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rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White
@rorywh.bsky.social
180 followers 220 following 18 posts
Technology and Democracy Reporter at Canada's National Observer. from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (Got a tip? Signal: rwhite.12)
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rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · Feb 24
I called five different numbers. Every single one led to the same man’s voicemail. My first investigative piece is out in Canada’s National Observer—uncovering a hidden fossil fuel ad network.
Mapping the dark-money oil and gas ads targeting a small Ontario town
Dark money is paying for oil and gas ads on shadowy Facebook pages, all coordinated by a PR firm with oil and gas — and Conservative Party — connections. How did a small town in Southern Ontario find ...
www.nationalobserver.com
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rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · 20m
As the campaign continues to pop up in communities across the country, Canada’s National Observer has developed an unprecedented new tool that allows us to track the spread of campaigns like this: Civic Searchlight.

www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/08/i...
How Canada's National Observer tracked a climate misinfo group going 'under the radar'
As KICLEI's campaign moves into the shadows, Canada’s National Observer has developed an unprecedented new tool: Civic Searchlight. To build it, we assembled a database of council meetings in more tha...
www.nationalobserver.com
Reposted by Rory White
sethdklein.bsky.social
Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 1h
This is very cool and super valuable. Congrats to the team at @nationalobserver.com for launching this important new tool.

Check it out folks 👇
jameswsthomson.com
Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 3h
Today, @nationalobserver.com is launching a tool to search municipal meeting transcripts across Canada. The tool has already helped us unearth a climate denial network targeting towns and cities, report on AI data centers, measure our impact and more.

Journalists and researchers, sign up for free!
Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation
Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...
www.nationalobserver.com
3 7
Reposted by Rory White
shawkara.bsky.social
Kara Shaw @shawkara.bsky.social · 3h
This is excellent news and such important work: www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/08/n...
Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation
Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...
www.nationalobserver.com
2 2
Reposted by Rory White
nish57.bsky.social
Spicy Scorpio(Karen) 🏳️‍🌈🪶🧡🇨🇦 @nish57.bsky.social · 3h
Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/08/n...
Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation
Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...
www.nationalobserver.com
3 5
Reposted by Rory White
jameswsthomson.com
Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 3h
Today, @nationalobserver.com is launching a tool to search municipal meeting transcripts across Canada. The tool has already helped us unearth a climate denial network targeting towns and cities, report on AI data centers, measure our impact and more.

Journalists and researchers, sign up for free!
Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation
Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...
www.nationalobserver.com
7 37 60
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 3h
Today we're launching a new, powerful tool for public accountability created by @rorywh.bsky.social.

Civic Searchlight compiles hundreds of municipalities' public meetings and makes them searchable for the first time. It's free to use and we hope you journalists and researchers put it to work.
Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation
Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...
www.nationalobserver.com
1 10 14
rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · 3h
Today we launch Civic Searchlight, a tool for searching local government meeting transcripts across 550 municipalities in Canada.

Access is open for researchers and journalists:

civicsearchlight.nationalobserver.com
CivicSearchlight - by Canada's National Observer
Search transcripts of municipal meetings across Canada. Find discussions about topics that matter to your community with Canada's National Observer's search tool.
civicsearchlight.nationalobserver.com
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Reposted by Rory White
davidmckie.bsky.social
David McKie @davidmckie.bsky.social · 7h
As climate disinformation groups move into the shadows, Canada’s National Observer has developed an unprecedented new tool: Civic Searchlight. To build it, we assembled a database of council meetings in more than 550 municipalities. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/08/i...
How Canada's National Observer tracked a climate misinfo group going 'under the radar'
As KICLEI's campaign moves into the shadows, Canada’s National Observer has developed an unprecedented new tool: Civic Searchlight. To build it, we assembled a database of council meetings in more tha...
www.nationalobserver.com
1 2
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 14d
Just as adding a filter to a cigarette doesn’t promise cancer-free smoking, pairing oil production with carbon capture doesn’t actually decarbonize the fuel. Here's Catherine McKenna on the grand bargains being discussed and why she sees CCUS as a dead end.
Catherine McKenna isn’t buying Carney’s carbon capture grand bargain
In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the launch of her memoir, former climate minister Catherine McKenna warns consequences are coming for the fossil fuel industry, even as the federal government purs...
www.nationalobserver.com
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Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 15d
Replaying the Trudeau-era strategy of influencing policy by lobbying high-level officials isn't working for climate groups, who are now pivoting to an outsider game to find leverage in the age of Carney. This past weekend's protests were just a start to shift the political calculus.
Shut out of meetings, environmental groups fight for Carney's consideration
Replaying the Trudeau-era strategy of influencing policy by lobbying high-level officials isn't working for climate groups who are now pivoting to an outsider game in an attempt to find leverage in th...
www.nationalobserver.com
1 3 6
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 19d
Obtained federal planning documents say its "critical" to incorporate climate risks like wildfires for major events like the G7 Summit. That's quite the contrast to the Kananaskis Wildfire Charter issued during the summit that did not include a single reference to climate change.
As Canada prepared for G7, it planned for climate disasters
Wildfires fueled by climate change had the potential to disrupt the G7 Summit held in Kananaskis, according to federal planning documents.
www.nationalobserver.com
1 3 7
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 19d
Imperial Oil’s marketing materials have for years promised that the plant would convert canola oil into diesel using “hydrogen produced with carbon capture and storage technology.” But that isn’t happening. Story from @rorywh.bsky.social www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/19/i...
Biofuel subsidy boosts industry at environment's expense
Canada’s biggest renewable diesel plant just opened in Edmonton — but behind the glossy photos and political fanfare lies a messy truth. Imperial Oil is running the facility on fossil-fuel hydrogen, n...
www.nationalobserver.com
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rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · 19d
My latest: Imperial Oil’s marketing materials have for years promised that the plant would convert canola oil into diesel using “hydrogen produced with carbon capture and storage technology.” But that isn’t happening.

www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/19/i...
Biofuel subsidy boosts industry at environment's expense
Canada’s biggest renewable diesel plant just opened in Edmonton — but behind the glossy photos and political fanfare lies a messy truth. Imperial Oil is running the facility on fossil-fuel hydrogen, n...
www.nationalobserver.com
1 1
rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · 22d
The wildfire danger where homes meet forests is rising worldwide. Using new data, we built a detailed map of Halifax’s fire-prone forest edge — and explain what it says about the state of the wildland urban interface in Canada. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/16/n...
Building to the forest's edge fuels fire danger
As cities expand into forests already primed to burn, experts say Canada needs stronger maps, building codes and planning rules to keep people safe.
www.nationalobserver.com
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Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 22d
The wildfire danger where homes meet forests is rising worldwide. Using new data, @rorywh.bsky.social and @cloelogan.bsky.social built a detailed map of Halifax’s fire-prone forest edge — and explain what it says about the state of the wildland urban interface in Canada.
Building to the forest's edge fuels fire danger
As cities expand into forests already primed to burn, experts say Canada needs stronger maps, building codes and planning rules to keep people safe.
www.nationalobserver.com
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Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 23d
The perception that red tape is preventing Canada from building major projects doesn’t hold hold up. Hundreds of projects, worth hundreds of billions of dollars are planned under existing regulations. Yet Carney blames a bureaucratic maze for stifling growth to justify his deregulatory agenda.
Carney's red tape narrative doesn't hold up
The perception that a bureaucratic maze is preventing Canada from building major projects, as Prime Minister Mark Carney has argued to support his deregulatory nation-building agenda, doesn’t hold up ...
www.nationalobserver.com
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Reposted by Rory White
yalee360.bsky.social
Yale Environment 360 @yalee360.bsky.social · 23d
Explosive hurricanes and searing wildfires are pushing U.S. insurers to the limit, upending housing markets, and even reshaping the makeup of some communities.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Gil Gaul reports:
How Climate Risks Are Putting Home Insurance Out of Reach
After years underestimating the risks posed by climate-fueled disasters, the U.S. home insurance industry is in turmoil. In vulnerable areas, rising insurance costs are upending housing markets and co...
e360.yale.edu
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Reposted by Rory White
awpiitr.bsky.social
awpiitr.bsky.social @awpiitr.bsky.social · 23d
a very credible group of people predicted 20 years ago that the insurance industry would push to solve climate change to hang onto their industry

instead they, like every other corporation, decided the imperative to increase profits for shareholders in the stort term was the way forward.
yalee360.bsky.social
Yale Environment 360 @yalee360.bsky.social · 23d
Explosive hurricanes and searing wildfires are pushing U.S. insurers to the limit, upending housing markets, and even reshaping the makeup of some communities.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Gil Gaul reports:
How Climate Risks Are Putting Home Insurance Out of Reach
After years underestimating the risks posed by climate-fueled disasters, the U.S. home insurance industry is in turmoil. In vulnerable areas, rising insurance costs are upending housing markets and co...
e360.yale.edu
6 1 3
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 26d
LNG Canada Phase 2 is the largest project in Carney's first batch of major projects and would double export capacity at the site. I'd bet Ottawa forks over some cash to make it happen — Carney suggested the Major Projects Office would consider that.
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/11/n...
LNG carbon bomb tops Carney’s list of major projects
Triggering immense backlash from climate groups and Indigenous leaders, Prime Minister Mark Carney revealed his long awaited first batch of nation-building projects that includes doubling capacity at ...
www.nationalobserver.com
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Reposted by Rory White
parismarx.com
Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 26d
In late June, Google quietly scrubbed its pledge to hit net zero by 2030 from its sustainability website as it goes full steam ahead on hyperscale data centers and generative AI.
Google deletes net-zero pledge from sustainability website
Five years ago, Google’s climate action ambitions were the gold standard for Big Tech. Then, with power demand spikes from AI data centres, in July it scrubbed its sustainability website of its 2030 n...
www.nationalobserver.com
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rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · 27d
“I don’t like the precedent this sets,” said the town’s mayor, Jeff Genung, at a council meeting Monday night. Genung was concerned that if Cochrane exited the program, it could be used as an example to reverse environmental policies elsewhere.

www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/11/n...
Alberta town bucks misinformation and stands by climate program
The town of Cochrane, Alberta voted to stay in the Partners for Climate Protection program despite intense pressure from KICLEI — an anti net-zero group using AI to convince thousands of local politic...
www.nationalobserver.com
Reposted by Rory White
davidmckie.bsky.social
David McKie @davidmckie.bsky.social · 29d
Carney hinted he’ll soon release a ‘climate competitiveness strategy’ that insiders expect will boost industrial carbon pricing while cutting other emission reduction policies, echoing previously failed attempts at striking a grand bargain. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/09/a...
Carney insiders hint at climate strategy with industrial carbon price hikes
Prime Minister Carney hinted he’ll soon release a ‘climate competitiveness strategy’ that insiders expect will boost industrial carbon pricing while cutting other emission reduction policies, echoing ...
www.nationalobserver.com
1 1
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 29d
Carney hinted he’ll soon release a ‘climate competitiveness strategy’ that insiders expect will boost industrial carbon pricing while cutting other emission reduction policies, echoing previously failed attempts at striking a grand bargain. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/09/a...
Carney insiders hint at climate strategy with industrial carbon price hikes
Prime Minister Carney hinted he’ll soon release a ‘climate competitiveness strategy’ that insiders expect will boost industrial carbon pricing while cutting other emission reduction policies, echoing ...
www.nationalobserver.com
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rorywh.bsky.social
Rory White @rorywh.bsky.social · Sep 4
We traced back the history of Google's sustainability website and found that quietly deleted its net-zero priority area. In its place is a new area Energy, focused on building out AI.

My latest article with @dariussnieckus.bsky.social

www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/04/i...
Google deletes net-zero pledge from sustainability website
Five years ago, Google’s climate action ambitions were the gold standard for Big Tech. Then, with power demand spikes from AI data centres, in July it scrubbed its sustainability website of its 2030 n...
www.nationalobserver.com
2
Reposted by Rory White
woodsideful.bsky.social
John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · Sep 4
With power demand spiking from AI data centres, in July Google quietly scrubbed its net zero pledge. Great work here from @rorywh.bsky.social and @dariussnieckus.bsky.social www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/04/i...
Google deletes net-zero pledge from sustainability website
Five years ago, Google’s climate action ambitions were the gold standard for Big Tech. Then, with power demand spikes from AI data centres, in July it scrubbed its sustainability website of its 2030 n...
www.nationalobserver.com
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