ENERGY, CREDIT AND THE END OF GROWTH

Produced by:

KBOO

Program::

Air date:

Mon, 08/17/2015 - 10:15am to 11:00am

Balancing the unsustainable equation of perpetual growth and limited natural and financial capital.

ORIGINALLY AIRED ON JULY 13, 2015

The prosperous economies and the culture of growth that industrialized nations take for normal, and that most other nations aspire to, rest on cheap energy. But now that we have tapped the easy energy stores, the push for continued growth is taking increasing amounts of energy and investment money, leaving less for every other activity.

On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Nathan John Hagens, a former hedge fund manager, about the contradictions we face as the wealthy nations of the world and those aspiring to wealth try to balance the unsustainable equation of perpetual growth and limited natural and financial capital.

Nate Hagens contributed the article "Energy, Credit, and the End of Growth" to Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2015 anthology. Nate is a well-known speaker on the big picture issues facing human society. Until recently he was lead editor of The Oil Drum, one of the most popular and highly-respected websites for analysis and discussion of global energy supplies and the future implications of energy decline. Nate is currently on the Boards of Post Carbon Institute, Bottleneck Foundation, IIER and Institute for the Study of Energy and the Future. He teaches human ecology at the University of Minnesota.