There May Yet Be Hope
A review of Commanding Hope by the Literary Review of Canada
Article
The world seems dire. But we must not give up on hope
To believe in the possible and to make the possible real, we must recognize that the right kind of hope can be a tool of change, and we must give our hope the muscle it requires in our present crisis.
Hope has seen better days. But Thomas Homer-Dixon has written a book for ‘those who choose to fight’
The rising risk of nuclear war. Donald Trump’s 2016 election. Vast clouds of wildfire smoke. A global pandemic. These four things seem like apples and oranges, but they share one key similarity: each signals that something is going awry in the story of human progress.
Coronavirus will change the world. It might also lead to a better future
What’s happening in response to the worldwide spread of the SARS CoV-2 virus (and COVID-19, the disease it causes) is a vivid example of a global ‘tipping event,’ in which multiple social systems flip simultaneously to a distinctly new state.
The great Canadian climate delusion
with Yonatan Strauch | Is Canada going to be the first country to break apart over the issue of climate change? That may seem like a hyperbolic question. But the fissures in our federation over climate and energy policy are now extraordinarily deep, and there’s little sign that they’ll close soon.
No . . . I did not say wind energy is ‘Idiot Power’
A poster widely circulated on the web highlights text that was purportedly written by me saying that wind power inevitably suffers an energetic deficit. The poster is fraudulent.
Alberta’s economic future in peril without shift away from fossil fuel
by Gordon Kent | Alberta needs to start shifting quickly out of the oilsands to avoid serious economic trouble as the world moves away from fossil fuels, a University of Waterloo professor says.
Author Sees Early Best-Before Date for Alberta’s Oilsands
by Maurice Smith | Alberta chose the wrong path when it doubled down on the “junk energy” contained in the oilsands in recent years, and must move fast to join the energy transition away from fossil fuels if it hopes to avoid falling off the climate change cliff.
B.C.’s green shift is a window to the world
In May’s provincial election, the Green Party won its first multiple-seat breakthrough in North America, and by a fluke of electoral arithmetic, it now holds the balance of power in the legislature. Today, B.C.’s citizens are exploring uncharted political territory of potentially huge significance to people outside the province.