EVENT VIDEOS
The Price of Power: Navigating the great simplification
August 28, 2025
In a compelling Cascade Institute Speaker Series talk, Dr. Nate Hagens, Executive Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future and host of The Great Simplification podcast, challenges us to take meaningful steps toward change—even without having all the answers.
Framing our current world as an energy-hungry "Superorganism" teetering far from equilibrium, he introduces the idea that small, focused efforts—“islands of coherence in a sea of chaos”—can elevate entire systems to a higher order. This video is a call to action for individuals and organizations to become catalysts for transformative change in an uncertain world.
Solar Geoengineering: A radical, frightening and hopeful response to climate change
Professor Edward A. (Ted) Parson, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA, explored the science, risks, and governance challenges of solar geoengineering (also known as solar radiation modification or SRM).
As climate risks escalate and conventional responses fall short, SRM is gaining attention for its potential to rapidly and temporarily cool the planet by reflecting a small portion of sunlight. Parson introduced key SRM methods, examined their likely effects, and discussed ethical and political concerns—especially around governance, control, and exit strategies—with a particular focus on implications for Canada and global climate policy.
Commanding hope through the chaos vortex
May 29, 2025
Cascade Institute Executive Director Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon joined Capital Institute’s John Fullerton for a wide-ranging conversation as part of the Capital Institute's Discovery Dialogue Series. Drawing on his work in complexity science and global systems, Homer-Dixon explored the concept of the Chaos Vortex—a turbulent period of overlapping crises that challenges our ability to adapt and respond.
The discussion offered a deep and honest examination of how individuals, institutions, and societies can navigate this era of accelerating change. The event highlighted the urgent need for transformative thinking across economics, politics, and the environment.
Sovereignty Under Siege: Canada's response to American authoritarianism
May 27, 2025
A Cascade Institute lunchtime talk featured Dr. Daniel Drache, who discussed the impact of the Trump presidency on Canada.
The talk focused on how Trump's policies were challenging constitutional guardrails and potentially threatening Canadian sovereignty and jobs.
Polycrisis in the anthropocene
May 7, 2025
This webinar, featuring Cascade Institute Polycrisis fellow Dr. Michael Lawrence, presented the first set of articles from the Global Sustainability special issue “Polycrisis in the Anthropocene.” It explored how multiple, interconnected global crises—climate, inequality, energy, and more—require new frameworks for understanding and action.
Speakers discussed systemic risk governance, capitalism as a driver of polycrisis, barriers to sustainable energy transitions, and decision-making under deep uncertainty, drawing on both contemporary and historical insights. Presenters included experts from institutions across Europe and North America, with Johan Rockström serving as discussant. This engaging session offered key perspectives on how we might better understand and navigate our increasingly complex global challenges.
When Societies Collapse: Energy, Ideology, and Violence
April 23, 2025
Dr. Luke Kemp, Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (University of Cambridge) and Visiting Fellow at the Cascade Institute, explored the deep connections between energy, ideology, violence, and societal collapse in this thought-provoking talk.
Drawing from his forthcoming book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse, Kemp examined how energy use—particularly for elite consumption—has shaped the rise and fall of empires. He argued that these historical patterns offer vital insights into today’s global risks. The session linked past collapses to our current existential challenges, highlighting lessons for building more resilient futures.
Beyond 'job counting:' An exploration of the social and cultural dimensions of just transitions
February 19, 2025
Dr. Bregje van Veelen, Associate Senior Lecturer at Lund University’s Centre for Sustainability, visited the Cascade Institute to discuss how a just low-carbon transition can be achieved. She emphasized that simply counting jobs gained or lost overlooks the deeper meaning of work in people's lives.
Drawing on qualitative research with energy and steel workers in Sweden, the UK, and Canada, her presentation explored how factors like identity, pride, and social ties shape workers’ views on change. Understanding these social and cultural dimensions is key to ensuring that workers are not left behind in the transition.
Governing in a complex world: Explaining the global polycrisis
January 29, 2025
As part of the Governing in a Complex World series on January 21, 2025, Cascade Institute Executive Director Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon joined Caroline Pitfield of the Canada School of Public Service to introduce the Institute’s Polycrisis program and framework.
Drawing on complexity science, Homer-Dixon outlined how the Cascade Institute supports decision-makers by identifying high-leverage intervention points to address interconnected global challenges. The session emphasized the importance of improving foresight and targeting efforts that can shift systems toward more sustainable and resilient trajectories.
Understanding the ideological drivers of Russia's war in Ukraine
January 16, 2025
Dr. Jonathan Leader Maynard, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at King’s College London, explored the ideological roots of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in this insightful talk. Challenging conventional strategic explanations, he argued that Russia’s actions are best understood through the lens of rising ideological competition in 21st-century global politics. Maynard highlighted how internal ideological shifts have shaped Russia’s worldview and how transnational ultraconservative alliances have emboldened its leadership. These dynamics, he contends, make ideological conflict today even more destabilizing than during the Cold War—complicating efforts to contain Russia and revealing deeper fractures in the international system.
The energy transition and social justice
October 18, 2024
Dr. Julie MacArthur is the Canada Research Chair in Reimagining Capitalism and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management at Royal Roads University. She is an expert in the political economy of just energy transitions, with a particular focus on the potential and role of radical democratization for transformative system change.
She spoke about the energy transition and social justice—implementation gaps, distributive politics, and social license in low carbon futures.
The energy transition and social justice
July 10, 2024
Dr. Emmanuel Ackom is a past Cascade Institute visiting fellow. He is currently an assistant professor, and sustainability program co-ordinator with the University of North Alabama in the United States.
His July 2024 Cascade Institute Lunch and Learn presentation focused on the issue of access to modern and sustainable energy services. He and Dr. Julie MacArthur co-wrote a related op-ed in The Hill Times.
Grappling with the Polycrisis
May 14, 2024
Cascade Institute Polycrisis Fellows Dr. Michael Lawrence and Dr. Megan Shipman explore how interconnected global systems—including the economy, environment, and governance—are experiencing overlapping crises.
They present a model for understanding systemic crisis within individual systems, and introduce a broader framework for analyzing how these crises interact and amplify one another. Together, they offer insights into navigating the complexity of the polycrisis and discuss strategies for building resilience in the face of compounding global challenges.
