Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦
@shastingssimon.bsky.social
17K followers 1.1K following 3.7K posts
Currently on partial medical leave and Associate professor, Dept of Earth, Energy, and Environment, University of Calgary; co-director http://NZERI.ca; energy/carbon/innovation policy + bikes.
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shastingssimon.bsky.social
Hi from Alberta where I’m a professor at University of Calgary in the dept of earth energy and environment. I’m a physicist turned mgmt consultant turned think tanker now researching the energy transition. I love e-bikes and etrikes. And I’m currently on med leave fighting breast cancer.
Reposted by Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I'd really like to see some reporting on this including studies of what has happened in other regions.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
😬

we all have private friend chats we wouldn't necessarily want spread all over the internet but when I think about mine its because I'm saying something like "this analysis from these people is dumb" or "this policy is stupid" not racist/pro rape/whatever this is.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
Oh I guess I know my dads cell number too (my mom never would answer hers so I never learned it)
shastingssimon.bsky.social
Which numbers do you have memorized now?

For me: my dads landline (same as when I was a kid)
My dads work # (was best way to reach someone during the day)
Husbands cell
bleary.off-the-records.com
If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.
Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?
Reposted by Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦
bleary.off-the-records.com
If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.
Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?
Reposted by Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦
jmijin.bsky.social
New coal leases in the Powder River Basin have been paused after the first one had only a bid for 1/10th of a penny. They are trying to blame previous administrations, but the writing is on the wall. We should be supporting coal workers and communities not doing wtf this clown show is doing.
US postpones Wyoming coal lease sale after disappointing Montana auction
The Trump administration has postponed a scheduled sale of coal leases on federal lands in Wyoming two days after a disappointing auction in Montana, an Interior Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.
www.reuters.com
shastingssimon.bsky.social
yeah definitely problematic to consider in the US...
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I do find it quite funny how like 9 times out of 10 when I go somewhere in Calgary by car there is a place to park on the street within approx 1 block of my destination. This is, not normal.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
We often call it a "crown" corporation.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I was born and raised on the land of the Patwin people (and TIL the name of the county, Yolo, is the Patwin word for grass/rushes)
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I'm on Treaty 7 land, Blackfoot Confederacy (the Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations). YYC is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta (Districts 5 and 6).
Reposted by Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦
wearegonnafindout.bsky.social
It's easy to hate the October yellowjacket. But you try losing your purpose and realizing all that's left is stubborn survival until cold and starvation take you.

🐝 #insects
🍂 #fall
💀 #spookyseason
A yellowjacket, lying still on a skullcap leaf in a misty, chilly rain. A blurry splash of pink obedient plant flowers graces the upper left background.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
Apparently up to 50% of patients don’t complete the full course of treatment and it’s understandable (sadly I think anyone who has a PhD is likely to complete it. Not because of anything to do with intelligence or anything, just we are really good at suffering for 5 years for some abstract gain)
shastingssimon.bsky.social
There is a version of the marshmallow test for breast cancer patients (it’s much less fun - you have to take a pill to block all your hormones for 5 years and the prize is you are less likely to die and you get no marshmallows) and sometimes I wish I was better at failing the marshmallow test.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I think I could use the normal cover, and then add some cardboard to the front with lights. Maybe rig up a steering wheel for inside the box.
To really sell it I would have to sort out how to do the truck bed on the back but honestly even without that I think would work...
shastingssimon.bsky.social
Ah! Turning it into a lifted pickup rolling coal would be hilarious.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I remember that I had an idea for a funny energy themed cargo bike halloween costume last year
but I can't remember what it was 🤦‍♀️.

I guess I have a few weeks to come up with something. Any ideas?
I've considered e-bus, heat pump,...
shastingssimon.bsky.social
arg, below is ambiguous here, I mean the federal emissions camp is less aggressive, ie it requires less emissions reductions, not a lower target for absolute emissions.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
or you can also mean - I want it to be like it was when I moved here, that for a relatively modest amount of money you could buy a small house on a large lot and live in this nice neighbourhood. Which is understandable that one might feel this way, but its not reality today and unhelpful to pretend
shastingssimon.bsky.social
Now maybe what some people mean is - I would rather have big multimillion dollar mansions being built than townhomes. Which is certainly a preference you can have. But then you should say that, not "its making housing unaffordable"
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I'm very curious to see what the cost/layout of our first townhome infill is. The bungalows they are replacing sold for over $1 million and have generally 3 bedrooms up plus a single bathroom and a basement with a second bathroom. Not a popular floor plan these days.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
I will not stop pointing out that the emissions cap target for oil sands is slightly below that of the Pathway Alliance's own commitment they made, in print, for emission reductions by 2030 of 22 million tonnes. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Screenshot from the wayback machine capture of the Pathways Alliance press release which states:

PHASE ONE Pathways Alliance advances net zero
emissions plan
October 14, 2022
Significant progress achieved on early-stage work for oil sands carbon capture and storage network CALGARY - Oct. 14, 2022 - The Pathways Alliance, representing Canadas six largest oil sands companies, is advancing early work necessary to build one of the world's largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in the oil sands
region of northern Alberta. The CCS project is the primary focus of phase one of Pathways Alliance's ambitious plan to reduce annual emissions
from oil sands operations by 22 million tonnes by 2030 and achieve a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
shastingssimon.bsky.social
It bugs me that the discussion seems to be framed as either keeping the existing homes or building larger infills, when, other than in a handful of cases, that isnt really the alternative.