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Tai Viinikka

@eastpole.bsky.social
604 followers 1.3K following 4.2K posts

Science, technology, energy, and the environment. Writer and broadcaster. Previously known as @viinikka on the bird site! East Pole Productions

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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
Patrick Canning 🇨🇦 @patrickcanning.bsky.social · 9h
2 key legal changes since TMX, re the new pipeline: 1 - ministers can now exempt anyone from any law, other than the criminal code 2 - "national interest" designation comes with automatic approval for all other permits - species at risk act, etc (a long term big oil wishlist item)..
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 5h
imgur.com/nTv06ei
imgur.com
Kids handle plasma ball at the OSC
Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and ...
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When you see how strangled both natural gas and oil are, globally, you can see why so many consumers want to stop buying from the middle east and/or Russia. This has Canadian producers pushing forward their export plans and, yes, they've influenced the government to help pay for pipelines and ports.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What would a rehearsal of blockading a country look like? www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
theglobeandmail.com
Truck carrying supplies to isolated N.B. island blocked by U.S. customs
Vehicle turned back at border crossing as U.S. bans of Canadian alcohol and other goods take effect
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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
Durham County Department of Public Health (DCoDPH) @durhamhealthnc.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The vaccination schedule is based on your child's immune system & when they are most at risk of illnesses. Delaying vaccinations puts their health at risk & does not make them safer in any way. Protect your kids by getting them vaccinated on time. Learn more: www.healthychildren.org/English/safe...
There are no medical benefits of delaying vaccinations. The vaccine schedule was developed based on your child’s immune system and when they are most at risk of diseases. Delaying vaccination puts your child at greater risk of developing a preventable illness. On-time vaccination is the safest and most effective way to protect your child’s long-term health from preventable illnesses. No hay beneficios médicos en retrasar las vacunas. El calendario de vacunación se desarrolló en función del sistema inmunitario de tu hijo y de cuándo está más en riesgo de enfermedades. Retrasar la vacunación pone a su hijo en mayor riesgo de desarrollar una enfermedad prevenible. La vacunación a tiempo es la forma más segura y efectiva de proteger la salud a largo plazo de su hijo de enfermedades prevenibles.
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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 26/08/2026
The United States is taking aim at Canada once again, with a crushing new set of tariffs. Ultimately, government will need to solve this. But in the same way Canadians are avoiding US alcohol, produce, and other goods, they should get off US tech products too. Luckily, I have a guide for that.
disconnect.blog
Getting off US tech: a guide
I’m in the process of dropping US tech services. Here’s how I did it, and options you should consider.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ask yourself how much damage will be done to the credibility (with their target audience) of the people advancing the original claim. How do we fix the problem of lying in our information ecosystem?
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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
Anno Dominaysayer @annodominaysayer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
You know your democracy is functioning well when you find yourself *checks notes* arresting peaceful elderly people for *another quick look at the notes* being on Parliament Hill
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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
Anton van Walraven @avwraven.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Thoughts for this Monday morning while you're on your way to work, just arrived, sent the kids off to school, start with the daily chores, opening the door the first customers, etc. Where are we going form here? Is this what we're going to do? At what point will I vote differently and speak out.
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John Vaillant @johnvaillant.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
"Take a closer look at the label on “Canadian” oil. The companies that dominate oil sands production are predominantly foreign owned, largely by American investors. Tens of billions of dollars flow out of the country through dividends and share buybacks." thetyee.ca/Analysis/202... #cdnpoli
thetyee.ca
Why Patriotic Calls to Support ‘Canada’s’ Oil Ring Hollow | The Tyee
As Trump’s US rakes in oilsands profits, we’re sold a clouded narrative of energy sovereignty.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It's a shame the word "electric" does not occur in this article. www.cbc.ca/news/busines...
cbc.ca
Skyrocketing diesel prices could turn into high grocery prices soon, as shipping costs go up | CBC News
With diesel prices skyrocketing due to ongoing global conflicts, filling up the trucks that carry food and goods across Canada has never been more expensive, experts say — and Canadians could be feeli...
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I can't think why we're holding on to these approved vaccines so late into the fall. COVID-19 transmission spikes in late summer, consistently, kids head back to school, what do we imagine will happen? www.thecanadianwire.com/news/flu-and...
thecanadianwire.com
Flu and COVID Shots Fall 2026: When Each Province Opens Booking
Ontario starts vaccinating priority groups the week of September 22 and opens to everyone October 27. Alberta begins October 19. Here is the fall…
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This ^^ is a good read. The next 50 years will not be a calm or restful part of human history. It definitely doesn't have to be the end of our civilization. It does seem as if certain powerful forces are trying to push us there, though. www.cbc.ca/news/science...
cbc.ca
For the first time, a key UN report says the 1.5 C global warming threshold is lost | CBC News
In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the United Nations has acknowledged that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming's harms. Officials say the...
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I don't understand why Russia would react to doing poorly against Ukraine by provoking a NATO state. It's like thinking a boxer who is losing on points would dance over to the opposing coach and see if he can throw some jabs, so as to get into two fights at once. How does *that* help?
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Jenny Lee Shee @jennyleeshee.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The Ontario govt took $60M out of public education and handed it to Staples. Tomorrow, 80K elementary teachers each get $750 of the misappropriated money to buy overpriced classroom supplies at an 🇺🇸 corporation. Please remember this the next time Captain Canada tells you to #BuyCanadian. #OntEd
A chart of school supplies showing the price difference between ordering through the school board or ordering from Staples. Staples is always more expensive.A chart of school supplies showing the price difference between ordering through the school board or ordering from Staples.

The total for the school board is $290.38.
The total for Staples is $668.98.
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Kees van der Leun @sustainable2050.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Explosive climate-fueled increase in wildfires in British Colombia, West-Canada.
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My IRL friends call me Chris @christyceeck.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
"Fossil fuel lobbyists are enjoying vastly increased access to top decision-makers under Prime Minister Mark Carney, a new analysis reveals" Minister "Tim Hodgson met with Big Oil lobbyists at least 83 times between May 2025 & April 2026." More than double the number of his predecessor. #CdnPoli
Environmental Defence’s annual oil and gas lobbying report revealed that while the total number of meetings with government officials isn’t dramatically higher, Carney and his ministers are giving fossil fuel companies and associations far more facetime than they received from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet.
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404 Media @404media.co · 29/07/2026
The U.S. government has charged Samuel Tunick with allegedly typing in a passcode to wipe his phone before officers could search it. “I hope people understand that the charges against me are meant to intimidate people." @josephcox.bsky.social reports. Read now: www.404media.co/the-governme...
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Car brain, fairly bad case, fortunately no injuries reported. www.cp24.com/local/durham...
cp24.com
Man accused of driving through playground packed with children at Ajax park
A 23-year-old man from Aurora has been charged after allegedly driving through a playground and walking paths that were packed with children at a park in Ajax earlier this month.
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Lissa Harris 🌈🗑️🔥⚔️🐀 @lissaharris.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
if you can’t replace your stove, you can get a great little induction hot plate for about $100 mine handles all my pasta, soup, anything that needs boiling or simmering. boils faster than gas, holds a perfect simmer reducing gas use helps even if you can’t quit it
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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
J. Offir, PhD @joffirphd.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The Trump regime: 🔹️killed grants based on key words alone, not research reviews; 🔹️targeted researchers who happened to live in blue states, but left grants to those in red states untouched; 🔹️"violated the constitution by not spending money in ways Congress... 1/2 apnews.com/article/cali...
apnews.com
White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants
Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COV...
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 20/07/2026
Extremely important investigation - I cannot emphasise enough how every single freaking day we are dealing with the consequences of the success of this lie. Gas is basically treated like it's not a fossil fuel, even among some climate / energy advocates. It is so so so bad
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Imagine you're driving up the little-used TransCanada Highway from Canada's biggest city to its northern neighbours. Now imagine you're driving an electric car. How happy are you to see a chokepoint with only a half dozen chargers*, and 2 are failing?#ElectricVehiclesCanada #EVChargingInfrastructure
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
What a picture from cheney orr of @reuters.com — a Black woman on a train surrounded by masked white supremacists, emboldened in Trump’s America. One for the history books.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
A needed reminder that not every voice is a voice with familiar motivations and opinions offered in good faith. :)
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Zac, you spell "organs" very weirdly.
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Reposted by Tai Viinikka
Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 24/06/2026
Liz Soto and Savanna Batten are 2 of those sentenced to 50 years in prison for Prairieland. I visited them in a north Texas jail—11 months into their incarceration over a July 4 noise demo—to meet the Trump admin’s “Antifa terrorists”. from behind glass, Soto said, “They didn’t like my book club.”
theguardian.com
‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison
Advocates sound alarm after zines were used as evidence to convict protesters of terrorism charges tied to 2025 protest at Texas ICE facility
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Team Talarico @teamtalaricohq.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
New data reveals that New World Screwworm, a severely dangerous flesh-eating maggot, is spreading throughout Texas. This comes months after Ken Paxton supported cutting Screwworm monitoring programs.
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Søren Have @sorenhave.dk · 28/05/2026
One of Denmark’s largest newspapers was two days ago caught in publishing a news article on water pollution where two cited sources didn’t exist and a third was attributed a quote he never said. Editor’s rely: It’s the journalist’s fault. Not an editor’s responsibility to catch this. 🤔
information.dk
Berlingske citerede fiktive eksperter i artikel om sprøjteforbud
Om få år kan det være billigere at rense danskernes drikkevand end at beskytte det mod forurening, hævdede professor Anne Kjær Nielsen fra DTU i Berlingske. Der er bare ét problem: Hun findes ikke
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Isaac Callan @isaaccallan.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
NEW: Official government documents written and saved in Google Docs are no longer covered by Ontario’s freedom of information laws, the province has decreed, as its transparency clampdown continues to roll out. #Onpoli globalnews.ca/news/1184611...
globalnews.ca
Premier’s office files saved in Google Docs excluded from Ontario transparency requests | Globalnews.ca
Global News was engaged in an appeal to get access to some nine documents created by staff in Ontario Premier Doug Ford's office and stored in Google's cloud service.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/business/cen...
thecanadianpressnews.ca
Cenovus CEO says oilsands dialogue 'myopically focused on the climate agenda'
CALGARY - The chief executive at Cenovus Energy Inc. says the national dialogue around future oilsands development has been "myopically focused on the climate agenda" a day after a coalition
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Didn't both Ontario and Canada pitch in a bunch of money to make this happen? Was that all future tax avoidance, or did we actually provide some real money, and if so, can we get it back?
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Paul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
The idea that EV batteries age poorly is a misconception – and a new report has found they often outlive the cars themselves www.newscientist.com/article/mg27...
newscientist.com
Why your opinion of used electric vehicles is probably wrong
The idea that EV batteries age poorly is a misconception – and a new report has found they often outlive the cars themselves
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TheTrillium.ca @thetrillium.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Two legal battles over Greenbelt records ‘likely’ quashed by PCs’ FOI restrictions
dlvr.it
Two legal battles over Greenbelt records ‘likely’ quashed by PCs’ FOI restrictions
The Ford government’s retroactive FOI changes are expected to prevent the release of highly protected Greenbelt scandal-related documents, including records of the premier’s calls
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Damned well said and only slightly too wordy for a t-shirt!
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I doubt Exxon and the other oil companies like the little people talking like this but it is the industry business model in action. Sell the old wells to people like this who have no intention of ever paying to plug or clean up the wells. “We’re not financially able to plug a bunch of oil wells."
powering-the-planet.ghost.io
Big Oil is Sticking Us with the Bill
State regulators are allowing the oil industry to walk away from its cleanup responsibilities.
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Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 23/04/2026
The world is warming. Every country is warming. www.ShowYourStripes.info #ShowYourStripes
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Travis @someforeignfield.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Article confirming what has been well known in the humanitarian aid sector for a while, namely that Israel military personnel, organized crime, and intelligence actors were responsible for a massive and highly lucrative smuggling ring into Gaza.
i24news.tv
Exclusive: Senior Shin Bet official caught smuggling goods into Gaza Strip - i24NEWS
Investigators suspect coordination between Israeli criminals and foreign operatives at the American base, aiming to profit from smuggling operations
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Like nearly every adult who ever saw changes in the behaviour of young people, Minister of Education Paul Calandra just thinks kids are suddenly lazy these days.
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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 20/04/2026
THREAD: The IEA global energy review 2026 * CO2 record high, but growth nearly ground to halt * Clean energy shaved 3bn tonnes off CO2 * Fossil-fuel power pushed into reverse * Age of Electricity "confirmed" * "Extraordinary" solar growth * Batteries up 40% * EVs up 20% 1/10
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Sue Gowans @sueinnovates.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
We know about this because a Global News FOI revealed that 157 inmates had been mistakenly released. Ford's solution to this is, primarily, to exempt himself, his cabinet, their political staff from FOI requests so no other "problems" emerge to be furious about. Pls call Ford ☎️: 416 325-1941
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Rob @robertferry.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Almost verbatim 🤔 >Cleaning up electricity generation is pushing up the price of electricity, an issue that has taken on new urgency as oil and gas prices continue to climb, raising fears that high energy costs could persist. Maybe BBC should interview some people who are not paid to confuse them.
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Urban Truth Collective @urbantruth.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
“The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle, also known as Brandolini’s Law, states that the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.” Useful article. As we look at solutions though, our priority is demanding upstream leadership. #UrbanTruth
modelthinkers.com
Bullshit Asymmetry Principle
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” - George Bernard Shaw.  Shaw’s warning seems more pertinent than ever, as we face growing amounts of misinform...
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Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
As a fire scientist, I am devastated for my many good friends and colleagues who will be affected by the mass closure of so many research stations and offices. Many will leave the agency. USFS has pioneered so much foundational fire science. The consequences of this will be catastrophic.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The bullet-pocked facade of the CDC building in Atlanta serves as a visible reminder to health scientists that if they don't keep their mouths shut about how their employer is harming Americans' health, their employer will simply encourage someone else to shoot them.
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
I'll usually take the Canadian judiciary over our reactionary politicians, but this isn't right. I predict a rash of deaths because people with hunting rifles decided to damage property that just happened to be very close to innocent human beings. www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
ctvnews.ca
Manitoba’s top court says jury’s murder verdict was ‘unreasonable’ in rural road shooting
A Manitoba man serving a life sentence for the murder of a 20-year-old woman has had his conviction downgraded to manslaughter by the province's highest court in a decision calling the verdict “unreas...
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
First day of serious pollinator action in my garden. Honeybees trying to get a headstart on everyone else.
Winter aconite in bloom being pollinated by honeybees in Toronto.
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Andrea Thompson @andreatweather.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Thanks to @drkatemarvel.bsky.social for speaking with me this morning about why she decided to leave NASA, the work she was doing, her concerns about federal science and also what gives her hope. 🧪
scientificamerican.com
A top climate scientist just resigned from NASA. Here's why
Climate scientist Kate Marvel talked to Scientific American about her decision to leave NASA amid federal government turmoil and funding challenges
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like Americans accidentally elected a government hellbent on both doing things that raise the price of fossil fuels and putting arbitrary and capricious monkey-wrenches into all the alternatives to fossil fuels. Bad for almost everyone, so what could be the motivation?
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Tai Viinikka @eastpole.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Mr. Ford is trying very hard to make this go away, by *retroactively* changing the law that enables freedom-of-information requests that give the public visibility into government dealings. We should not allow this to slip past us.
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