Thursday, April 19 at 7 pm I will be giving a special public lecture at New
College in Santa Rosa, CA, where I teach. I’ll use this opportunity to
explore a few of areas that I haven’t addressed in any previous talks:

1. The energy issues arising from governments’ attempts to deal with the
problem of climate change (looking specifically at the arguments and
proposals in Thomas Friedman’s article “The Power of Green” as
representative of mainstream thinking in this area)
2. The implications for electricity production of the Energy Watch Group’s
report on global coal supplies
3. A summary of the prospects for nuclear power and biofuels

No surprise: all of this leads to the conclusion that our main strategy for
surviving the decline of fossil fuels will be radical conservation.

The following is the public description of the event:

The Energy Transition: Global Response to Climate Change and Fossil Fuel
Depletion

The key shifts in human cultural evolution were energy transitions--from
scavenging to hunting and gathering, to agriculture, to industrialism. Today
we are at the beginning of the most large-scale, hurried, and fateful energy
transition in the history of our species--away from fossil fuels and toward
some mix of energy alternatives and energy conservation that has yet to be
worked out. This transition is compelled by the combined necessities of
climate change and the depletion of the very fuels that cause it--coal, oil,
and natural gas. Noted Peak Oil educator Richard Heinberg will explore
overlapping climate and depletion issues and assess some of the energy
options being widely discussed--including nuclear power, biofuels, and
"clean coal." He will also introduce relevant and surprising data from
recent studies.

Richard Heinberg (New College Core Faculty) is the author of seven books
including THE PARTY'S OVER, POWERDOWN, and THE OIL DEPLETION PROTOCOL. He
travels internationally to speak on oil depletion and energy policy, is a
recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education,
and appears in many film documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio's
forthcoming "11th Hour."

The lecture is open to the public, with a $5 requested donation.

New College of California
99 6th Street
Santa Rosa CA 95401
707-568-2605

Richard just got back late Friday night from the physically cold but socially active Vermont, where Professor Suzanne Levine and others at the University of Vermont in Burlington kept him very busy. He breakfasted with representatives of Vermont’s ten Peak Oil groups, which, while operating at all different levels, are still forming a fairly unique and exciting state-wide Peak Oil association.

Sandwiched between speaking with both graduate and environmental students’ groups, Richard presented two lectures, one at lunchtime and the other the evening UVM’s President’s lecture, which was well attended by both college and surrounding community members. Vermont is busy!

On Saturday and Sunday of the February 11-12 weekend, many key Post Carbon Institute folks, including board members Celine Rich, Julian Darley, Dick Bell, and Tony Buggleby, together with PCI staff Dave Room, Aaron Lehmer, Madeline van Roechoudt and Post Carbon Fellows Richard Heinberg and Richard Register, gathered in San Francisco for a Post Carbon Summit and strategy meeting. Richard noted afterward that he was impressed with the level of the discussion, and the commitment, knowledge and understanding among all of those present. The Post Carbon organization seems poised for a year of growth and even more effective action and accomplishment.

Three items of interest for this week of February 6, 2006:

Richard is writing hard up against the March 1st manuscript deadline for his book, The Oil Depletion Protocol. He says is his writing is going well and is keeping his hands full.

For the magazine readers among you, last week Richard submitted an article to American Prospect Magazine (http://www.prospect.org/web/index.ww), which will be coming out in their next issue...

Does anyone have clippings laying about of articles by or about Richard? It seems he is not so careful about saving these sorts of things, which his publisher says would be useful to have. We would love it if you would forward the source and date information to Susan@PostCarbon.org. New Society’s publicist, Beth Anne Sobieszczyk, and his assistant Susan Williamson, have been gathering and organizing articles published by Richard (other than his MuseLetters); reviews about his books; and written interviews with him.

November 13, 2005

Richard had a busy week, which started with a media blitzed event in San Francisco for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. Richard gave an opening 15-minute talk on Peak Oil (which is now at www.alternet.org); that afternoon the Prince gave a longer keynote taking in a broader range of environmental issues. See Shepherd Bliss’s account, “The Prince and the Peak� on www.energybulletin.net.

Richard is being filmed in Los Angeles Friday the 18th for a documentary being produced and presumably narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio (working title: “The Eleventh Hour�). Prior films on Peak Oil, such as “The End of Suburbia,� have been catalyzing communities across the globe. Several other PO docs are in production currently, but this one from DiCaprio will undoubtedly have the largest budget and highest profile of the lot.

Oil Depletion Protocol moving along, and Prince Charles to attend Peak Oil meeting.

The first is the Oil Depletion Protocol Project. Work is proceeding on this, and we now have the promise of a substantial donation from a generous individual to the get the Project off the ground. The first effort of the Project will be the production of a booklet for policy makers, and we are hoping to have that done within a couple of months. Professor Heinberg is in the process of finalizing a contract with the New Society Publishers for a book on the Protocol, to be released in June 2006.

Richard has also been invited to speak at a special appearance by Charles, Prince of Wales, in San Francisco on November 7, 2006. The two-hour program consists of a keynote speech by Prince Charles, followed by a fifteen minute introduction to Peak Oil by Professor Heinberg, then 15 minutes on global climate change by Professor Stephen H. Schneider, of Stanford University. The program will also include a panel discussion featuring CEO’s and government officials , including Chairman David O’Reilly of Chevron Corporation, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple Computer, and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, of California.