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, […]

MuseLetter #109 / February 2001 by Richard Heinberg This month I review three truly great books. The first – Gray Brechin’s Imperial San Francisco – is a recent title (1999). The other two were published quite some time ago (Stuart Ewen’s Captains of Consciousness in 1976, and William R. Catton’s Overshoot in 1980). Few periodicals […]

MuseLetter #107 / December 2000 by Richard Heinberg This Winter Solstice issue of MuseLetter comes at a season that is naturally one of quiet and reflection, but that in this instance cannot help but be one of outrage. Following some obligatory comments on current events, the bulk of this issue will be devoted to an […]