- Museletter #345: How Much of the Worsening Energy Crisis is Due to Depletion? MuseLetter #345 / November 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version How Much of the Worsening Energy Crisis is Due to Depletion? Coal and natural gas spot prices have recently soared to record levels internationally, while oil is trading at over $80 a barrel—the highest price in seven years. Newspaper columnists are asking whether […]
- Museletter #344: Evolution and Climate Change Through the Lens of Power MuseLetter #344 / October 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Evolution and Climate Change Through the Lens of Power This essay is based on, and partly extracted from, the book POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL. During the last century, evolutionary biologists developed the idea that power (defined as the rate of […]
- Museletter #343: The Only Long-Range Solution to Climate Change MuseLetter #343 / September 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version This essay is adapted from my new book POWER: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival (New Society Publishers, September 2021). The Only Long-Range Solution to Climate Change Climate change is often incorrectly described as an isolated pollution issue. In this flawed framing, humanity […]
- Museletter #342: Questions to Richard Heinberg from a 15-Year-Old Student MuseLetter #342 / August 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Callum Alexander from Scotland recently contacted me with a few queries about renewable energy. I thought they were interesting questions that might occur to others, so I asked his permission to publish our dialog. Callum: If you replace a coal- or gas-fired power […]
- Museletter #340: Too Much Power MuseLetter #340 / June 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Too Much Power This article, the third in a series, is based on the Richard's forthcoming book, POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL. You can read the first article in the series here, and the second here. For information about the book and how […]
- Museletter #339: The Most Colossal Planning Failure in Human History MuseLetter #339 / May 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version The Most Colossal Planning Failure in Human History A couple of days ago I happened to pick up an old book gathering dust on one of my office shelves—Palmer Putnam’s Energy in the Future, published in 1953. Here was a time capsule of […]
- Museletter #338: The Evolution of Social Power MuseLetter #338 / April 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version The Evolution of Social Power This article is the second in a series based on Richard's forthcoming book, POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL. For information about the book and how to join a pre-release reading and discussion group please see postcarbon.org/power. […]
- Museletter #337: Understanding Power MuseLetter #337 / March 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Dear readers, This Month's MuseLetter includes two essays. The first is a glimpse at my new book, POWER, which will be out in September (and will be available soon for a pre-release sign-up guided reading group). The second asks what fountain pens (of all things!) […]
- Museletter #336: Capitalism, the Doomsday Machine (or, How to Repurpose Growth Capital) MuseLetter #336 / February 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Capitalism, the Doomsday Machine (or, How to Repurpose Growth Capital) David Fleming, the late British economist, contributed many blazing insights; one that’s captivated my attention recently has to do with capital. Fleming counted six kinds of capital (natural, human, social, scientific/cultural, material, and […]
- Museletter #335: Insurrection, pandemic, and censorship MuseLetter #335 / January 2021 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Insurrection, pandemic, and censorship On January 6, thousands gathered in Washington, DC to hear an inciteful speech from President Trump, then forcefully breached the US Capitol Building in an effort to disrupt the peaceful transition of presidential power—an institutional foundation of democracy. Some […]
- Museletter #334: 2020: The Year Consensus Reality Fractured MuseLetter #334 / December 2020 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version 2020: The Year Consensus Reality Fractured Virtually everyone agrees that 2020 was an abomination. An entire industry of opinion writers is busying itself with end-of-year handwringing, scouring every online thesaurus for adjectives to express just how horrible the last twelve months have been. […]
- Museletter #333: Making America ungovernable MuseLetter #333 / November 2020 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Making America ungovernable The US presidential election of 2020 is now behind us—or is it? President Trump has yet to concede his defeat, and many Republican lawmakers have demanded recounts and backed lawsuits. Some commentators fear that the current administration is laying the […]