This is the all-time challenge for our species. Will we show the wisdom to act with the guidance of science? Will we have the compassion to help those most impacted by the unavoidable global warming already happening? Will we have the intelligence to find new opportunities in transforming our sources of energy and the way… Continue reading Hope amid these times is for chances to help decide what follows
Category: Opinions
Is there a limit to optimism when it comes to climate change?
by Fiacha Heneghan ‘We’re doomed’: a common refrain in casual conversation about climate change. It signals an awareness that we cannot, strictly speaking, avert climate change. It is already here. All we can hope for is to minimise climate change by keeping global average temperature changes to less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in order… Continue reading Is there a limit to optimism when it comes to climate change?
All for one and one for all
by Stephen Smith Back in 1938 a man called Chester Barnard wrote a book called The Functions of the Executive. It is still in print as it is considered one of the most influential books in public administration ever published. Three basic principles outlined in that book have guided me in my own career, and… Continue reading All for one and one for all
Gulf between green and gold
by Stan Hirst I admit it. I chose the title of this post because of its alliterative appeal. Just a little whimsy to brighten an otherwise grey and depressing North Shore winter scene staring at me on the other side of the window. Grey scene leads to a gloomy theme. It also seemed descriptive of… Continue reading Gulf between green and gold
Given how little effect you can have, is it rational to vote?
by Julia Maskivker For far too long, the accepted wisdom among scholars of politics has been that the interests of the individual and the interests of society are not in harmony when it comes to voting. The American economist Anthony Downs, in his foundational book An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957), argued that a truly… Continue reading Given how little effect you can have, is it rational to vote?
On Lethal Overwatch
by Bob Worcester Many of us were rightfully shocked to read a recent report that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were prepared to assign snipers to the removal of the Wet’suwet’en roadblock opposing the northern liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline. Reports suggested that “lethal overwatch” (a newspeak term for the deployment of armed snipers)… Continue reading On Lethal Overwatch
Climate Compassion for Australian friends
by Diana Ellis I spent some time this morning thinking about what I, as a concerned world citizen, am learning from this year’s Australian bushfires. There are three sets of people I know who live there – in Sydney, Melbourne, and in a small town further south on the east coast. Up to about a… Continue reading Climate Compassion for Australian friends
Climate change and immigration: the unspoken political connection
by Stan Hirst The 2019 Canadian federal election is in full swing. The media overflows with headlines, photo ops, emphatic one-liners and the occasional blooper. Politics as usual. Promises, promises. Goodies for everyone, especially the underprivileged, the middle class and for those who voted the wrong way last time around. At a time when global… Continue reading Climate change and immigration: the unspoken political connection
Stormy Weather
by Marilyn Krislock Pomeroy ‘Pray for Florida’ pops up on my Facebook page repeatedly the last couple of days. While I wish all the good folks in the path of that hurricane safe passage through it, I’m not much into praying. If I was so inclined, however, I would instead be praying for a neighbouring… Continue reading Stormy Weather
It’s wrongheaded to protect nature with human-style rights
by Anna Grear How can the law account for the value of complex, nonhuman entities such as rivers, lakes, forests and ecosystems? At a time of runaway climate change, when the Earth’s biosphere is on the brink of collapse and species extinctions are accelerating, this has become a vital question. Some theorists argue that there’s… Continue reading It’s wrongheaded to protect nature with human-style rights