Dan Hoornweg has worked in urban infrastructure and sustainability since the 1980s when he worked for the City of Guelph as recycling coordinator. In a career that has taken him around the globe, working with more than 350 local governments, plus provincial and national agencies, Dan has become a leading expert in urban resilience and adaptation, material flows, energy systems and transportation. The work profiled here include books, media, reports, as well as his own reflections on the past and the future of global sustainability.

Read his Ontario Tech Sustainability Today blog posts, below in the Blogs section. For more readings, see his World Bank blog here.

Books

Letters to a Young Engineer

May 2024

Letters to a Young Engineer, now celebrating its 10th year in publication (2024), is a published collection of letters from industry experts and distinguished academics from across Canada, penned to the future engineers whose work will continue to build the foundations of infrastructure and society. Updated annually with new additions and updates from its authors, the book provides a combination of lessons from the past, advice for managing through the current age of disruption, and wisdom to strengthen sustainability of engineering solutions for a better future. 

Reports

Timeline of Sustainable Development: Emergence of the Anthropocene

May 2024

To understand where we will go, we must first understand how we got here. The Timeline of Sustainable Development, Emergency of the Anthropocene provides a look back to man’s earliest impacts on earth and insights into the cumulative effects, positive and negative, of progress on the world’s climate and society.

Region of Durham Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Progress Toward Net-Zero Climate Targets 

November 2023

Recently a fourth-year engineering student asked me, “So, how much trouble are we in?” With earth systems out of whack, like climate change and loss of biodiversity, burgeoning refugees, public debt, and active wars in Ukraine and Gaza, it is easy to despair, thinking a grim future awaits today’s youth. But there’s good news. Really.

Media

Africa’s Rising Cities

Nov. 19, 2021

Growing at unprecedented rates, and shaped by forces both familiar and new, dozens of African cities will join the ranks of humanity’s biggest megalopolises between now and 2100.

Several recent studies project that by the end of this century, Africa will be the only continent experiencing population growth. Thirteen of the world’s 20 biggest urban areas will be in Africa — up from just two today — as will more than a third of the world’s population.

Lookback from 2050: NPR Essay Shows How We Got Climate Change Under Control

April 2, 2019

It’s 2050. We’ve got climate change under control. And we got the job done through mass electrification, reimagining cities, protecting forests, and changing the way cows are fed.

That’s the future National Public Radio host Dan Charles envisioned last month, after interviewing Green New Deal leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and hearing her say she aimed to do more than just pass new laws.

Quirks & Quarks

Nov. 23, 2013

In this episode of “Quirks and Quarks,” the focus is on an often overlooked environmental issue: solid waste. While climate change and pollution usually top the list of concerns, we delve into the growing problem of global garbage production. Featuring insights from Professor Daniel Hoornweg of Ontario Tech University, who has dedicated years to studying solid waste, the episode explores the alarming rise of trash and its environmental impact. Tune in to learn about the challenges of managing our waste and the urgent actions needed to address this critical issue.

Blogs

Cheer Up. The Hard Part’s Over.

Jan. 3, 2024

Recently a fourth-year engineering student asked me, “So, how much trouble are we in?” With earth systems out of whack, like climate change and loss of biodiversity, burgeoning refugees, public debt, and active wars in Ukraine and Gaza, it is easy to despair, thinking a grim future awaits today’s youth. But there’s good news. Really.

Taxing the World’s Patience

Nov. 24, 2023

As Canada’s carbon tax appears to be going up in flames as fast as fossil fuels on a cold winter day, it may be worth asking what we get in return for a price on carbon. First, despite the global grumpiness with having to pay, pricing signals are one of the most powerful ways to influence behavior. The Conservative Party of Canada deserves considerable credit for reigning in the pollution that caused acid rain. This was largely accomplished through market instruments (a price on pollution) that were designed to include emissions on both sides of the US-Canada border.

Sustainability Round Two: The Women’s Match

Sep. 28, 2023

The men’s Sustainability Round One match featured Vaclav Smil versus Noah Yuval Harari. When trying to come up with a similar Round Two for women, one is struck by the difference in the “battle of the sexes”. Women seem to spend less time fighting each other and focus more on the broader sustainability battle at-hand.

Sustainability Match Round One: Vaclav Smil versus Yuval Noah Harari

Sep. 6, 2023

Yuval Noah Harari’s first bestseller Sapiens (2011) summarizes human history, the emergence of Homo sapiens, comparative civilizations, and the power of storytelling. Harari’s follow-up second bestseller Homo Deus (2016) examines Homo sapiens today with the premise that, in future, humanity will attempt to gain common happiness, immortality and God-like powers.

The Eleventh Commandment

July 27, 2023

Dana Meadows, likely the world’s most appreciated systems engineer and champion of sustainability, suggested an Eleventh Commandment: Though shalt not distort, delay, or sequester information.

What if Exxon, and its brethren fossil fuel companies agreed to disclose their climate models when asked back in the 1970s?

The Year of Living – (sort of) Radical Sabbatical Musings on Sustainability

July 1, 2023

One of the best perks of academia is the sabbatical; a year to think and write. The first leave is typically granted after acquiring tenure, and for the (usually) mid-30s academic, this heralds an opportunity to anchor their career with a concentrated block of time to research and publish. For the few academics longer in the tooth and closer to the end of their careers, a first sabbatical, can feel like a test-run for a new phase of life.

Blog post archive

Lessons learned from the past

February 11, 2020

A New Year’s resolution for global prosperity: Honesty

January 3, 2019

Toronto’s powerful pitch for Amazon

March 6, 2018

Why Amazon should dance with Toronto

September 20, 2017

Toronto: The elephant not in the room

March 22, 2017

Making of a miracle – Canada’s approach to carbon-free energy

March 10, 2016

The stars align again for Oshawa – Electric vehicles on the rise

January 25, 2016

Driving for a Better Greater Toronto Area

June 24, 2015

Think Snow

May 6, 2015

The Long Goodbye: A Life of Loss and Plenty

April 8, 2015

Linking Up: Getting There Is Key

March 5, 2015

A Big Hope – A Bigger and Better Toronto

February 18, 2015

Hillary Clinton’s Thoughts on Energy

June 24, 2014

Why a City’s Not a Duck

March 21, 2014

Hydro Power – Building Better Cities

March 20, 2014

Why Running a City is Like Paddling a Canoe?

January 24, 2014

Peak Waste and Poverty – A Powerful Paradox

January 23, 2014