Essay

“Peak Oil Demand” = Peak Oil

Originally posted at Resilience.org September 19, 2013 A new phrase has entered our energy lexicon—peak oil demand. The essential idea: prophets of doom who warned about a looming global petroleum shortfall (“peak oil”) were wrong; instead of a downturn in supply, we’re instead seeing the shrinkage of demand for oil. A non-problem just solved itself! […]

Museletter 256: Ten Years After

MuseLetter #256 / September 2013 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 116 KB) Ten Years After This year marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of my book The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, which has seen two editions and many printings, translations into eight languages, and […]

Museletter 254: Alaska's Coal: Flashpoint for Coming Climate Battles

MuseLetter #254 / July 2013 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 138 KB) Alaska’s Coal: Flashpoint for Coming Climate Battles If there is any place on planet Earth where we should dig in our heels against expanded coal mining, it is surely Alaska. Imagine the environmental travesty of ships by the hundreds […]

Museletter 251: There's Only One Real Option for Averting Economic and Ecological Ruin

MuseLetter #251 / April 2013 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 102 KB) This month’s Museletter is made up of a an essay I wrote for the book ‘Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth’. In addition I’ve included a link to a short video update about my forthcoming ‘Snake oil’ […]

Fossil Food & Agriculture - Richard Heinberg Q&A

While researching the topic of sustainable agriculture for a paper, high school junior Rhian Moore came across the work of PCI Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg. Rhian reached out to Richard for more information on the topic. Below are Rhian’s questions and Richard’s brief responses. We think they make for a nice primer of sorts.  Rhian: […]

Museletter #246: Gas Bubble Leaking, About to Burst

MuseLetter #246 / November 2012 by Richard Heinberg The US Presidential election campaign served up much in the way of promises but worryingly little in the way of energy and climate reality. For this month’s Museletter I’ve included three pieces I wrote as the campaign wrapped up — the last of the three is intended […]

Museletter #243: Our Cooperative Darwinian Moment

MuseLetter #243 / August 2012 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 116 KB) August’s newsletter brings together a new essay on facing the challenges of evolutionary success, and a preview of the script of a forthcoming short animation – to be released in the fall. Our Cooperative Darwinian Moment Evolution can be […]

Peak Denial

There is nothing but “Sad News for Peak Oil Disciples” these days, according to the Financial Post. The latest example: Leonardo Maugeri, a fellow in the Geopolitics of Energy Project at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs—and a long-time critic of Peak Oil analysis—has just published a new report, “Oil: The […]

Museletter #241: End of Growth Update Part 1

MuseLetter #241 / June 2012 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 123 KB) This month’s newsletter is part 1 of an update to my book The End of Growth: Adapting to our New Economic Reality. In The End of Growth, published in September 2011, I made the observation that world economic expansion, […]

Museletter #240: Top 11 FAQs

MuseLetter #240 / May 2012 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 119 KB) This month’s newsletter comes in 2 parts. The first part is what I hope you will find a useful and timely FAQ on current issues. It is the culmination of my experience from Q&A sessions during recent lecture tours. […]

$5 Gas = Long, Hot, Crazy Summer

Here in northern California gasoline is now retailing for $4.20 a gallon. Prices haven’t been this high since mid-2008. Forecasts for $5 per gallon gas in the US this summer are now commonplace. What’s driving prices up? Most analysts focus mostly on two factors: worries about Iran and increased demand from a perceived global economic […]

Welcome to the Post-Growth Economy

Originally published at The Guardian.   The tide of economic growth that has flowed since World War II may finally be ebbing.   For politicians and most economists, this is like saying the sky is falling. Growth has become guidepost and grail, the sine qua non of economic existence. Growth is necessary to job creation […]

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