Why so much is going wrong at the same time
October 18, 2023
Lots of things are going wrong. Does that make it a polycrisis?
Articles
Earth’s Polycrisis Is No Mere Illusion
February 18, 2023
Thomas Homer-Dixon, Michael Lawrence, and Scott Janzwood
The backlash against the “polycrisis” neologism is well under way. But the polycrisis idea can motivate urgent scientific investigation into the architecture of global crisis interaction.
What Happens When a Cascade of Crises Collide?
November 13, 2022
Thomas Homer-Dixon and Johan Rockström
Humanity faces a complex knot of seemingly distinct but entangled crises that are causing damage greater than the sum of their individual harms.
Putin isn’t bluffing about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine
September 26, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin is forcing the West to play a dangerous game of chicken, and he’s about to throw his steering wheel out the window.
A big bet on geothermal could help prevent a climate catastrophe
May 27, 2022
Directly under our feet, there’s enough heat emanating from the planet’s core to satisfy humanity’s future zero-carbon electricity needs thousands of times over.
Two things the West must do to lower the probability that Putin will pull the nuclear trigger
March 10, 2022
This time, ‘Mutual Assured Destruction’ might not work. The Russian leader has already shown extreme irrationality in his calamitous choice to start this war.
States of Emergency
December 31, 2021
By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship. How should Canada prepare?
Getting to Enough:
How we’ll solve the dilemma that’s destroying our world
December 1, 2021
Avoiding Mad Max and finding a path to a positive future
Canada’s thawing permafrost should be raising alarm bells in the battle against climate change
June 11, 2021
Thomas Homer-Dixon and Duane Froese
Thomas Homer-Dixon and Duane Froese | Permafrost may seem tucked away in remote northern regions. But what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.
How the United States survived an assault on its democracy – at least for now
January 15, 2021
John Ibbitson and Thomas Homer-Dixon
The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol failed to make an autocrat out of Donald Trump, thanks in part to the public shields erected against his dangerous campaign of baseless election-fraud claims.