Essays

TIP toward climate action >

When it comes to talking about what we need to do to advance climate change solutions, there’s a mnemonic I like to use: we need shifts in Technology, Institutions (that is, systems change including how we do politics), and Perceptions. It’s how I think we can ‘TIP’ toward climate action. The Perception angle is critical, because climate change can be overwhelming, frightening, and complicated. It can lead to climate anxiety or climate apathy. Read more…

Same as it ever was >

Like many of us, I get into my own head too much, and stay there, having the same conversations over and over. Appropriate then – and an accidental segue – that the band playing on my turntable as I write this is Talking Heads, and specifically the song Once in a Lifetime. You know the one, with the vague but somehow precise refrain of ‘same as it ever was.’ As I listen, the record player in my mind skips back to a moment I had while a volunteer in Thailand in 1994, when I felt the relief of irrelevance. Read more…

A visit to the analog-verse >

I admit to experiencing some unsavoury schadenfreude watching the hubris of Elon Musk lead to billions in losses, or the struggles of Mark Zuckerberg and his Black Mirror-esque Metaverse. (Except, of course, real people in the real world are losing real jobs). There is too much airplay given, and mindspace taken, over Twitter and Facebook and TikTok. Too much misinformation and too many algorithms leading to self-fulfilling thought bubbles. Social media may be good for opining, but not as good for listening. Could more time in the 'analog world' help? Read more…

Selected Non-Fiction & Travel Writing

A Squid Ink Sky: Land, Happiness, and Good Kava in Vanuatu > A journey to a nation where land ownership is based on the extended family rather than the individual. What does this mean for development and poverty reduction, not necessarily in that order? Read the story…

The Whitewashed Stone: Gold and Ghosts on Ghana’s Cape Coast > A visit to a 360-year-old fortress that is at the centre of a challenging history we all share. Read the story…

The Canadian Diner: Fried, Tried, and True > Slide into a vinyl booth and taste the history of the classic greasy spoon. Read the story…

Inheriting a Better Future in Cameroon > Learn about an initiative to turn widows’ rites into widows’ rights. Read the story…

Where Credit is Due: Banking on Women in Ghana > Is microcredit a panacea to poverty, or just another burden for women in West Africa? Read the story…

You can also find climate articles written by Sean on the ClimateStoryNetwork.ca website.