What Could Possibly Go Right? #43 Richard Heinberg: Changing Our Relationship with Power
Richard Heinberg is an author, Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Post Carbon Institute, and widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost educators on the need to transition society off fossil fuels. His forthcoming book, POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL is now available for pre-order.
Since 2002, Richard has spoken to hundreds of public, government, and business audiences around the world, and has made countless appearances on radio and television. He is the award-winning author of fourteen books and a recipient of the Atlas Award for climate heroes (2012) and the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education (2006).
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That there are many definitions of power - energy transfer, ability, authority, domination.
- That the adoption of fossil fuels was the most consequential event in human history – providing many benefits, but at enormous cost of climate change, resource depletion, pollution and crowding out other species.
- That we have to relearn and apply the wisdom of power self-limitation, “in a way that enhances our experience of life”.
- That “native cultures, indigenous cultures, had ways of conserving resources and sharing resources and preventing some people from getting a lot more powerful than others.”
- That today’s social fabric is woven of vertical social power, whereas pre-agricultural societies were characterized by horizontal power of “we can all do this together”.
- That we need to consider: “How do we use power responsibly, in order to overcome some of these unhealthy systems of power that have gotten out of control?”
Pre-order POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL: https://power.postcarbon.org/preorder/
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