Peak Oil speech, April 15, Madison: Energy, Natural Resources, and Human Behavior on a Full Planet

Friday, March 27, 2009

This talk by Nate Hagens, Editor, theoildrum.com, will provide a framework for planning supply and demand mitigation and adaptation strategies to fossil fuel depletion. Nate believes by acknowledging and understanding both our biophysical (resource depletion) and biological (cognitive barriers, habituation, and belief systems) constraints we will be better able to choose cultural opportunities for sustainability. He synthesizes recent research in cognitive neuroscience, neuroeconomics, and evolutionary biology and their applications to sustainability oriented behaviors in addressing energy and environmental limits. Ultimately Hagens looks for those solutions that are aligned with not only what we have, but who we are.
Discussion to follow.

Nate Hagens is a PhD Candidate at the University of Vermont Gund Institute for Ecological Economics and Editor of The Oil Drum, an online global think tank devoted to energy and sustainability. Prior to UVM, Nate developed trading algorithms for commodity systems and was President of Sanctuary Asset Management, Managing Director of Pension Research Institute, and Vice President at the investment firms Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. Nate has an MBA with honors from University of Chicago and a BBA in Business Administration from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Example page from The Oil Drum, Advice To President Obama: Yes We Can, But Will We?

Science Hall
This event begins at 7:00pm in Room 180, Science Hall, on the UW-Madison campus. Science Hall is located on the corner of Park Street and Observatory Drive, across from Memorial Union. Parking is available in the evening in the ramp beneath the Helen C. White Library, on the opposite corner of Park and Observatory.