In this episode, Shannon Joseph, chair of Energy for a Secure Future Canada, joins our Stewart Muir to talk about energy, energy demand, and environmental issues around energy supply.
ENERGY IS ABOUT PEOPLE
The two begin with the approach that energy is not just about just resources, engineering or government policy. It’s really about people — people who need power and want power, and about so many people who don’t have power.
’Way back when, life on our globe was short and brutish. But now we live longer, thanks to energy. In Canada, where we have great access to energy, we can bring in food from around the world, and affordably. In short, energy enables people to live longer, and the more energy people have, the better they live.
So Shannon Joseph asks this question: How do we get more affordable energy to those people who have less access to power, who use less and less energy, and whose life is therefore harder, and whose standard of living is lower?
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Shannon and Stewart discuss another issue: As we talk of getting more energy and energy security to more people, what about the impact on the environment? Can we help those people who want power, but, at the same time, can we make it, over all, less environmentally impactful?
Some countries have actually stopped making energy-demanding products at home, and have started buying them from other nations. But that amounts to exporting their emissions to those other countries. Shannon tells Stewart that’s not really an answer if you’re worried about the global environment and the atmosphere.
Reducing emissions is on the minds of a number of nations interested in buying liquefied natural gas, LNG, from Canada, and so is their energy security. (Energy security being defined by Shannon as “having the energy you need when you need it at a price you can afford.”)
ENERGY AND POLITICS
Shannon looks at dynamics in the world energy market, including the upset in energy supply when Russia, a major oil and gas supplier, invaded Ukraine and faced international sanctions on Russian energy exports.
Ships carrying energy supplies to Asia turned around and went back so that they could bring that energy to Europe. And some nations started burning more coal (with higher emissions) so as to keep their people supplied with power.
Now we have countries looking for partners who can be reliable suppliers of energy and partners in energy security and economic development.
Can Canada assist? If we can help other countries with energy needs and energy security, “that’s a positive global role we can play.”
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES BENEFIT
Shannon and Stewart also look at how Indigenous participation in resource projects creates jobs and incomes that quickly change things on the ground.
One example cited is that of the Haisla Nation in BC, which has benefitted from the LNG Canada project. It has enabled that Nation to recover and preserve its language, build a centre for elders, and has enabled Haisla citizens to become homeowners, and travel — things that other people take for granted.
But while such developments make people’s lives better right away, there’s a negative consequence when a natural-resource project is cancelled or shelved. That outcome may not be seen by people who were opposed to the project, “but, boy, do the people in that (Indigenous) community feel it.”
Find out why Stewart Muir calls this episode of the Power Struggle podcast “one of my favourite episodes yet.”
- Audio and transcript: https://ow.ly/53R350UWpLt
- Video on Power Struggle’s YouTube: https://youtu.be/Vs9j59WfEck
And:
- Energy for a Secure Future: https://energysecurefuture.ca/
- Follow Shannon Joseph on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/Uaxi50VcZuj
- Stewart Muir on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/Smiq50UWpSB
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