Lecture: "Toward a Post Carbon Food System"
| Date/Time: | Thursday, 24 Sep 2009 at 8:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | Sun Room, Memorial Union |
| Cost: | Free |
| Contact: | |
| Phone: | 515-294-9934 |
| Channel: | Lecture Series |
| Categories: | Lectures |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Complete bio:
Richard Heinberg is the author of eight books including The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate
of Industrial Societies (New Society, 2003, 2005), Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon
World (New Society, 2004), The Oil Depletion Protocol (New Society, 2006), and Peak Everything
(New Society, 2007). His ninth book, Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis will be
published in June 2009.
Heinberg is a Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and is widely regarded as one of the
world's foremost Peak Oil educators. His monthly MuseLetter has been included in Utne
Magazine's annual list of Best Alternative Newsletters. He writes a regular column for the
Ecologist magazine and has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such
journals as The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Z Magazine, Resurgence,
The Futurist, European Business Review, Earth Island Journal, Yes!, Pacific Ecologist, Wild Matters, The
Proceedings of the Canadian Association of the Club of Rome, Canadian Dimension, Alternative Press
Review, and The Sun; and on web sites such as Alternet.org, EnergyBulletin.net,
GlobalPublicMedia.com, ProjectCensored.com, and Counterpunch.com.
His books include:
• Memories and Visions of Paradise: Exploring the Universal Myth of a Lost Golden Age (1989;
revised edition, 1995; British edition, 1990; Portuguese edition, 1991)
• Celebrate the Solstice: Honoring the Earth's Seasonal Rhythms through Festival and Ceremony
(1993; Italian edition, 2002; Portuguese edition, 2002)
• A New Covenant with Nature: Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture
(1996; Portuguese edition, 1998)
• Cloning the Buddha: The Moral Impact of Biotechnology (1999; Indian edition, 2001;
Japanese edition, 2001; Chinese edition, 2001)
• The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003; British, Italian,
German, Spanish, and Arabic editions, 2004-2005; revised North American edition,
2005; Spanish edition, 2007)
• Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World (2004; British edition 2005)
• The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism, and Economic Collapse
(2006; British edition, 2006)
• Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (2007)
A New Covenant with Nature was a recipient of the 1997 "Books to Live By" Award of
Excellence from Body/Mind/Spirit Magazine. In 2005, Powerdown received ForeWord
magazine's Bronze Environmental Award. In 2007, The Oil Depletion Protocol won ForeWord's
Gold Environmental Award as well as the Independent Publishers Book of the Year (IPPY)
Bronze Award in the category of Current Events.
His books have been translated into eight languages.
Since 2002, he has given over four hundred lectures on oil depletion ("Peak Oil") to a wide
variety of audiences-from insurance executives to peace activists, from local and national
elected officials to Jesuit volunteers.
He is a recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education (2006).
In February 2007 Heinberg addressed the Trade Committee of the European Parliament and
served as an advisor to the National Petroleum Council in its report to the U.S. Secretary of
Energy on Peak Oil. In October 2007 he addressed members of the New Zealand
Parliament. Currently he is a Mayor's appointed member of the Oil Independent Oakland
2020 Task Force (Oakland, California), which has been convened to chart a path for the city
to dramatically reduce its petroleum dependence.
Heinberg appears in the documentaries Earth2100 (ABC television, 2009); A Farm for the
Future (BBC, 2009); Blind Spot (2008); 11th Hour (produced and narrated by Leonardo
DiCaprio, 2007); The History Channel's Megadisasters series, episode "Oil Apocalypse"
(2007); Escape from Suburbia (2007); What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire (2007); Crude
Impact (2006); Oil, Smoke & Mirrors (2006); the nationally televised PBS documentary Ripe for
Change (2006); The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006); and The End of
Suburbia (2004).
He has been interviewed by Michael Toms (New Dimensions Radio), Art Bell and George
Noori (Coast to Coast AM), Thom Hartmann (Air America), and John Batchelor (WABC),
among many others. He has appeared on national radio and/or television (including ABC's
Good Morning America, Al-Jazeera, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian
Broadcasting Corporation, and C-Span) in ten countries, he has been quoted in Time
magazine (October 31, 2005), and his work has been discussed in Harper's (August, 2006)
and in syndicated articles by Reuters and Associated Press. An extensive interview with him
appeared in the August, 2006 issue of The Sun magazine.
The September 18, 2006 issue of The New Yorker noted that Heinberg's The Party's Over was
on Bill Clinton's summer reading list; according to Clinton interviewer David Remnick, the
former President's copy "was full of underlinings and what looked like the most serious
undergraduate's markings, with lots of exclamation points."
Heinberg has spoken at many colleges and universities, including Stanford University,
University of California, Berkeley (Goldman School of Public Policy), Schumacher College
(England), Smith College (Mass.), Marlboro College (Vermont), Hartwick College (Oneonta,
NY), University of Maryland, University of Vermont (President's Lecture), University of
Guelph (Ontario), Lester Pearson College (British Columbia), Glassboro State College (New
Jersey), Rockhill College (Kansas City), Virginia Commonwealth University, Young Harris
College (Georgia), Blackhawk College (Moline, Illinois), University of California at San
Bernardino, UC San Diego, Adelaide University (Australia), University of Toronto,
University of British Columbia in Vancouver, University of Michigan, University of Oregon,
Auckland University (New Zealand), University of New Hampshire, Tufts University
(Boston), Smith College (Mass.), New College of California (San Francisco), Millsaps College
(Jackson, Mississippi), Miami University (Oxford, Ohio, Grayson Kirk Distinguished
Lecture), Plymouth State University (Plymouth, New Hampshire, Sidore Lecture Series),
Hunter College (New York City), Stellenbosch University (South Africa), University of Cape
Town, Wits Business School (South Africa), University of Western Australia, and Kobe City
University of Foreign Studies (Japan).
For ten years, from 1998 through 2007, Heinberg was a Core Faculty member of New
College of California, where he taught a program on Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable
Community.
In the summer of 2006, he was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities
teaching fellowship at SUNY Potsdam (NY), where he led a series of eight all-day seminars
for selected faculty.
In November 2005, Heinberg delivered a brief invited keynote at an appearance by Prince
Charles in San Francisco, and subsequently gave a presentation at the Prince of Wales's
University of Cambridge Programme on Industry and the Environment.
He was selected to deliver the 2006 E. F. Schumacher lecture in Massachusetts and the 2007
Lady Eve Balfour lecture in London.
Heinberg has also presented at or for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, D.C.; the National School of Government (UK); University of Maryland's
Conference on Peak Oil and the Environment; New York Institute of Technology's 50th
anniversary conference, "Teetering on the Brink"; the 2005 national Mensa Colloquium;
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories; Ruskin Mill Educational Trust (England); the Soil
Association 2007 Annual Conference (Wales); the Development Bank of Southern Africa;
the Canadian National Farmers Union; the South African Institute of International Affairs;
the International Forum on Globalization; the Colombian Society of Engineers (annual
conference keynote); UBS Investment Bank; the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco; the
Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) annual workshops (Lisbon, Pisa); the Young
Presidents Organization (Guatemala); Progressive Insurance Company; Nike; the
International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations; the National Solar Energy
Conference; the Bioneers Conference; the Sustainable Energy Summit; the Midwest
Renewable Energy Fair; the annual FEASTA (Foundation for the Economics of
Sustainability) conference in Ireland; the World Affairs Councils of Santa Rosa CA and
Peoria IL; American Solar Energy Society; and Solfest.
In addition, he has given presentations to elected leaders in Portland, OR; Eugene, OR;
Sebastopol, CA; Bloomington, IN; San Francisco, CA; Stroud, England; and elsewhere.
He is listed in the following volumes of Marquis Who'sWho:
• Who'sWho in America
• Who'sWho in American Educaton
• Who'sWho in Science and Engineering
Heinberg is married to horticulturist/herbalist/massage therapist Janet Barocco; they live in
a suburban house retrofitted for energy efficiency and food production. Heinberg's primary
hobby is playing the violin. He performs frequently with chamber groups and jazz
ensembles.