NEWS AND VIEWS

Peter Massie

Technology breakthroughs have unlocked geothermal potential well beyond these limits. These breakthroughs have given geothermal a completely new value proposition. Read about the recent adoptions and advances in geothermal power (PDF).

Emily Smejkal, Peter Massie, and Thomas Homer-Dixon

This Globe and Mail opinion piece explores the potential for Canada's AOSTRA model (Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority) to serve as a blueprint for support energy innovation.

Ultradeep Geothermal Program Team

The funding massively upscales Canada’s research and development efforts in geothermal power and supports its national commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to address the climate crisis.

Cascade Institute Ultradeep Geothermal Team

This position paper outlines the case for ultradeep geothermal energy and offers a strategic plan for Canada to capture this technological opportunity.

Thomas Homer-Dixon

A vital scientific paper argues that far more warming is “in the pipeline” than conventional models predict, requiring humanity's response to the climate crisis be much more radical than currently planned.

Rebecca Pearce and Ian Graham

A worldwide race for next-generation geothermal technology has begun – and Canada needs to get serious about joining, lest it fall to the back of the alternative-energy pack.

Thomas Homer-Dixon

This Vox article argues that the world is in a polycrisis generated by novel and unprecedented conditions, as measured by total human energy consumption, Earth’s energy imbalance, the human population’s total biomass, and global connectivity.

Megan Shipman and Scott Janzwood

The Cascade Institute has launched a new website, Polycrisis.org, to serve as a hub for a more inclusive polycrisis community to converge around a rough consensus on priorities for research and action.

Video featuring Scott Janzwood

Royal Roads President Philip Steenkamp speaks with the Cascade Institute's Research Director, Scott Janzwood, who says we need to overcome our fixation on wildfire triggers, like lightning or irresponsible campers. Instead, he stresses the importance of looking at the underlying reasons for the increased frequency and intensity we’re seeing across the country.

Michael Lawrence and Thomas Homer-Dixon

A trigger event can't start a crisis by itself; some underlying stress or stresses must also be operating. Our leaders should pay far more attention to these stresses, because they're ultimately far more important.

Times Colonist article by Thomas Homer-Dixon — We need to ensure that our hope is “honest” — that it’s grounded, not in avoidance and denial, but in the best scientific understanding of the polycrisis.

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon, Michael Lawrence, and Scott Janzwood — The backlash against the "polycrisis" neologism is well under way. But the polycrisis idea can motivate urgent scientific investigation into the architecture of global crisis interaction.

The Conversation article by Michael Lawrence — The debate around polycrisis is largely a question of whether we really understand the mess we’re in.

VIDEO — President of Royal Roads University Dr. Philip Steenkamp speaks with Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon about the global polycrisis and what we can do to turn a cascade of crises into a "virtuous cascade" of success.

VIDEO by Thomas Homer-Dixon — In his closing keynote at The Globe and Mail's Future of Canada Series, Thomas Homer-Dixon calls for a National Dialogue on Canada's Futures to help Canada face the emerging global polycrisis.

New York Times article by Thomas Homer-Dixon and Johan Rockström — Today’s mess is best understood as a global polycrisis—a term which implies that humanity is dealing with a complex knot of seemingly distinct but actually deeply entangled crises.

National Observer article by Scott Janzwood

Distrust of new technology runs deep in the climate movement. But we don’t have the critical green technologies we need to get us to net-zero by 2050 — and assuming we do is wishful thinking.

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon — Russian President Vladimir Putin is forcing the West to play a dangerous game of chicken, and he’s about to throw his steering wheel out the window.

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon and Robin Cox — We need to improve how we marshal, integrate, apply and communicate the best knowledge about B.C.’s emerging risks – those known and anticipated, as well as those unexpected and even currently unimaginable.

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon, Ian Graham, and Ellen Quigley — A government-industry research and development partnership in ultradeep geothermal would be a “moonshot” project that Canadians could rally around.

The second briefing of the Ukraine-Russia War Expert Panel — Whether Russia will use a tactical nuclear weapon depends on Putin’s psychology, his evolving assessment of his own capabilities, and what he considers to be an acceptable outcome.

The first briefing of the Ukraine-Russia War Expert Panel

Ottawa Citizen article by Thomas Homer-Dixon

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon — By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship.

A blog post by Hanna Ross

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon and Duane Froese

A Cascade Institute Technical Paper by Angela Carter and Truzaar Dordi

Globe and Mail article by Michael Lawrence and Thomas Homer-Dixon — Modern monetary theory doesn’t in fact propose that governments can keep spending without consequence. The limit on government spending, though, is not government deficits but rising inflation.

Vancouver Sun op-ed by Michael Brown and Duane Froese

A new report by The Transition Accelerator provides practical guidance on assessing different pathways to net zero for eight critical sectors and systems in Canada.

VIDEO  |  Presentation on the underlying mechanisms of cascading crises.

BOOK REVIEW  |  There May Yet Be Hope: The future is not set in stone by Arno Kopecky for the Literary Review of Canada

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article by Yonatan Strauch, Angela Carter, and Thomas Homer-Dixon

Globe and Mail article by Scott Janzwood

Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon