April 1st, 2013 —
President Obama rejected the pipeline last year but now must decide whether to approve a new proposal from TransCanada, the pipeline company. Saying no won’t stop tar sands development by itself, because producers are busy looking for other export routes — west across the Rockies to the Pacific Coast, east to Quebec, or south by rail to the United States. Each alternative faces political, technical or economic challenges as opponents fight to make the industry unviable.
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May 5th, 2010 —
On May 5, 2010, I had the honour of giving the Manion Lecture for the Canada School of Public Service, in Ottawa, Canada. The article is a revised text of the lecture, titled “Complexity Science and Public Policy.”
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January 1st, 2008 —
A Globally Integrated Climate Policy for Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2008. I am delighted to be here to talk about my understanding of the current state of climate science. I should start by saying that I am not trained as a climate scientist, although I have been working in the area and reading the [...]
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January 8th, 2007 —
PBS show- Foreign Exchange Fareed: Our first guest of the new year explains to us the fragility of our current global systems. Thomas Homer-Dixon argues in his new book ‘The Upside of Down, Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization‘, that the convergent stresses of population, energy, environment, and economy could cause a catastrophic breakdown [...]
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December 12th, 2006 —
Toronto Globe and Mail Response to book review “Panarchy and Dystopia.” Toronto Globe and Mail, November 11. 2006, by Will Kymlicka In his review of my new book The Upside of Down (“Panarchy and Dystopia.” Toronto Globe and Mail, November 11. 2006), Will Kymlicka makes a number of mistakes about the book’s argument, and he [...]
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November 29th, 2006 —
As the price of energy rises and as the planet gets hotter, we need significantly higher investment in innovation throughout society, from governments and corporations to universities. Perhaps the most urgent step, if humankind is going to return to coal as its major energy source, is to figure out ways of safely disposing of coal’s harmful carbon dioxide – probably underground.
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