I first met Alanna Mitchell in 2009 when she was on her way to COP15 in Copenhagen. Mitchell needed media credentials to get into the meetings, and we agreed to hire her, along with her travel partner, former member of Parliament Rev. David MacDonald, to write a daily blog from the event.
It was the start of a very fruitful relationship. In the years that followed, Mitchell has written some of our best features, many of them helping explain what’s at stake with the climate crisis.
She has also written five books, hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, and travelled the world with her one-woman play, Sea Sick, about the warming global ocean. Her ability to translate complex science into elegant and accessible prose has earned her a stack of high-profile awards, including one from the Reuters Foundation: best environmental reporter in the world (emphasis mine!).
So I was over the moon when Mitchell became Broadview’s features and Snapshot editor last June. With Mitchell on staff, it seemed fitting that we should direct her vast knowledge and deep wisdom to producing an issue on the climate crisis — the first time we’ve dedicated a whole issue to this vitally important topic. Here it is.
Reams of copy have been written about the climate crisis. Too much of it produces anxiety and paralysis. Some of it offers hope. As I write this in mid-December, the headlines are declaring COP28’s ground-breaking deal to transition away from fossil fuels and reach net zero by 2050. Reactions, inevitably, are mixed.
More on Broadview:
- Canadian mining companies are destroying communities in the Philippines but this United Church mission team is determined to help
- Canada’s military emissions are standing in the way of its climate change commitments
- How Lytton, B.C., is preserving its history after a devastating wildfire
Another looming date bears highlighting: six years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change set a deadline of a dozen years to keep global warming contained to 1.5 C over pre-industrial levels. This year marks the midway point toward that goal, giving Broadview yet another reason to focus on the climate.
In creating this special edition, we wanted to craft a package of stories that would allow you to grapple with the difficult realities of this particular moment, yet shake off fear and inertia and make space for more helpful ways of approaching the crisis.
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Shorter pieces in this issue showcase individuals, groups and churches striving for change; works of imagination that reconnect us to the beauty and fragility of our planet; and insights into fast fashion, climate refugees and more.
The three major features in this edition answer key questions: How are we doing and where do we need to go from here? What’s preventing us from truly tackling the crisis? How do we stay centred and focused given the enormity of the task?
With all of her experience researching and writing about climate, these are the questions weighing on Mitchell’s heart and mind, and the ones we all agreed needed to be answered. We hope you find inspiration in these pages and in the glorious planet that sustains us all.
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Jocelyn Bell is Broadview’s editor and publisher.
This article first appeared in Broadview’s April/May 2024 issue with the title “Climate Stakes.”
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Jocelyn Bell
Editor/Publisher
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