Rising tides

As every year, the Breakthrough Dialogue restores my hope in the world and in our ability to have meaningful conversations. In a few minutes, the morning plenary on geoengineering will start with my long-time co-author Jonathan Symons on stage. Later, I plan to attend a session on social and institutional challenges in the rewilding of agricultural land before driving up to UC Davis for coffee with a childhood friend.

One thing that I am particularly grateful for is that Breakthrough has not become a “church” but that they keep bringing together people with widely diverging perspectives and ideological orientations. In a time of rampant polarization with Twitter in particular inviting stereotyping and spitefulness, the Breakthrough Dialogue with its motto of “achieving disagreement” feels like something from a different world.