collapse

Chris Vernon – Net Energy, Energy Scenarios & Climate Change

Chris Vernon surveyed the prospects for oil, gas and coal supplies over the next 50 years. He argued that, because the energy cost of producing these fuels is rising as more difficult sources have to be used, the actual amount of energy that will be available for other purposes will fall off more quickly than has been recognised so far.

Richard Douthwaite – Emergency? What Emergency?

Richard Douthwaite looked at the problems created by the availability of cheap energy. He believes it shaped capitalism and our monetary systems, led manufacturers and farmers to adopt unsustainable technologies, and permitted a six-fold increase in the human population while creating a concentration of power and wealth in very few hands.

Dmitry Orlov – Seizing the Mid-Collapse Moment

Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse, explored the question "What is it that we are looking at here, and what can we do about it?" He believes that there is not much hope for a global financial system and economy, nor should there be given the huge problems it is causing with the environment. If this is the case, then what can people do, in terms of coping with financial collapse, creating community resilience, and re-skilling for the new, local, self-reliant, highly manual age that is coming?