Mischa Popoffhttp://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/author/102enghttp://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1117http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1117Until someone proves that sorting trash into recyclables and compostables actually helps my family, my community, or society at large, I am no longer doing it. You heard right. I’m bringing back garbage! Remember when it wasn’t an indictable offence to throw things away? Trash all went into a bin and the garbage man took it all away to the landfill. Why did this stop? Has anyone done a cost/benefit analysis on the various forms of recycling and composting we’re forced to adhere to?  Mischa PopoffFri, 18 May 2012 14:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1056http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1056 Prime Minister Harper had the guts to remove Canada from the Kyoto Accord almost the same way we got into it: with an order from his phone in the comfort of his office.Never mind those big rooms down the hall full of elected representatives. Prime Minister Chrétien ratified the Kyoto Protocol at a brief ceremony in his office in 2002. He did not consult scientists, economists or anyone in his Cabinet, nor was David Anderson - Canada’s longest serving Environment Minister - consulted. Only Preston Manning and the Reform Party spoke out and were attacked as stooges for Big Oil.  Mischa PopoffFri, 16 Dec 2011 16:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/943http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/943 Your hard-earned tax dollars have been pouring into Haiti since the earthquake last year and things have only worsened. Here’s a thought... maybe money and aid aren’t the answer.It is now crystal clear that The Global Fund, although much ballyhooed, is totally corrupt. This is the high profile charity that pretends to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and which benefits from lucrative, high-profile support from the likes of U2 front-man Bono, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and France’s First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The United States and Canada have pledged to give a whopping $10 billion to this fund for various third-world improvement projects, including Haiti. But if the fund can’t even keep its own affairs straight, we must demand that our politicians stop contributing to it immediately. Mischa PopoffWed, 16 Feb 2011 17:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/858http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/858 Humankind needs energy; always has, always will.  The emails from East Anglia University revealed that global-warming data were all fudged – plain and simple. This led to the collapse of a global-warming industry that had sprung up after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol. But die-hard environmentalists were never bothered by not having a leg to stand on. Not only do they still want us to quit driving our cars, they want us to quit taking flights. Mischa PopoffThu, 22 Jul 2010 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/787http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/787 In politics there are issues you can bludgeon your enemies with, but every now and then an issue arises that through its repetition will turn against you because a deeper issue lies within it. What the Liberals and NDP fail to appreciate as they attack the Conservatives over the Afghan detainee issue is that at a visceral level Canadians just don’t care about Afghan detainees because they’re the enemy. There, I said it. Mischa PopoffThu, 25 Mar 2010 14:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/768http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/768If Harper prorogued Parliament merely to avoid answering questions about Afghan detainees there might be a basis for the indignity the opposition feigns. But Harper had a quick look at the polls before he called G.G. Michel Jean and you can rest assured that the tale of a terrorist who claims to have been roughed up after our soldiers handed him to Afghan authorities is destined for obscurity...Mischa PopoffThu, 11 Feb 2010 19:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/712http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/712Remember when global-warming activists screamed for the electric car? They weren’t bothered that it could only go 100 miles, or that it could only carry kids and golf clubs, or kids and groceries, but never all three. This new breed of green believers was willing to lead the way by vastly inconveniencing themselves in the hope the rest of us, overwrought with guilt, would follow suit.Mischa PopoffWed, 04 Nov 2009 18:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/697http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/697Some claim the global financial crisis was caused by a lack of regulation. But it was overregulation and community activism that caused the American mortgage crisis which precipitated the global financial meltdown. The American mortgage industry is overseen by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They are roughly equivalent to our Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the big difference being that unlike CMHC they participate directly in the mortgage market. Now hold that thought…Mischa PopoffThu, 01 Oct 2009 13:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/656http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/656 My great-granddad bought the first radio in his neighbourhood back on the farm in Saskatchewan. Far from being a hayseed, he was literate and subscribed to many newspapers and magazines. He spent the equivalent of $10,000 in today’s money to own the best radio money could buy, about a quarter of the value of a new small tractor. It had a shortwave band on which he could listen to Radio Moscow in the evenings.The neighbours said, “That’s it! The newspapers’ days are numbered.” Of course, they were wrong. Even when radios came down to the price of a wood stove, then later to the price of a good bottle of vodka, the radio never replaced the newspaper. And neither did TV when it made its way into every North American home. Mischa PopoffThu, 06 Aug 2009 16:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/661http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/661 I’m the first and only organic inspector to blow the whistle on  the organic industry. My story was first covered by The Western Producer and then picked up by the CBC, CTV, Maclean’s and Barron’s. I paid a high price for going public, but it was the right thing to do.Now comes news about a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine saying organic food is no more nutritious than regular food. The immediate response from top representatives of the organic industry has been that they never said organic food was more nutritious, only that it contains fewer harmful chemicals. Mischa PopoffThu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/640http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/640There are three basic types of “green” farming. On June 30th, one of them will receive the golden stamp of approval from the federal government. Will this have a positive impact for farmers, consumers and the planet? Sadly, no...Mischa PopoffThu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/581http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/581 The late English historian A.J.P. Taylor elucidated in 1965 on the intrusion of the state into the private lives of its citizens.“ Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state. All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The state established a hold over its citizens which though relaxed in peace time, was never to be removed and which the Second World War was again to increase. The history of the English people and the English State merged for the first time.” Mischa PopoffThu, 18 Jun 2009 17:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/546http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/546A year and a half later and Robert Dziekanski’s calamitous death is still making headlines. There’s no such thing as too much coverage when someone dies tragically, but the notion being perpetuated that the officers who responded to Dziekanski’s still unexplained fit of violence are in any way to blame for his death must be laid to rest...Mischa PopoffThu, 28 May 2009 15:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/524http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/524How does B.H. Obama get away with it? He directed his campaign against George W. Bush, accusing him of taking the United States into an unjust war in Iraq, but now plans to launch a renewed effort in Afghanistan. I’m confused. Aren’t freedom, innocent people’s lives and democracy all worth protecting in both of those countries?Mischa PopoffWed, 06 May 2009 17:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/487http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/487“Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state. All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The state established a hold over its citizens which though relaxed in peace time, was never to be removed and which the Second World War was again to increase. The history of the English people and the English State merged for the first time.”Mischa PopoffThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:00:00 -0400