Bill McKibben has been sounding the climate alarm since before most were paying attention, but lately he's finally feeling some optimism about solar power in particular.

On September 17, renowned author, journalist, and environmentalist Bill McKibben joined us remotely at Protect Our Winters (POW) Canada's 2026 Leadership Summit. He was there to talk about his latest book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.

Bill is the founder of 350.org and more recently Third Act, which organizes people over 60 for climate action. His 1989 book The End of Nature was pretty much the first written for a general audience on climate change, and his new book argues solar has already won the economic argument.

Note, this episode runs differently than our usual format. Bill opens solo for about twenty minutes, then David and I join him for another twenty minutes of conversation. Sara sat this one out.

00:00:00 - Episode Intro: Bill McKibben at the POW 2026 Leadership Summit

00:01:27 - Climate Realities & The Clean Energy Transition

00:23:02 - David Keith on Battery Costs & Solar Geoengineering

00:28:56 - The Geopolitics of Chinese Solar Dominance

00:33:44 - Decarbonization Pathways & Energy Solutions for Canada

00:37:15 - Building Citizen Movements & Global "Sun Day"

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On September 17, Ed sat down with former Canadian Environment and Climate Change Canada minister Steven Guilbeault for what we called a "fireside exit interview."

Steven spent more than three decades in Canada's environmental movement, then spent seven years in federal politics, four of them running Environment and Climate Change Canada. He resigned from cabinet in November 2025 over the Ottawa-Alberta pipeline deal and left Parliament for good in early September, saying Canada is backsliding on climate action.

We recorded it live in partnership with Protect Our Winters (POW) Canada at its 2026 Leadership Summit. David and Sara sat this one out; it was just Steven and Ed and a room full of POW's supporters and ambassadors. Ed's known Steven for a long time, so they had a frank and insightful conversation about climate, advocacy and the vicissitudes of political life.

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This is a replay of our conversation with Dr. Blake Shaffer, an energy economist at the University of Calgary, on Canada's electrification bet. We recorded this in spring 2023, right after the federal budget's big bet on clean electricity. With AI data centres now competing for the same grid capacity electrification needs, it might be even more relevant than it was in 2023.

Chapters:

0:00 – Replaying Canada's electrification bet
4:52 – David's new gig: climate systems engineering at UChicago
7:16 – Why electrify: Blake's primer on capacity vs. generation
17:35 – Growth rates, NIMBYism, and selling the switch to consumers
22:11 – Capacity factor, availability, and the "clean" vs. "zero-emission" fight
26:31 – Transmission bottlenecks and interprovincial politics
36:07 – Social license, orphan wells, and Danielle Smith's pushback
44:41 – Grid instability, audience Q&A, and closing thoughts

About Our Guest:

Blake Shaffer is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary where he teaches and researches on electricity markets, climate policy, and energy transitions. Shaffer uses empirical methods to evaluate policy effectiveness and better understand consumer and firm behaviour. Shaffer strives to bring rigorous evidence to help policy makers craft better policy.

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