/we-don...
www.forbes.com/sites/we-don...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
UN Report Estimates Bold Climate Action Would Deliver $100 Trillion in Benefits by 2100 www.commondreams.org/news/un-clim...
UN Report Estimates Bold Climate Action Would Deliver $100 Trillion in Benefits by 2100 | Common Dreams
New UN report shows tackling climate crisis brings $20 trillion in annual xeconomic benefits by 2070. Urgent action needed to avoid devastating consequences.
www.commondreams.org
December 13, 2025 at 3:09 PM
UN Report Estimates Bold Climate Action Would Deliver $100 Trillion in Benefits by 2100 www.commondreams.org/news/un-clim...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
AI-generated “synthetic respondents” can now pass the vast majority of fraud, attention, logic, and CAPTCHA checks used in opt-in online survey-based polling.
They can do this cheaply and at scale.
Often without being detected.
(1/3)
They can do this cheaply and at scale.
Often without being detected.
(1/3)
AI, Bogus Respondents, and the Integrity of Online Polling www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/20...
AI, Bogus Respondents, and the Integrity of Online Polling
[Ottawa – December 1, 2025] As AI tools become cheaper and harder to detect, non-probability, opt-in polls are becoming more vulnerable to synthetic respondents. This deck looks at what’s hap…
www.ekospolitics.com
December 13, 2025 at 10:09 PM
AI-generated “synthetic respondents” can now pass the vast majority of fraud, attention, logic, and CAPTCHA checks used in opt-in online survey-based polling.
They can do this cheaply and at scale.
Often without being detected.
(1/3)
They can do this cheaply and at scale.
Often without being detected.
(1/3)
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
New research shows toxic chemicals in food systems cost us up to $2.2 trillion a year in health impacts.
Meanwhile the EU Commission wants to destroy our protections against pesticide risks. We can't let this happen, help us👉 friendsoftheearth.eu/news/raise-y...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Meanwhile the EU Commission wants to destroy our protections against pesticide risks. We can't let this happen, help us👉 friendsoftheearth.eu/news/raise-y...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Synthetic chemicals in food system creating health burden of $2.2tn a year, report finds
Scientists issue urgent warning about chemicals, found to cause cancer and infertility as well as harming environment
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 8:17 AM
New research shows toxic chemicals in food systems cost us up to $2.2 trillion a year in health impacts.
Meanwhile the EU Commission wants to destroy our protections against pesticide risks. We can't let this happen, help us👉 friendsoftheearth.eu/news/raise-y...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Meanwhile the EU Commission wants to destroy our protections against pesticide risks. We can't let this happen, help us👉 friendsoftheearth.eu/news/raise-y...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Ken N. MacTaggart
Good morning with good news: Cheap batteries transform daytime solar into economic anytime electricity!
Battery prices fell 50% in 2024, compared to 2023, and have dropped again in 2025!
Dispatchable solar with 4-hour battery falls to ~$76/MWh! Wow!
ember-energy.org/app/uploads/... #energysky
Battery prices fell 50% in 2024, compared to 2023, and have dropped again in 2025!
Dispatchable solar with 4-hour battery falls to ~$76/MWh! Wow!
ember-energy.org/app/uploads/... #energysky
December 11, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Good morning with good news: Cheap batteries transform daytime solar into economic anytime electricity!
Battery prices fell 50% in 2024, compared to 2023, and have dropped again in 2025!
Dispatchable solar with 4-hour battery falls to ~$76/MWh! Wow!
ember-energy.org/app/uploads/... #energysky
Battery prices fell 50% in 2024, compared to 2023, and have dropped again in 2025!
Dispatchable solar with 4-hour battery falls to ~$76/MWh! Wow!
ember-energy.org/app/uploads/... #energysky