Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This is a recorded discussion on mobilizing Canada for the climate emergency with Seth Klein, founding British Columbia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, as part of the annual Richard B. Splane Lecture in Social Policy.
Keynote Speaker: Seth Klein, Team Lead and Director of Strategy of the Climate Emergency Unit
Moderator: Prof. Tim Stainton, School of Social Work; Director, Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship, University of British Columbia
Welcome Remarks: Donna Baines, Director and a Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, University of British Columbia.
Remarks: Patsy George, Past President, United Nations Association of Canada – Vancouver Branch
Seth Klein’s talk highlights key ideas and lessons from his 2020 book A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. The book explores how we can align our politics and economy in Canada with what the science says we must urgently do to address the climate crisis. But Klein brings an original and uniquely hopeful take to this challenge. The book is structured around lessons from the Second World War – the last time Canada faced an existential threat. Others have said we need a “wartime approach” to climate change, but this is the first book to delve into what that could actually look like. Canada’s wartime experience, Klein contends, provides an inspirational reminder that we have done this before. We have mobilized in common cause across class, race and gender, and entirely retooled our economy in the space of a few short years.
Weaving together history, politics and policy, Klein’s book jumps between our past and present, answering questions such as: What did the marshaling of all our economic and human resources look like during the Second World War, and what might a similar deployment look like today? How was it paid for? What kind of leadership did it require? How was public support and national unity secured? What did we do for returning soldiers, and are there lessons for just transition for fossil fuel workers today? What was/is the role of Indigenous people and youth, then and now? And what are the war’s cautionary tales, the warnings of things that brought us shame, that we do not wish to repeat? The book is an invitation to both the public and our political leaders today, to reflect on the people who saw us through the Second World War, and to consider who we want to be, as we face down the defining task of our lives.
Klein's talk also explores the connections between inequality and climate mobilization, and Klein explains why is tackling inequality and economic insecurity is vital to winning bold climate action.
Purchase Seth Klein’s new book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, at the link below or from your local independent bookstore. sethklein.ca/book
Seth Klein is the Team Lead and Director of Strategy of the Climate Emergency Unit, a 5-year project of the David Suzuki Institute launched in early 2021. The Climate Emergency Unit works with all sectors to find solutions to the climate crisis. They seek to move governments and leaders in Canada into true climate emergency mode, pressing them to adopt ambitious policies that align with what science says we must do. Learn more: climateemergencyunit.ca
Co-hosted by: UBC School of Social Work, United Nations Association in Canada – Vancouver Branch, and the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
Learn more: sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/mobilizing-canada-for-the-climate-emergency-with-seth-klein-2021-dr-richard-b-splane-lecture-in-social-policy
This is a recorded discussion on mobilizing Canada for the climate emergency with Seth Klein, founding British Columbia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, as part of the annual Richard B. Splane Lecture in Social Policy.
Keynote Speaker: Seth Klein, Team Lead and Director of Strategy of the Climate Emergency Unit
Moderator: Prof. Tim Stainton, School of Social Work; Director, Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship, University of British Columbia
Welcome Remarks: Donna Baines, Director and a Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, University of British Columbia.
Remarks: Patsy George, Past President, United Nations Association of Canada – Vancouver Branch
Seth Klein’s talk highlights key ideas and lessons from his 2020 book A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. The book explores how we can align our politics and economy in Canada with what the science says we must urgently do to address the climate crisis. But Klein brings an original and uniquely hopeful take to this challenge. The book is structured around lessons from the Second World War – the last time Canada faced an existential threat. Others have said we need a “wartime approach” to climate change, but this is the first book to delve into what that could actually look like. Canada’s wartime experience, Klein contends, provides an inspirational reminder that we have done this before. We have mobilized in common cause across class, race and gender, and entirely retooled our economy in the space of a few short years.
Weaving together history, politics and policy, Klein’s book jumps between our past and present, answering questions such as: What did the marshaling of all our economic and human resources look like during the Second World War, and what might a similar deployment look like today? How was it paid for? What kind of leadership did it require? How was public support and national unity secured? What did we do for returning soldiers, and are there lessons for just transition for fossil fuel workers today? What was/is the role of Indigenous people and youth, then and now? And what are the war’s cautionary tales, the warnings of things that brought us shame, that we do not wish to repeat? The book is an invitation to both the public and our political leaders today, to reflect on the people who saw us through the Second World War, and to consider who we want to be, as we face down the defining task of our lives.
Klein's talk also explores the connections between inequality and climate mobilization, and Klein explains why is tackling inequality and economic insecurity is vital to winning bold climate action.
Purchase Seth Klein’s new book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, at the link below or from your local independent bookstore. sethklein.ca/book
Seth Klein is the Team Lead and Director of Strategy of the Climate Emergency Unit, a 5-year project of the David Suzuki Institute launched in early 2021. The Climate Emergency Unit works with all sectors to find solutions to the climate crisis. They seek to move governments and leaders in Canada into true climate emergency mode, pressing them to adopt ambitious policies that align with what science says we must do. Learn more: climateemergencyunit.ca
Co-hosted by: UBC School of Social Work, United Nations Association in Canada – Vancouver Branch, and the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
Learn more: sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/mobilizing-canada-for-the-climate-emergency-with-seth-klein-2021-dr-richard-b-splane-lecture-in-social-policy
