Contemporary Authors

• Are We Screwed? How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2017

• Transatlantic Agency - http://transatlanticagency.com/clients/authors/geoff-dembicki/

  Geoff Dembicki is a 28-year-old journalist based in Vancouver, BC, and a staff reporter for The Tyee, where he writes on energy, climate, and sustainability. His recent series Are We Screwed?—on the cultural, economic, political, and technological impacts of our shift to a less screwed 21st-century society—has been featured in Foreign Policy, Vice, Salon, Toronto Star, Alternet.org, and Walrus magazine. His reporting has taken him to emerging 21st-century power centres like San Francisco, New York, Boston, Fort McMurray, South Dakota, Beijing, Calgary, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. He was awarded a 2012–2013 media fellowship from the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada and has spoken about his work at the Literary Review of Canada’s 2014 Spur Festival, on CKNW’s Bill Good Show, and addressed a 2014 graduation ceremony at the esteemed Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. Dembicki is currently developing his series Are We Screwed? into a book, with support from a grant from the New York-based Solutions Journalism Network.

  For more information: trena@transatlanticagency.com.

• Writers Fest - http://writersfest.bc.ca/author/geoff-dembicki/

  Geoff Dembicki
  Geoff Dembicki
  British Columbia

  Geoff Dembicki has contributed to the New York Times, Foreign policy, Vice, the Guardian, the Toronto Star, and the Tyee. He is the author of the recently published, Are We Screwed? How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change, which won the 2017 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award. He’s received media fellowships from the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and the New York-based Solutions Journalism Network. Geoff lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was born in 1986.

  @GeoffDembicki
  Appearing at:
  Never Too Late… Is It?

QUOTED: "Dembicki can be repetitious and sometimes comes across as self-righteous or smug; however, his profiles are wide-ranging and well-researched."

Dembicki, Geoff: ARE WE SCREWED?
Kirkus Reviews.
(June 1, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Dembicki, Geoff ARE WE SCREWED? Bloomsbury (Adult Nonfiction) $28.00 8, 22 ISBN: 978-1-63286-481-9
A young Canadian journalist argues that a unique generational values shift is occurring that may upend just about everything to save the planet.In 2014, Dembicki, a Vancouver-based reporter for the The Tyee, an online news journal, produced a series of articles titled "Are We Screwed?" for that site. Here, the author expands and updates those pieces. In Dembicki's view, it falls to his generation, millennials, to bear the brunt of the climate disaster facing the planet in coming decades. The author argues that millennials view the world differently than their elders and, contrary to what some believe, are not apathetic and cynical when it comes to politics. "It seemed that people of older generations were much more interested in speaking to us--or about us--than in listening to what we had to say," writes Dembicki. To support his thesis, he profiles a number of young people working for change: a young man choosing to live off the grid on a small island near Vancouver; a group of Middlebury College graduates who, with distinguished professor and author Bill McKibben, made the Keystone XL pipeline a global issue; an American college student who started the movement that persuaded hundreds of universities to divest trillions of dollars from fossil fuel industries; and a young Canadian activist who spurred the turnout of the youth vote that ended the career of fossil fuel-friendly Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The author also cites Bernie Sanders, who turned a fringe candidacy into a passionate social movement by tapping into this already existing revolution. Dembicki can be repetitious and sometimes comes across as self-righteous or smug; however, his profiles are wide-ranging and well-researched. He concludes that despite the presence of a climate denier in the White House, millennials are not going to be screwed--if they take action now. A hortatory call to arms for young people and a harsh critique of their ruling elders.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Dembicki, Geoff: ARE WE SCREWED?" Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2017. PowerSearch,
1 of 4 1/28/18, 9:23 PM
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http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A493329056/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=61d49d40. Accessed 28 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A493329056

QUOTED: "an unsatisfying work that doesn't feel representative of the generation as a whole, despite the author's insertion of general survey statistics."

2 of 4 1/28/18, 9:23 PM

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Are We Screwed? How a New
Generation Is Fighting to Survive
Climate Change
Publishers Weekly.
264.21 (May 22, 2017): p84. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Are We Screwed? How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change Geoff Dembicki. Bloomsbury, $28 (320p) ISBN 978-1-63286-481-9
Vancouver journalist Dembicki uses the life choices of a few millennial to explore his generation's efforts to fight climate change. This focus on individual choices results in an unsatisfying work that doesn't feel representative of the generation as a whole, despite the author's insertion of general survey statistics. Dembicki readily identifies the fossil fuel industry-- and its political supporters--as the enemy of life on Earth, so the decision by one of the millennials, the pseudonymous Bradley Johnson, not to work in that industry is hardly radical. Similarly, Peter Janes's choice to live mostly off the grid on a small British Columbian island isn't going to change material conditions for most people. Activists Phil Aroneanu, who aided efforts against Keystone XL, and Chloe Maxmin, a participant in the movement to persuade universities to divest from the fossil fuel industry, come across as stronger leaders. Dembicki powerfully elucidates the contrast between native people fighting against fossil fuel interests, including Elle- Maija Tailfeathers, and the founders of Silicon Valley's "sharing economy" who claim to honor aboriginal lifeways. Noteworthy figures such as Bill McKibben and Bernie Sanders also make appearances. Readers may be skeptical of Dembicki's declaration that "a new vision of the future is taking hold" but he suggests a few ways that readers can make that future a reality. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Are We Screwed? How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change." Publishers
Weekly, 22 May 2017, p. 84. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A494099091
3 of 4 1/28/18, 9:23 PM

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=dca5cd99. Accessed 28 Jan. 2018. Gale Document Number: GALE|A494099091
4 of 4 1/28/18, 9:23 PM

• CBC
  http://www.cbc.ca/books/are-we-screwed-geoff-dembicki-brings-a-millennial-perspective-to-climate-change-1.4260440
  Word count: 1120

  QUOTED: "One day, I realized that climate change is going to land harder on people my age, so maybe I should stop pretending I'm older and start looking at the issue from the perspective of myself and everyone else of my generation."
  "One thing in particular that changed my thinking was a climate change report from scientist James Hansen. I'm radically oversimplifying his paper, but what he suggested in the paper is that—worst case scenario—we don't do nearly enough at all to limit global warming and all the planet's coastal cities flood by the year 2065."

  Are We Screwed? Geoff Dembicki brings a millennial perspective to climate change
  Jane van Koeverden · August 29, 2017
  Geoff Dembicki looks at what millennials are doing to combat climate change. (Twitter/Bloomsbury USA)
  comments

  When Geoff Dembicki began writing Are We Screwed?, he was consumed by thoughts of a fast-approaching apocalypse, potentially triggered by climate change. But as he read the reports and monitored political events, he discovered persistent glimmers of hope.

  Here's how Are We Screwed? evolved from being a practical meditation on the end of the world to one about the hopeful future a new generation is working towards.
  The climate change report that got his attention
  This Sept. 19, 2011 aerial photo shows a tar sands mine facility near Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

  "I'd been writing about climate change for about six or seven years for The Tyee in Vancouver. I was fairly young to be to be writing about some of the stuff. I went to meetings with Wall Street executives in New York, down to Silicon Valley and up to Alberta's oil sands and I was always the youngest person in the room. I always felt a bit out of place. I put on my blazer, tried to dress up and look older. One day, I realized that climate change is going to land harder on people my age, so maybe I should stop pretending I'm older and start looking at the issue from the perspective of myself and everyone else of my generation.

  "One thing in particular that changed my thinking was a climate change report from scientist James Hansen. I'm radically oversimplifying his paper, but what he suggested in the paper is that — worst case scenario — we don't do nearly enough at all to limit global warming and all the planet's coastal cities flood by the year 2065. If you're in your mid-30s now, by the time Hansen's worst case scenario happens, you could be in your mid 80s. Anyone who's much older won't be around necessarily to see those impacts."
  The 2015 Canadian federal election showed he wasn't alone
  Conservative leader Stephen Harper pauses for a moment as he addresses the crowd on election night in Calgary, Alta. Monday Oct. 19, 2015. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

  "One of the first things that changed the nature of the book was Canada's national election in 2015. For years, Elections Canada had been doing studies with titles like, 'Why don't young people vote?' or 'Is this the end of democracy?' Voter turnout among people in their 20s and 30s had been steadily declining for years and years and there was concern that this election would be no different.

  "My partner Kara and I voted that day and went over to a friend's house. We were all nervous, but we were cracking jokes and drinking beer and then someone thought to actually turn on the TV. There was immediately a shot of Stephen Harper acknowledging his defeat and walking off the stage. Not too much later on, I read that a surge in turnout among people in their 20s and 30s had been one of the decisive factors in his defeat. To me this was a huge moment because it was it was the first time I felt that my generation was flexing its political muscles in Canada. It also showed me the power of electoral politics.

  "When I started, I was writing a book that was more of an existential look at what it means to be a younger person who is contemplating the potential for the apocalypse in our lifetime. But when that election happened, I realized that all the feelings of isolation and alienation that I'd felt were also being experienced by millions of other people of all ages. The book became a lot more political, and I would say hopeful, after that moment."
  Finding the power in having hope
  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at Safeco Field in Seattle on March 25, 2016. (Jason Redmond/Getty Images)

  "Bernie Sanders started his run for the Democratic presidential nomination as a socialist and a very fringe candidate. Nobody took him seriously. But by January of 2016, it was undeniable that Bernie Sanders had become a phenomenon. In the spring, I knew that I would be doing a chapter on Sanders' very aggressive climate change policies and I wanted to go down and see him in person. It turned out he was doing a rally in Seattle at Safeco Field.

  "By this point, it was pretty clear that Sanders wasn't going to win the nomination and yet there were thousands and thousands of people at his rally. Here I was, sitting in this baseball arena with thousands of other people from all age groups, and I just realized the power that could be had in imagining a more hopeful future and organizing around it.

  "Then, of course, several months later Donald Trump won and I had to re-examine a lot of those feelings. But I still stand by the feeling of hope that runs through a lot of the book, and a big reason for that was actually being in that arena and experiencing it first hand."

  Geoff Dembicki's comments have been edited and condensed.

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• Reviews by Amos Lassen
  http://reviewsbyamoslassen.com/?p=59694
  Word count: 528

  QUOTED: "His book changes how we view the biggest existential challenge of our time and he helps to redefine the generation that is now battling against the odds to solve it."

  Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change” by Geoff Dembicki— A Roadmap for Radical Resistance
  Leave a reply

  Dembicki, Geoff. “Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change”, Bloomsbury USA , 2017

  A Roadmap for Radical Resistance

  Amos Lassen

  Geoff Dembicki in “Are We Screwed?” tells us that we, the millennial generation, might not only experience “the doomsday impacts of climate change” but that “we will be most screwed” by it.

  We are also the last generation that is able to do something about the changes that will come. Dembicki went to Silicon Valley, Canada’s tar sands, Washington, DC, Wall Street and the Paris climate talks to find out if he should have hope or despair and what he learned surprised him. There are millions of people his age who want to radically change the world, and they are at the forefront of resistance to the politicians and CEOs who are steering our planet towards disaster.

  This is a firsthand account of this movement, and the shift in generational values behind it, through the stories of young people fighting for their survival. It begins with a student who abandons society to live in the rainforest and ends with a Muslim feminist inciting a political revolution. We also meet a Brooklyn artist who is terrifying the oil industry, a Norwegian scientist running across the melting Arctic and an indigenous filmmaker who challenges the worldview of Mark Zuckerberg.

  Dembicki argues for a safer and more equitable future and says that it is more achievable than we’ve been led to believe. His book changes how we view the biggest existential challenge of our time and he helps to redefine the generation that is now battling against the odds to solve it. In formulating his manifesto against the way things are now, he uses the stories of individuals who are fighting against

  climate change and analyzes and critiques many organizations that claim to be effecting change. He states quite plainly that Millennials do care about the future, so much so, that they are willing to fight for it. They will not allow themselves to “be screwed” even though the man running this country denies that climate change is happening. Taking action now can prevent disastrous events and he issues a challenge for us to take arms to prevent what seems sure to happen if we do not.

  Today, younger voters are energized by policy positions but ultimately disappointed by elected leaders. If they keep up the battle, there is a chance to win this war. Young people must stand up for their rights but they also must know what to ask for. We have not yet been “screwed” and we will not be, Dembicki tells us, if we all to work together to create a sustainable existence.

• Wisconsin Public Radio
  https://www.wpr.org/what-millennials-are-doing-combat-climate-change
  Word count: 1014

  QUOTED: "You often think, you know, to deal with climate change, we have to change our light bulbs or ride our bicycles more or do whatever at the individual level, but so many of the people I met while researching this book were taking new and novel approaches to the issue and were creating a lot of interested and political and economic change in the process."
  "when people actually go out and vote for people, for politicians who are promising bold and aggressive action on climate change."

  What Millennials Are Doing To Combat Climate Change
  Author: Voting For Leaders Promising Bold Action On Environment Is Simple But Effective Way To Get Involved
  By Breann Schossow
  Monday, August 28, 2017, 5:30pm
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  In 2015, a paper published by the researcher James Hansen, the so-called father of climate change awareness, offered a stark (and for some, controversial) warning: without a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, global sea levels would be likely to increase "several meters over a timescale of 50 to 150 years."

  That study — and the idea that coastal cities could be flooded by 2065 — led to a lot of thinking for author Geoff Dembicki and ultimately led to him write the book, "Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive."

  "You would have mass migrations of people that would make the Syrian refugee crisis look quaint and you could potentially have the collapse of civilization," Dembicki said. "I know that that sounds fairly extreme language, but for someone like myself ... that's a scenario I have to take seriously because it could occur in my lifetime, when I'm in my mid-80s or so"

  "You know, obviously, people of older generations will be experiencing impacts from climate change, but some of those really scary, apocalyptic scenarios are more likely to occur in the lifetime of millennials or anyone younger."

  Millennials are more likely than other generations to believe humans are responsible for climate change, according to past research from the Pew Research Center.

  In the book, Dembicki shared stories of young people getting involved in the fight against climate change. One involved a former Harvard University student Chloe Maxmin and a fossil fuel divestment campaign, which Dembicki called an interesting example of the kind of systemic change that can be achieved by a small group of people working together.

  In 2012, Maxmin and some fellow students created the campaign urging the university to sell off its investments in oil, coal and gas companies. Dembicki said it started small — just a few dozen students — and there were similar efforts at other colleges.

  Within a few years, those efforts spread to hundreds of colleges and universities around the world. By last December, Dembicki said, these efforts influenced $5 trillion worth of financial assets worldwide.

  "Obviously, that's a huge impact created in just a few short years and it just shows the power of actually going out and putting your concern about the environment or any other political issue into action and pushing for change," Dembicki said.

  Another millennial whose story Dembicki shared is that of Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, an indigenous filmmaker. While protesting drilling on the Blood Reserve in Alberta, she was arrested and put in jail overnight, Dembicki said. Tailfeathers reflected on her experiences and made films about them to unpack what she went through.

  "This is another example of someone who is looking at climate change from a very unique perspective, and is feeling the urgency of it and is dealing with it in a creative way," Dembicki said. "I think that's very typical of what you see among millennials. You often think, you know, to deal with climate change, we have to change our light bulbs or ride our bicycles more or do whatever at the individual level, but so many of the people I met while researching this book were taking new and novel approaches to the issue and were creating a lot of interested and political and economic change in the process."

  As for how to get active in the fight against climate change, Dembicki said the most effective solution is also the simplest: vote.

  "When people actually go out and vote for people, for politicians who are promising bold and aggressive action on climate change, that can have a huge impact."

  Dembicki pointed to the 2015 federal election in Canada. For nearly a decade prior, Stephen Harper had led the country as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. Dembicki said Harper was a close ally of oil and gas companies and he pulled Canada out of climate change treaties.

  But in the 2015 election, a surge of voting from young people, particularly people in their mid-20s, led to Harper being voted out of office. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was elected, and has said the country will put a price on carbon pollutions and invest in clean technologies.

  Other suggestions from Dembicki include getting involved in the community, composting and eating less meat.
  Host:
  Rob Ferrett
  Guest(s):
  Geoff Dembicki
  Producer(s):
  Breann Schossow
  Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change
  Image of Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change
  Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change
  Author: Geoff Dembicki
  Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (2017)
  Binding: Hardcover, 320 pages
  Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2018, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

• New York Journal of Books
  https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/are-we-screwed
  Word count: 725

  QUOTED: "This book isn’t the proverbial canary in the coal mine, it is a sharply written guide to getting enough oxygen to that lovely songbird."
  "If you don’t want your future to be in the hands of old white men, do read this evocative collection of stories about young people who are making a difference in environmental and political stewardship."

  Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change
  Image of Are We Screwed?: How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change
  Author(s):
  Geoff Dembicki
  Release Date:
  August 21, 2017
  Publisher/Imprint:
  Bloomsbury USA
  Pages:
  320
  Buy on Amazon
  Reviewed by:
  Roberta E. Winter

  ". . . read this evocative collection of stories about young people who are making a difference in environmental and political stewardship."

  “This book isn’t the proverbial canary in the coal mine, it is a sharply written guide to getting enough oxygen to that lovely songbird so it can fly to freedom in less particulate polluted air.”

  Scientists from 13 federal agencies have just released a Climate Change report with irrefutable evidence that humans are contributing to the most severe environmental degradation in thousands of years and acidification of the ocean exceeds anything in 66 million years!

  For sentient beings this is enough to create a drug or alcohol induced stupor, but there is some good news on the horizon, with Geoff Dembicki’s book, Are We Screwed? How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change. He offers a deft contemporary view of how the future will be impacted by millennials; global warming is one of their most compelling issues.

  Dembicki is a Canadian so he is not part of the American Republican versus Democrat divide on policymaking. He offers several stories of individuals who have used their life experience to build sustainable ecosystems, advocate for environmental reforms, and impact the decisions made at the corporate level. We can’t all retire to some self-sustaining island to live, but this book cites real actions that anyone can take to reduce their carbon footprint, advocate for better environmental policies, and build a community of advocates.

  Dembicki makes the case that millennials are capitalism’s worst nightmare because they are opting not to own cars, houses, and other material things, thanks to the philosophy of sharing resources, such as Lyft, Airbnb, and short-term rental of goods. A softening demand for cars means less of a market demand for oil, which means a much-reduced role for the petroleum industry. The “petrostate” will still have the plastics and chemical industries that rely on oil, but a huge sector of their industry is waning.

  India and many countries in Europe have made decisions to convert to electric cars, as policymakers throughout the world make changes based on market information driven by environmental impacts. Wall Street responds to consumer demands, and the voice of a new generation will change which products are sold and which companies succeed. As Dembicki aptly alludes, the collective voice does make a difference, and the social media savvy of the millennials is unparalleled.

  Dembicki emphasizes the necessity for progressive nonpartisan politics to solve global problems. For an insider’s view on The Paris Accords, read his chapter on those machinations and how young people ran across the Arctic, cycled across continents, and all other manner of suffering to raise awareness.

  For a much better idea of what a two-degree global temperature rise means, read this book. Most compelling is the quote from Morgan Curtis, a woman who cycled from Vermont to Paris, “We have to construct a different story of humanity, in which people stop seeing themselves as separate individuals floating through earth for scarce resources.”

  If you don’t want your future to be in the hands of old white men, do read this evocative collection of stories about young people who are making a difference in environmental and political stewardship.

  Roberta E. Winter has been a health care consultant with Praevalere Inc. since 1996 and has published a monthly health care column under the trade name healthpolicymaven since 2007. She is the author of Unraveling U.S. Health Care.