Richard Heinberg

Richard Heinberg

Heinberg discussing energy at University of Toronto, March 2013
Born 1950
Occupation Writer, educator, environmentalist
Language English
Nationality USA
Ethnicity USA
Genre non-fiction
Subject peak oil, resource depletion, sustainability
Notable works

The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World

The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality
Spouse Janet Barocco
Website
www.richardheinberg.com

Richard Heinberg (born 1950) is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of thirteen books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute.

Career

Heinberg, after two years in college and a period of personal study, became personal assistant to Immanuel Velikovsky in November 1979 and after Velikovsky's death assisted Mrs. Velikovsky editing manuscripts.[1][2] He published his first book in 1989, Memories and Visions of Paradise: Exploring the Universal Myth of a Lost Golden Age,[3] which was the result of ten years of study of world mythology. An expanded second edition was published in 1995.[4] He began publishing his alternative newsletter, the MuseLetter, in 1992. His next book was published in 1993: Celebrate the Solstice: Honoring the Earth's Seasonal Rhythms through Festival and Ceremony.[5]

In June 1995, speaking to the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations in Dayton, Ohio, Heinberg provided "A Primitivist Critique of Civilization" and discussed the ways in which "We are, it would seem, killing the planet."[6]

His books from the later 1990s address the relationships between humanity and the natural world. In 1998, he began teaching at New College of California. in the "Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community" program, which he helped design. He remained a member of the Core Faculty until 2007, when the College closed its doors.

In 2003, Heinberg published The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies, one of the first full-length analyses on the issue of peak oil.

In 2004, Heinberg provided the closing address for the First US Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions. His title was "Beyond the Peak."

Heinberg in his garden in Santa Rosa, California. August 2011

In February 2007, Heinberg addressed the Committee on International Trade 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, the Green Party of Aotearoa organised a speaking tour of New Zealand for Heinberg, which included a presentation in the Beehive theatrette within the New Zealand Parliament building.[7][8] In 2008 he was a Mayor’s appointed member of the Oil Independent Oakland 2020 Task Force (Oakland, California),[9] which was convened to chart a path for the city to dramatically reduce its petroleum dependence.

Heinberg is now the Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute in Santa Rosa, California. He lives in Santa Rosa, California. He is also a violinist, illustrator, and book designer. He is married to Janet Barocco.

Heinberg has proposed an international protocol to peak oil management with the aim of reducing the impact of the arrival of the peak.[10] The adoption of the Protocol would mean that oil-importing nations should deal to reduce their importations in an annual percentage, while exporting countries should deal to reduce their exportations in the same percentage. The Uppsala Protocol[11] has been focused in a similar direction.

Heinberg is the editor of MuseLetter,[12] which has been included in Utne Magazine’s annual list of Best Alternative Newsletters. He has appeared in the documentaries The End of Suburbia, The 11th Hour, Crude Impact, Oil, Smoke & Mirrors, Chasing God, What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire, The Great Squeeze, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, A Farm for the Future and Ripe For Change.

Heinberg serves on the advisory board of The Climate Mobilization, a grassroots advocacy group calling for a national economic mobilization against climate change on the scale of the home front during World War II, with the goal of 100% clean energy and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.[13]

Heinberg is one of the more moderate commentators on peak oil (compared to others like James Howard Kunstler.[14])

Publications

See also

References

  1. ↑ Contributors. Kronos VI(2), Winter 1981.
  2. ↑ Sammer, Jan. The Velikovsky Archive. Aeon VI(2), Dec. 2001.
  3. ↑ Los Angeles, Calif.: Tarcher. 282 pp. ISBN 0-87477-515-9.
  4. ↑ Wheaton, Ill,: Quest Books. 294 pp. ISBN 978-0-8356-0716-2.
  5. ↑ Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books. 199 pp. ISBN 0-8356-0693-7.
  6. ↑ Heinberg, Richard (June 15, 1995). "The Primitivist Critique of Civilization". A paper presented at the 24th annual meeting of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio,. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Peak oil educator to visit New Zealand" (Press release). Green Party. 4 October 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Fitzsimons, Jeanette (11 October 2007). "Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers, Questions to Members". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Oil Independent Oakland (OIO) By 2020 Task Force". 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-05-25. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Oil Depletion Protocol
  11. ↑ Protocol of Uppsala
  12. ↑ http://heinberg.wordpress.com/
  13. ↑ "Advisory Board". The Climate Mobilization. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  14. ↑ http://kunstler.com/blog/
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