“As Jared Diamond and others have shown us, this is how civilizations commit suicide: by slamming their foot on the accelerator at the exact moment when they should be putting their foot on the brakes.” In this TED Talk, Naomi Klein speaks about our devastating efforts to extract “the dirtiest, highest [carbon]-emitting stuff imaginable” from our planet—all to keep up with our insatiable demand for energy.

In a visit to The Lavin Agency’s Toronto office, The Big Thirst author Charles Fishman talks about how, a few years ago, Atlanta came within just eight days of running out of water. The situation revealed a lot about America’s blasé—and dangerous—attitude toward our most precious natural resource.

David Suzuki was at Occupy Montreal, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement:

“Do we want justice? Do we want greater equity? Do we want environmental protection? Those are the kinds of things that I’m interested in. And if that’s part of what this movement is, then it’s a very exciting moment…This is about the future for these young people, [which] is being sacrificed for the sake of the corporate agenda right now. And I’m delighted to see people saying, We’re going to take that back—take this country back!”