Energy is our life-blood. Without an adequate supply at the right times and places, our economy and society would grind to a halt. Canadians are profligate users of energy: in fact, we have one of the highest per capita rates of consumption in the world. But if we were smarter about things, we would consume much less energy to support our current standard of living, and we would produce this energy with much less damage to our natural environment.
Should we go to war with Iraq? If you’re perplexed and confused by the issue, you’re not alone. In recent months, I’ve found my own opinion shifting from one side to the other, a picture of indecisiveness. Only recently have I made up my mind.
ECSP invited Homer-Dixon, Peluso, and Watts to engage in a dialogue about how Violent Environments characterized Homer-Dixon’s work as well as the future of environmental security research.
Complex issues like climate change are surrounded by a dense tangle of scientific theory and evidence that is difficult for any non-specialist to verify or understand. People can exploit this situation to tell very different stories about the issue. Because countless bits of evidence are available, it’s possible – by selecting and connecting the bits carefully – to construct practically any picture of the world and make it seem real.
From Alberta’s point of view, the tar sands projects are, quite understandably, non-negotiable. But they immensely complicate our efforts to reduce Canada’s carbon dioxide emissions. There’s a way we can get out of this box, though: Alberta can become a world leader in two new technologies that are going to revolutionize humanity’s future energy production and consumption – underground carbon sequestration and hydrogen energy.
The attacks of last September 11 tore a ragged hole in the fabric of our reality. Through that hole we glimpsed something hideous. As is in our worst nightmares, it was indistinct and incomprehensible. We couldn’t see its beginning, its end, or its true form. But we knew immediately that this thing – whatever it was – was both profoundly dangerous and utterly terrifying.
There’s a whiff of desperation in the air. By this point in the world’s business cycle, the American economy that powerhouse of global capitalism – was supposed to be rebounding sharply, and stock markets everywhere were again going to be making everyone rich. Instead, things have gone haywire: the US may be tipping into another recession; four years of growth has evaporated from North American markets; and economies around the world are in trouble.
The human population explosion is far from over, and its dire effects will be with us for many decades yet. “As many people will be added in the next 50 years as were added in the past 40 years,” the U.N. writes, “and the increase will be concentrated in the world’s poorest countries, which are already straining to provide basic social services to their people.”
Modern societies face a cruel paradox: Fast-paced technological and economic innovations may deliver unrivalled prosperity, but they also render rich nations vulnerable to crippling, unanticipated attacks. By relying on intricate networks and concentrating vital assets in small geographic clusters, advanced Western nations only amplify the destructive power of terrorists and the psychological and financial damage they can inflict.
Interview Conducted by Ted Rutland of “Uncommon Good” (Webzine) on the subject of The Ingenuity Gap.
