can we build the energy infrastructure of the future without repeating the mistakes of the past? - Part 1

This article is part of Generate Canada’s No Bad Questions series, which explores the tensions and conflicts that are inherent to the work of solving wicked problems. Part 1 asks if disrupting nature in the short term is the price we have to pay to save it (and us) in the long term.  Part 2 will ask what it means to engage people in this transition, and whether moving at the speed of trust and moving at the speed of business are inherently at odds or inextricably connected. 

Introduction: What if we could solve problems without creating new ones?

There’s this great line from the TV show The Good Place. Jason (Florida hoodlum-cum-Buddhist monk), explains his approach to problem-solving: “I’m telling you, Molotov cocktails work. Any time I had a problem and I threw a Molotov cocktail: boom! Right away, I had a different problem.” 

It’s funny because it’s true. We humans have the remarkable ability to solve our immediate challenges by creating newer and bigger ones. As we stand on the cusp of the next big industrial revolution (a response to the damages incurred by the previous one), it’s fair to ask: will we do a better job this time? To steal a phrase from journalist Christopher Pollon, can humans create the energy infrastructure necessary to save ourselves (and everything else) from climate change without “fouling our collective nest, or recreating the social and environmental abuses of the past?”¹

More specifically:  How do we build at the pace climate demands without being reckless? What happens when the value of clean economy progress is pitted against the value of local ecosystems?  Can we move at the speed of trust and the speed of business? When are the trade-offs inevitable and real? When is the dichotomy fabricated, intended to manipulate and misinform?

While I’m not sure anyone knows all the answers to these questions, the smart people I spoke to for this two-part article helped shed a tremendous amount of light.  

In part 1, you’ll meet : Merran Smith (clean economy leader), Alison Cretney (energy transition convenor), Paige Olmsted (conservation finance expert),  Dan Woynillowicz (clean energy policy wonk and strategist), and Dr. Colleen Kaiser (clean innovation and governance researcher). Each brings a different perspective to this conversation.  Together, they show us why it is critical, and how it may be possible, to act with the urgency climate demands while still putting conservation first.