MuseLetter #215 / April 2010 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 104 KB) Economic History in 10 Minutes Throughout over 90 percent of our species’ history, we humans lived by hunting and gathering in what anthropologists call gift economies. People had no money, and there was neither barter nor trade among members […]

Silly me. Here I had thought that world leaders would want to keep their nations from collapsing. They must be working hard to prevent currency collapse, financial system collapse, food system collapse, social collapse, environmental collapse, and the onset of general, overwhelming misery—right? But no, that’s not what the evidence suggests. Increasingly I am forced to conclude that the object of the game that world leaders are actually playing is not to avoid collapse; it’s simply to postpone it a while so as to be the last nation to go down, so yours can have the chance to pick the others’ carcasses before it meets the same fate.

It was the pivotal international conference of the new century. Tens of thousands showed up, including heads of state, officials at all levels of government, representatives of environmental organizations, and ordinary citizens from nearly 200 countries. Scientists had warned that, without a strong agreement to reduce carbon emissions, the consequences for civilization and the world’s ecosystems would be cataclysmic.

MuseLetter #211 / December 2009 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 109 KB) richardheinberg.com 1. Is "Clean Coal" a Dead End? Note: this article is being featured in the first issue of the new magazine Solutions. Many energy experts, politicians on both sides of the aisle, and representatives of the coal industry […]

MuseLetter # 210 / November 2009 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 122 KB) richardheinberg.com 1. Dilemma & Denial A couple of weeks ago Jerry Mander and I were discussing the best word to use in the heading for the back cover copy of a new short book being co-published by International […]

MuseLetter 209 / October 2009 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 123 KB) richardheinberg.com 1. Our Evanescent Culture And the Awesome Duty of Librarians How secure is our civilization’s accumulated knowledge? It is a question that, in a fundamental sense, transcends many life-and-death concerns (threats of sickness, natural disaster, or military invasion) […]

Due to unforeseen licensing issues I am not able to publish the Museletter which I had ready for September. I hope to be able to return to normal service in October. In the meantime my latest commentary has been published here on postcarbon.org. -Richard

MuseLetter 208 / August 2009 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 127 KB) richardheinberg.com Everyone agrees: our economy is sick. The inescapable symptoms include declines in consumer spending and consumer confidence, together with a contraction of international trade and available credit. Add a collapse in real estate values and carnage in the […]

MuseLetter 207 / July 2009 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version here (PDF, 91 KB) On July 11, 2008, the price of a barrel of oil hit a record $147.27 in daily trading. That same month, world crude oil production achieved a record 74.8 million barrels per day. For years prior to this, a […]

This month’s MuseLetter brings together two pieces that share a connecting theme — is humanity capable of making the necessary changes to save the planet and so itself? The first article Look on the Bright Side discusses this from the viewpoint of the huge shifts that are already occuring as a result of economic decline. Somebody’s Gotta Do It explores the job of trying to lead change and the challenges faced by all who attempt so to do.

MuseLetter 205 / May 2009 by Richard Heinberg This month I have been putting the finishing touches on Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis, which will be published in June by New Society Publishers; and Energy Limits to Growth, which will be released at about the same time by International Forum on Globalization […]