Guy Dauncey’s novel Journey to the Future: A Better World is Possible has been extolled by a who’s who of Canadian environmental thought leaders from Elizabeth May, onetime leader of Canada’s Green Party, to David Suzuki, TV personality and environmental activist. The book has also garnered laurels from the Green party of the UK and American progressive radio host Thom Hartmann.
May has called Dauncey’s book “a great yarn and a call to action.” Hartmann likens it to “a modern-day Ecotopia,” a reference to the 1975 bestseller by Ernest Callenbach on a green redoubt in the Pacific Northwest.
Suzuki, one of Canada’s most famous citizens, call’s Dauncey’s book “brilliant” with “solutions to the climate crisis that offer a future rich in opportunity and joy.” That latter sentiment, joy, is not a word one often hears associated with the future, climate change, or renewable energy. But it is something we need a lot more of, especially in 2020.
Dauncey calls himself a futurist in the book’s author’s note, but he’s much more than that. He’s a force of nature himself if you’ve ever spoken with him or watched one of his many videos. For starters, he is a founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association; co-founder of Prevent Cancer Now, co-founder of the Victoria Car Share Coop, an Honorary Member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia, and a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation, in Scotland.
I’ve been fortunate in my work on renewable energy to come across Dauncey professionally. He’s a joy to talk to. His intensity, creativity—and relevant to Journey to the Future—his optimism are infectious. An hour engaging with Dauncey is memorable—if not exhausting. Few have the stamina to keep up with him.
And he’s generous with his time. When I was struggling how to get my latest book into print, he held my hand and walked me through it. I am grateful for his aid, and I am grateful for his ceaseless energy trying to build a better future for all of us.
Normally novels are not reference. They don’t have footnotes. In a creative departure, Dauncey provides 940 endnotes you can download from his web site dedicated to the book at www.journeytothefuture.ca. And for us nerds, Dauncey’s web site even provides a spreadsheet of how he envisions the world reaching peak carbon by 2034.
Dauncey is a Canadian gem and if President-elect Biden has a moment between fighting the pandemic and cleaning up the mess left from President Trump, it would be well worth his administration’s time to spend an hour Zooming with Dauncey and his vision for the future.
Dauncey, Guy. Journey to the Future: A Better World is Possible. Victoria, British Columbia: Agio Publishing House, 2015. 442 pages. ISBN-10: 1927755336. ISBN-13: 978-1927755334. $19.95 trade paperback. $3.99 ebook. Country of origin: Not declared.
