All posts by Guy Dauncey

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About Guy Dauncey

I am a speaker, author, activist and futurist who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future and to translate that vision into action. I am founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, co-founder of the Victoria Car Share Cooperative, and the author or co-author of nine books, including the award-winning Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic and The Climate Challenge: 101 Solutions to Global Warming. My latest book is 'Journey to the Future: A Better World Is Possible' (December 2015). www.journeytothefuture.ca For my sins, I am an Honorary Member of the Planning Institute of BC, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, and a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. I live on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.

A New Economy for Small Communities

Economy, , , , , , , ,

by Guy Dauncey

When the future teenager walks down the future Main Street in future Smalltown BC, be it Williams Lake, Smithers, Houston, Creston or Kimberley, which of these thoughts might she or he be thinking?

“I can’t wait to get out of this place—it’s so, like, basic.”

or

“This place is so cool. I wish there was work, so that I could stay.”

or

“This place is so über-cool. My friends in the city are so jealous that I get to live, work and play here.”

British Columbia has many communities that built their economies around traditional resources that are now either collapsing or going into decline. Unless there’s a strong impulse for community economic renewal, there’s a risk that working people will leave and young people will follow, never to return.

Continue reading A New Economy for Small Communities →

Canada’s Housing Crisis: Twenty-Two Solutions

Economy, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ggg

This essay was updated in June 2017. The new version is here: https://thepracticalutopian.ca/2017/06/14/canadas-housing-crisis-a-permanent-100-year-solution/

Let’s Get Going – Climate Action Together

Climate, Economy, energy, , , , , ,

 

Lets-Get-Going

F is for Future, a world without fossil fuels,

new solar symphony changing the gyre,

clean up our garbage, restore Nature’s harmony,

offer our children the hopes they desire.

To download the PDF version of this paper, click Climate Action Together

So how do we do it?[1]

How do we tackle the climate crisis with the speed and resolution that the climate scientists say is so urgently needed?

How do we make a rapid transition to a 100% renewable energy economy in a positive, nation-building manner, without causing economic mayhem, unemployment and chaos?

It’s complicated. There’s no doubt about it. Our economy is completely enmeshed in fossil fuels. We use fossil fuels to travel, to heat our homes and buildings, to generate electricity, to power our industry, to make plastics and to pave the roads. If fossil fuels were to magically stop working due to a zombie-ray from outer space or an unexpected change in the laws of physics, our economy would grind to an immediate halt. Continue reading Let’s Get Going – Climate Action Together →

When Santa Lost His Reindeer

Children's Stories, , ,
Santa

To download this as a printable book for reading to children, scratch your hoof here:

 santas-reindeer

It was a week before Christmas, and Santa was busy polishing his boots in the big Winter House, up at the North Pole. It was a pleasant evening, and he was feeling good about life.

“My, don’t these boots look good!” he said to himself as he sat in front of the big log fire, admiring his reflection in the polish. “That should make a show when I’m ready to do my rounds!”

Most of the presents were neatly stacked in the Store House ready for delivery, and the reindeer were asleep in the barn, resting up before the big journey.

All except one, that is – Binky.

Binky was a mischievous young reindeer who was full of energy and ideas – way too many ideas for a young reindeer.

Continue reading When Santa Lost His Reindeer →

Passing the Baton: The Clean Energy Economy is Ready

baton

Can we live without the tar sands, the oil and gas pipelines, the oil tankers, the fracking and the coal-fired power? Can we live without our gas-heated homes and factories, and our oil-powered planes, ships, trucks, trains and automobiles?

They are all part of the fossil-fueled economy, and as such they are essential.

But they are also transitory. This too will pass, the court servants whisper to the fossil fuel Caesars as they power up their oil tankers, exploratory rigs and giant mechanical coal-mining shovels. Continue reading Passing the Baton: The Clean Energy Economy is Ready →

A Brief Poem on Sustainability

Poetry,

Sustainability

Thanks to Charles Hopkins for the opening four words,

and the inspiration for the poem.

A Modern Alphabet

Music and Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Alphabet

william-morris-letter-a

A is for Albatross

A is for Albatross,

far-winging freely across oceans of wonder,

mating for life till they die,

but their chicks have a diet of grim plastic plunder,

filling their bellies with lies.

Continue reading A Modern Alphabet →

A Bold New Climate Vision: If I was Prime Minister of Canada, How Would I Tackle The Climate Crisis?

Climate, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bold

By Guy Dauncey

New Scientist magazine reported in June that five meters of future sea-level rise is already locked in, due to the steady collapse of the West Antarctic Ice-Sheet. If we don’t act rapidly, their staff reported, it will be twenty metres.

The full extent of the flooding will not happen for several thousand years, but “locked-in” is the phrase they used.[1] Venice, New York, Miami, San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Mumbai, Kolkata; large parts of Holland; a large part of Bangladesh and many cities in China—all will be under water.[2]

Continue reading A Bold New Climate Vision: If I was Prime Minister of Canada, How Would I Tackle The Climate Crisis? →

Almost Twice as Many Green Jobs if Canada Phases out Fossil Fuels

Climate, Economy, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Almost

by Guy Dauncey

The 48-Page Report is here.

Is It Really True?

Is it really true that if we don’t build more pipelines and allow more exports of coal, oil and gas, that Canada’s economy will be in danger and unemployment will rise?

That’s certainly what we are frequently told, both by the Conservative federal government and by several provincial governments, either directly or by implied assumption.

There is alternative, however. The climate crisis is inescapably real. It threatens everyone’s future, and it is being caused by carbon emissions from the same fossil fuels that our governments want to expand.

So what would it look like if there were an organized plan to phase out fossil fuels and embrace 100% renewable energy in Canada? That’s certainly what the climate crisis calls for. Continue reading Almost Twice as Many Green Jobs if Canada Phases out Fossil Fuels →

I Am the Very Model of a Modern Climate Heretic

Music and Poetry, ,

Heretic

For the music, see YouTube  (starts at 50 seconds). Any singer or Gilbert and Sullivan Society is welcome to take the words and run with them – please let me know when you do.

I am the very model of a modern climate heretic,

I quibble and prevaricate, and cherry-pick each statistic,

I fulminate and froth a bit and calumnate the lot of it,

I am the very model of a modern climate heretic.

They say that burning fossil fuels is warming up the atmosphere,

That all our greenhouse gases will eliminate the biosphere,

But since there is a God above who’s always looking after us,

There’s little sense in worrying about a weak hypothesis.

Continue reading I Am the Very Model of a Modern Climate Heretic →