MuseLetter #184 / August 2007 by Richard Heinberg [This issue is a joint publication with the journal Public Policy Research] During the past decade a growing chorus of energy analysts has warned of the approach of “Peak Oil,” the time when the global rate of extraction of petroleum will reach a maximum and begin its […]

MuseLetter #182 / June 2007 by Richard Heinberg My book The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse was released eight months ago; given the importance of its subject, I thought an update might be useful. Relevant developments during these few months have been both encouraging and discouraging. First […]

MuseLetter #178 / Feburary 2007 by Richard Heinberg My aim in this essay is to explore the history of the terms sustainable and sustainability, and their various published definitions, and then to offer a set of five axioms (based on a review of the literature) to help clarify the characteristics of a durable society. The […]

MuseLetter #177 / January 2007 by Richard Heinberg The problems of Climate Change and Peak Oil both result from societal dependence on fossil fuels. But just how the impacts of these two problems relate to one another, and how policies to address them should differ or overlap, are questions that have so far not been […]

MuseLetter #173 / September 2006 by Richard Heinberg Note to subscribers: The new book is out! I have a couple of cases of The Oil Depletion Protocol, so pre-publication orders are now being fulfilled; also it will soon be in bookstores. This month’s MuseLetter is one of those occasional issues that must serve stacking functions. […]

MuseLetter #171 / July 2006 by Richard Heinberg Dear Greg, Congratulations on your new book, Armed Madhouse. As with your previous work, I admire your dedication in exposing the machinations of government and corporate miscreants. However, this time around you’ve also taken a potshot at a target that I happen to know a good deal […]

MuseLetter #170 / June 2006 by Richard Heinberg News reports flitting across computer screens these days seem increasingly to be related to the subject of energy. But what do they signify? The modern world affairs analyst is in little better position to discern the patterns and portents than was his or her ancient Roman counterpart, […]

MuseLetter #159 / July 2005 by Richard Heinberg A paper presented at the FEASTA Conference, “What Will We Eat as the Oil Runs Out?”, June 23-25, 2005, Dublin Ireland Food is energy. And it takes energy to get food. These two facts, taken together, have always established the biological limits to the human population and […]

MuseLetter #152 / December 2004 by Richard Heinberg [Closing Address, by Richard Heinberg, to the First US Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions, Yellow Springs Ohio, November 14, 2004] First let me take this opportunity to express my great thanks to Pat Murphy, Faith Morgan, and Megan Quinn of Community Service, who have organized […]

August 29, 2004 In recent months a few of the many web sites that challenge the official account of the events of 9/11/2001 have also attacked the idea of peak oil. I would prefer to ignore this controversy – and there are good reasons for doing so, as some of these web sites lack credibility […]

MuseLetter #111 / April 2001 by Richard Heinberg These days much of my time is taken up with gardening (it’s spring!) and playing the violin. Recently my wife Janet and I saw the film Pollock, and I was inspired to begin working on an abstract expressionist painting for a wall in our living room. I’ve […]

MuseLetter #110 / March 2001 by Richard Heinberg Greetings to you, people of the year 2001! You are living in the year of my birth; I am one hundred years old now, writing to you from the year 2101. I am using the last remnants of the advanced physics that scientists developed during your era, […]