environment & energy
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.
EIA Bakken Shale Oil Production Statistics
In a recent optimistic analysis, the US Energy Information Administration says drillers are learning how to put holes in the ground faster and release more oil from each hole; rig productivity in the Bakken field has quadrupled since 2007. But a close look at the data suggests that the EIA exaggerates the trend.
Climate Uncertainty Shouldn’t Mean Inaction
with Andrew Weaver | Folks who question the reality or seriousness of climate change are making a lot of noise about how the planet’s warming has slowed down or even stopped.
No Trains, No Keystone XL?
On hearing of the catastrophe in Lac-Mégantic, our first thoughts were with the city’s residents who had lost loved ones, friends, homes, and businesses. The accident was one of those jaw-dropping events that we all have trouble fully comprehending.
Oil Sands Debate
Read the face-off between global governance expert Thomas Homer-Dixon and Globe columnist Konrad Yakabuski
The Tar Sands Disaster
If President Obama blocks the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all, he’ll do Canada a favor.
Ice, Please – Climate on the Rocks
Any day now, the expanse of sea ice in the Arctic will reach its lowest extent for the year. The round-the-clock summer days have gone, and the weather is turning sharply colder as the sun sinks below the horizon for longer periods each day.
Climate Change’s Costs Hit the Plate
In the mid-1980s, when I was a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and beginning to study climate change, I attended a lecture by a specialist in plant physiology at nearby Harvard University. He spoke about global warming’s impact on crop productivity. He was quite optimistic. More carbon dioxide in the air, he explained, causes certain kinds of plants to grow faster. So, on balance, food output should rise in a warmer and CO2-rich world.
All’s Not Lost, Ontario. The Future Is Green, Not Black
Ontario, we’re told, is Canada’s new rust belt. The high dollar is pummelling the province’s exports. Big manufacturers are fleeing. The Liberal government is slashing spending to maintain the province’s credit rating.
Our Peak Oil Premium
Humankind will have to invest staggering resources to find and produce new oil if global output is to grow steadily. We’re likely much closer to the tipping point than optimists think
Detecting and Coping with Disruptive Shocks in Arctic Marine Systems: A Resilience Approach to Place and People
Eddy Carmack, Thomas Homer-Dixon, et al. | It seems inevitable that the ongoing and rapid changes in the physical environment of the marine Arctic will push components of the region’s existing social-ecological systems—small and large—beyond tipping points and into new regimes.
Climate Summit Was a Pathetic Exercise in Deceit
There’s really only one label for the pathetic exercise we’ve just witnessed in South Africa: deceit. The whole climate-change negotiation process and the larger political discourse surrounding this horrible problem is a drawn-out and elaborate exercise in lying—to each other, to ourselves, and especially to our children. And the lies are starting to corrupt our civilization from inside out.
Tipping Toward Sustainability: Emerging Pathways of Transformation
Frances Westley, Thomas Homer-Dixon, et al. | This article explores the links between agency, institutions, and innovation in navigating shifts and largescale transformations toward global sustainability. Our central question is whether social and technical innovations can reverse the trends that are challenging critical thresholds and creating tipping points in the earth system, and if not, what conditions are necessary to escape the current lock-in.
