The Climate Nexus (RMB, 2015) analyzed and explored the economic and social realities facing water, food, energy and biodiversity. The Hard Work of Hope continues this narrative and seeks to develop effective solutions to the growing urgency for global action on climate change.

The Hard Work of Hope builds on events that have transpired since December 2015, including initial implementation of the UN’s 2030 Transforming our World global sustainable development agenda; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; the commitment of the Canadian federal government to establish a climate action plan; and the UN Climate Summit in Marrakesh, Morocco, which aimed to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement.

This latest RMB Manifesto emphasizes three themes: the growing urgency for global action regarding climate change; the fact that future development must not just avoid causing damage but strive to be ecologically and socially restorative; and the reality that effective solutions require changes to technology, restoration of biodiversity and increased public awareness.

Though contemporary politics and the state of the environment seem grim in this "post-truth world," there will always be hope. But that hope will require hard work by everyone if our planet is to remain a desirable place to live in a warming world.

Robert William Sandford is the EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the United Nations "Water for Life" Decade and also sits on the Advisory Committee for the prestigious Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy. He is a director of the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative, an associate of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan and a fellow of the Biogeoscience Institute at the University of Calgary. As well, he sits on the advisory board of Living Lakes Canada and is co-chair of the Forum for Leadership on Water and a member of the Advisory Panel for the RBC Blue Water Project. In 2011 he was invited to be an advisor on water issues by the InterAction Council, a global public policy think tank composed of more than 20 former national leaders, including Jean Chrétien, Bill Clinton and Vicente Fox.

Robert is the author of some 20 books on the history, heritage and landscape of the Canadian Rockies, including Water, Weather and the Mountain West (RMB, 2007), The Weekender Effect: Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns (RMB, 2008), Restoring the Flow: Confronting the World's Water Woes (RMB, 2009), Ethical Water: Learning to Value What Matters Most (RMB, 2011), Cold Matters: The State and Fate of Canada’s Fresh Water (RMB, 2012), Saving Lake Winnipeg (RMB, 2013), Flood Forecast: Climate Risk and Resiliency in Canada (RMB, 2014), and Storm Warning: Water and Climate Security in a Changing World (RMB, 2015). He is also the co-author of The Columbia River Treaty: A Primer (RMB, 2015) and The Climate Nexus: Water, Food, Energy and Biodiversity (RMB, 2015). Robert lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Robert William Sandford's profile page

Dr. Jon O’Riordan is a senior policy and research adviser to ACT (the Adaptation to Climate Change Team) at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He has formerly served as deputy minister of sustainable resource management and as assistant deputy minister of environment in the British Columbia government.

Jon O'Riordian's profile page