NEWS AND VIEWS
What Happens When a Cascade of Crises Collide?
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.
Every politically feasible pathway to net-zero requires a technological breakthrough
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.
Putin isn’t bluffing about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine
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.
Getting to enough
Presentation by Thomas Homer-Dixon — A graphical illustration of the dilemma that's destroying our world—and how we're going to solve it.
Instead of lurching from one catastrophe to the next, B.C. needs to understand how its crises are linked
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.
A big bet on geothermal could help prevent a climate catastrophe
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 global systemic consequences of the Ukraine-Russia War: Part II
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 global systemic consequences of the Ukraine-Russia War: Part I
The first briefing of the Ukraine-Russia War Expert Panel
Two things the West must do to lower the probability that Putin will pull the nuclear trigger
Ottawa Citizen article by Thomas Homer-Dixon
The American polity is cracked, and might collapse. Canada must prepare
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.
The climate strike continues (online): Findings from the Youth Climate Values Survey
A blog post by Hanna Ross
Canada’s thawing permafrost should be raising alarm bells in the battle against climate change
Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon and Duane Froese
Meeting Canada’s climate commitments requires ending supports for oil and gas production
A Cascade Institute Technical Paper by Angela Carter and Truzaar Dordi
Modern Monetary Theory is the new black, but we should brace for seeing red
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.
Thawing permafrost is a northern crisis and a global threat
Vancouver Sun op-ed by Michael Brown and Duane Froese
New report from The Transition Accelerator – Pathways to net zero: A decision support tool
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.
Learning Salon Series: Our world’s cascading crises. What is driving them, are they going to get worse, and can they be stopped?
VIDEO | Presentation on the underlying mechanisms of cascading crises.
Review of Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril, a new book by Thomas Homer-Dixon, Director of the Cascade Institute
BOOK REVIEW | There May Yet Be Hope: The future is not set in stone by Arno Kopecky for the Literary Review of Canada
However the pandemic unfolds, it’s time for oil use to peak—and society to prepare for the fallout
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article by Yonatan Strauch, Angela Carter, and Thomas Homer-Dixon
Coronavirus will change the world. It might also lead to a better future
Globe and Mail article by Thomas Homer-Dixon
