environment & energy
A big bet on geothermal could help prevent a climate catastrophe
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.
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.
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.
How Climate Change’s Effect on Agriculture can Lead to War
by Ryan Bort | On February 12, the temperature in Magnum, Oklahoma, reached 100 degrees. It was a state record for the month of February, besting a mark that was set in 1918. The average February high in Magnum is 56.
World Government Summit
This February 2017, Thomas Homer-Dixon spoke at the World Government Summit on "Climate Change and Food Supply."
Canada Must not Give Up the Fight on Climate Change
Those of us concerned about climate change generally inhabit an old-fashioned reality-based world. Scientific research and evidence drive our concern. Although we wish the climate problem would vanish, that motivation doesn’t override what science tells us.
How Alberta could champion a new energy source
Albertans may well wonder if a plague of locusts will come next. From the 2013 floods, to the oil price collapse and the resulting fiscal crisis, to the Fort McMurray fires, the province has taken some heavy blows.
Start the Leap revolution without me
The Leap Manifesto is a Rorschach ink-blot test of one’s political and economic ideology.
Don’t Peddle Climate Fantasies
The French have pulled a rabbit out of the climate hat in Paris. It’s a rather incomplete rabbit, because it’s missing bits and pieces – an ear here, a foot there. But it has a heartbeat, and it’s recognizable as a rabbit all the same.
The False Promise of Climate Adaptation
Climate skeptics may not be out for the count, but they’re definitely on the ropes. As Earth’s atmosphere warms and severe droughts, storms, and wildfires sweep the planet, those arguing that climate change isn’t a grave danger have had to bob and weave to stay on their feet.
Scientists Call for an Oil Sands Moratorium
Consensus statement says the science is clear: there can be no more oils sands development if we are to solve the global climate crisis.
Consider the Global Impacts of Oil Pipelines
Wendy Palen, Thomas Homer-Dixon, et al. | As scientists spanning diverse disciplines, we urge North American leaders to take a step back: no new oil-sands projects should move forward unless developments are consistent with national and international commitments to reducing carbon pollution.
Growth, Environmental Damage, and Innovation
A presentation at the Annual Conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Toronto on April 12, 2014
See Past the Fracking Hype
For years, NASA has produced a composite photograph of North America at night. Recently something strange has appeared in this image. Another patch of light—larger than Chicago’s—now glows in a sparsely populated region just south of the Canada-US border near Saskatchewan.
