Listen to Dr. Todd Dufresne’s Ideas lectures now

The climate catastrophe humans are facing stems from the way we produce, consume and exchange wealth, according to Dr. Todd Dufresne, Professor of Philosophy at Lakehead University.

Last week, Dr. Dufresne provided three lectures to the CBC’s Ideas, which build on his 2019 book, The Democracy of Suffering: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, Philosophy in the Anthropocene.

His book (and lectures) explore the past, present and future of our age, the Anthropocene. Dr. Dufresne argues that climate catastrophe is the necessary result of an economic and political worldview whose core value is infinite economic growth.

That argument may not be startlingly new, but what may be new is how Dr. Dufresne also points the finger at Western philosophy itself, and its bequeathal of our current obsession with individualism. 

Listen to his Ideas lectures here. You can also read his column here.