A Millennial Asks: Are We Screwed?

Reporter Geoff Dembicki.
After six years of writing about ecological collapse, industrial greed, and a political system hostile to change, hope for the future was the last thing Geoff Dembicki expected to find. But that's exactly what happened.
In the early months of 2014, Dembicki began to see the global grip of polluting companies slowly slipping. He watched sustainability becoming a cultural norm. And he saw millennials, self-obsessed though they may be, seeking alternatives to the consumer lifestyles that created the current mess.
Feeling the tremors of a generational shift, Dembicki decided to pursue the big -- yet often unspoken -- question of his generation: Are we screwed? It sent him prospecting for hope on the front lines of a cultural transformation led to a large extent by millennials like himself. Read his dispatches below.
The series was created in collaboration with the British Columbia Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies as part of its Climate Justice project.
In This Series
A Millennial Asks: Are We Screwed?
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And if so, are the trade-offs worth it? A renowned futurist weighs in. Next in the 'Are We Screwed?' series.
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How Millennials Are Changing Wall Street
Morgan Stanley puzzles over a generation that wants investing to make our planet less screwed.
A Future Green Utopia? Forget About It
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So What Do You Think, Is My Generation Screwed?
Three reasons why we millennials may not be. What's your view?
I Asked You, Tyee Reader, Is My Generation Screwed?
Here's what millennials, boomers and one 'old fart' had to say.
Fake Your Own Personal Brand: A Vocabulary Guide
Fifteen words and phrases for hacking it in our union-less, entrepreneurial era.
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Bill Rees' latest vision for human society is cynical, authoritarian and disempowering.
What If Canada Exported Clean Energy Instead of Oil?
In Africa, where solar is cheaper than diesel, Quebec's Windiga is doing just that.
'Canada Should Not Be Hostage' to Alberta: Jeremy Rifkin
Oilsands take us backward as rest of world moves forward, says famed futurist and EU advisor.
Can We Fix the Climate by Being More Like Hawaii?
Its 2050 Plan is a blueprint for survival. Can Hawaiians, and island Earth, get there?
How This Teen's Quest to Define 'Sustainability' Changed State Law
And why it could point towards a new model of 21st century public school education.
Five Lessons for Canada from Germany's Clean Energy Revolution
The biggest? That renewables make the economy stronger, says German energy expert David Jacobs.
What the 1970s Can Teach Us about Inventing a New Economy
A Hawaiian futurist recalls the two years he spent trying to end consumerism in Canada.
Real Cities Give Their People Places to Pee
Public washrooms should be plentiful and accessible, says one scholar. And cities that do flush, flourish.