There was a Youtube video released yesterday by Sabine Hossenfelder, a popular science YouTuber (one with a PhD in theoretical physics—quantum gravity, field theory and 159 published research papers). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOIlMdIqXbQ […]

I’ve been following James Hansen‘s work for decades, and his latest paper demands our attention. Hansen and his team have just released “Global Warming Has Accelerated: Are the United Nations […]

What a wild year we had at the Cascade Institute in 2024! We welcomed incredible new research and staff members, and planted our flag in Ottawa with a new Geothermal […]

Last month, Cascade Institute fellows Leighton Gall, Emily Smejkal, and Rebecca Pearce attended the Geothermal Rising Conference (GRC), in Waikaloa, Hawaii. The conference featured highly technical scientific presentations on emerging […]

Last month, New York Times climate reporter David Gelles wrote about the enormous effect A.I. is having on global energy demand, which led to the following discussion between Cascade Institute Executive Director Thomas Homer Dixon, Director of the Cascade Institute’s Geothermal Energy Office in Ottawa Peter Massie, and Cascade Institute Energy Systems Visiting Fellow Ian Graham. 

Cascade Institute Polycrisis Fellow Michael Lawrence and Visiting Polycrisis Fellow Luke Kemp offer their insights on the recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Science Council “Navigating New Horizons” report.

Earlier this month, Resilience.org published a blog post analyzing Jonathan Rowson’s 2023 article, “Prefixing the World”, in which Rowson argues that “meta[crisis], not poly, should be our prefix of choice” and emphasizes that what is most needed to effectively address the interconnected issues facing humanity is a shift in societal beliefs.  The surfacing of the Rowson piece prompted an engaging discussion between Cascade Institute Executive Director Thomas Homer-Dixon and Polycrisis Fellow Megan Shipman.

Rebecca Pearce, the Cascade Institute’s Energy Systems program fellow and Ultradeep Geothermal Science Lead, visited Iceland’s Hellisheiðarvirkjun geothermal power plant plant on an excursion facilitated by the Iceland Geothermal Conference (IGC) that took place May 27 – 29.

On May 27 and 28, a Cascade Institute-led workshop assembled the rapidly emerging global community of polycrisis researchers and analysts in Potsdam, Germany.
The workshop explored the biggest obstacles and opportunities facing the field of polycrisis analysis—from the underlying causal mechanisms to meaningful action by policymakers. 

This Earth Day, a few of us at the Cascade Institute got together for a themed edition of book club—sharing our current reading (and movie) picks and recommendations around the […]