Accepting uncertainty

Drawing on Vaclav Smil, Pascal Couchepin advocates an approach to ecological challenges based on facts rather than rhetoric. Every month, the former Federal Councillor shares a piece of reading that has caught his attention.

Lisa Mazzone's ecstatic outbursts on the night of the rejection of the freeway extension prompted me to resume reading Vaclav Smil's essay, which I'd left aside. Faced with these demonstrations, which no longer stemmed from the legitimate satisfaction of having won, but from something deeper that approached a pseudo-mystical exaltation, I felt my spirit waver. And if I was wrong, I who had approved the project without enthusiasm but in the name of a pragmatic policy... Is Madame Mazzone some kind of prophetess, like Jeremiah announcing the fall of Jerusalem, who threatens us with the worst catastrophes if we don't rally to the cause?