We Did It!? cover which features a dandelion.

A Word From The Editors

October 2050

Welcome to the inaugural issue of We Did It!? Longtime subscribers may be confused, but rest assured this is still the same quality reporting and storytelling you’ve come to expect for the last 25 years from Can We Do It? The name has changed, but the mission remains. We began this journey in 2025, setting out to chronicle Canada’s aspirational journey to Net Zero. Frankly, it’s been a circuitous path. But here we are. It’s 2050. We had some doubts along the way, not a few setbacks, and too many tragedies. But when Prime Minister Rathmaran triumphantly announced in August that Canada had done it, proclaiming that we had joined the sorority of net zero nations, the editorial team met the news with joy, and the realization that a name change was in order for the labour of love that is our little zine.

Life

Culture

Lives Lived

Poetry Corner

Community

How We Did We Did It!?

Net Zero commitments have proliferated in the last few years and Canada is no exception. There are multiple reports now available that discuss what is required technically for Canada to achieve Net Zero by 2050 (i.e., the mix of energy technologies and patterns of use, speed of transition to renewables, timing for electric vehicles to replace internal combustion engines, sectoral goals for limiting emissions or producing negative emissions, etc.). There are far fewer discussions of the social and political conditions, decisions, levers, and critical junctures needed to make net zero by 2050 a reality. Still fewer are stories or ways to imagine how we might achieve and live in a Net Zero Canada.

The Environmental Governance Lab at University of Toronto is working to address this gap in our knowledge and in our imagination by producing a series of “We Did It!?” volumes from the perspective of writers in the year 2050 reflecting on the achievement of net zero in Canada. Through workshops with sectoral experts, writers, and stakeholders, this project develops stories to spark realistic, but hopeful conversations about imagining not just what the net zero future looks like, but also how to get there. Rather than exercises in forecasting or identification of technical requirements, these volumes focus especially on the political choices and social dynamics that lead from 2023 to a Net Zero Canada in 2050. In other words, they tell stories that imagine how social and political change might look and where it might take us. These stories also explore challenges and obstacles encountered and overcome (or not). The stories are filled with contingencies, surprises (good and bad), unanticipated consequences, and different pathways both to and away from the goal of net zero, just as we assume Canada’s real path to net zero will be. They are also (we hope!) enjoyable reads.

Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the Alan Dean Family Symposium. In addition, the Environmental Governance Lab is hosted by the Department of Political Science and the School of the Environment. We very much appreciate their support for all of our activities. 

  • Matthew Hoffmann

    Steven Bernstein

    Teresa Kramarz

    Managing Editor: Michaela Pedersen-Macnab

  • Director of Design and Layout: Isla McLaughlin

    Illustrations: Joseph Donato

  • Madhur Anand

    Christine Bolus-Reichert

    Zoë Bolus-Reichert

    Victoria Butler

    Carley Chavara

    Nadège Compaoré

    Runa Das

    ryan fitzpatrick

    Danny Harvey

    Hannah Hoag

    Christina Hoicka

    Nathan Lemphers

    Jose Martini Costa

    Isla McLaughlin

    Furqan Mohamed

    Kate Neville

    Vanbasten Noronha de Araujo

    Cheryl Teelucksingh

    Marlene Terstiege

    Laura Tozer

    Caleb Wellum

    Jennifer Winter

    Adonis Yatchew

  • Bentley B. Allan – Transition Accelerator

    Madhur Anand – University of Guelph 

    Steven Bernstein – University of Toronto 

    Christine Bolus-Reichert – University of Toronto

    Zoë Reichert – University of Toronto 

    Victoria Butler – University of Toronto

    Carley Chavara – University of Toronto

    Nadège Compaoré  – University of Toronto

    Runa Das – Royal Roads University

    ryan fitzpatrick – University of Toronto 

    Kathryn Harrison – University of British Columbia 

    Danny Harvey – University of Toronto

    Hannah Hoag – The Conversation 

    Matthew Hoffmann – University of Toronto

    Christina Hoicka – University of Victoria

    Eva-Lynn Jagoe– University of Toronto

    Teresa Kramarz – University of Toronto 

    Jose Martini-Costa – University of Toronto 

    Nathan Lemphers – Government of Canada 

    Isla McLaughlin – University of Toronto 

    James Meadowcroft – Carleton University

    Furqan Mohamed – University of Toronto 

    Kate Neville – University of Toronto

    Vanbasten Noronha de Araujo – University of Toronto

    Michaela Pedersen-Macnab – University of Toronto 

    Johannes Stripple – Lund University

    Cheryl Teelucksingh – Toronto Metropolitan University

    Marlene Terstiege – University of Toronto 

    Laura Tozer – University of Toronto

    Caleb Wellum – University of Toronto 

    Jennifer Winter – University of Calgary 

    Adonis Yatchew – University of Toronto 

  • Matthew Hoffmann — Net Zero People

    Runa Das and Matthew Hoffmann — Being Climate Friendly Helps Beloved Bakery

    Isla McLaughlin — Shrooms for the Climate

    Matthew Hoffmann — Word of the Year 2040

    Matthew Hoffmann — 2050’s Hottest Christmas Gift

    Teresa Kramarz — Thirsty

    Victoria Butler — Pride and Joy

    Hannah Hoag — Discredited

    Victoria Butler — Disaster

    Shakthi Suthakaran — Tragic Resilience of Humanity

    Nathan Lemphers — Travelogue

    Furqan Mohamed — Relics

    Furqan Mohamed — Participation Award

    ryan fitzpatrick — Letter to Hammertown

    Isla McLaughlin — Community Forum

    Laura Tozer — Help Wanted

ISSN 2817-321X (Print)

ISSN 2817-3228 (Online)