Green Party members who live in the riding will receive a notice about two events in the next week or so.

• The first event is an evening with Thomas Homer-Dixon, who will be speaking about his latest book and issues of sustainability. Homer-Dixon is the author of The Ingenuity Gap, and The Upside of Down. See our event listing for more information.
• The second event is a nomination meeting, where party members will select the Green Party candidate to run in Ottawa-Centre during the next election. In order to vote, you must be a fully paid up member by February 7. See the event listing for more information. Please note that the date is February 21, not the date listed in our previous post.

As president of the riding association, I have to say that I’m extremely excited about both events. Thomas Homer-Dixon’s latest book, The Upside of Down is a very interesting read. It looks at sustainability from the perspective of societies, asking how we should structure our institutions to weather the storms of natural disasters, pandemics, and climate change. The underlying idea is that societies can handle disasters in one of two ways: as a threat, that cannot be allowed to change the society; or as an opportunity for improvement, and renewal. Homer-Dixon’s thesis is that viewing disasters as threats that must be avoided leads to stagnation. Instead, he argues that we must use disasters as a chance to adapt, and build a more resilient society - a term he calls categenesis.

The book reminds me of Jane Jacobs’ Systems of Survival, in that it asks the reader to consider society as something that has been constructed; rather than the more conventional view of our society as something solid and unchangeable.