Richard Heinberg, one of the foremost peak oil educators in the US, will be coming to Vermont this week. On Wednesday evening (April 23), he will speak in Brattleboro, and on Thursday evening (April 24), he'll be in Montpelier. Details on the places and times for these events, plus how to arrange transportation to the Montpelier event, are at the Vermont Peak Oil Network web site.

Heinberg will also be speaking to legislators at the State House on Thursday at 9 am, and the talk will be broadcast live and streamed by WGDR, 91.1 FM Plainfield. The topic will be "Energy Overview: Navigating the Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewables."

In the northern half of the state, you can hear me interview him live, Wednesday at 1:05 - 2:00 pm on Equal Time, on WDEV 96.1 & 96.5 FM/550 AM.

In addition to his four books on peak oil, Heinberg writes a monthly Museletter. Several recent Museletters are especially interesting for Vermonters.

Climate change has received much attention in the State House, peak oil not so much. One Heinberg Museletter was the first essay I'm aware of that draws the connections between peak oil and climate change: Bridging Peak Oil and Climate Change Activism.

The nickel version:

Climate Change is an end-of-tailpipe problem, while Peak Oil is an into-fuel-tank problem... [b]oth groups [climate change and peak oil activists] are essentially working toward a reduction in society's consumption of fossil fuels...

For Climate Change analysts and activists, emissions are the essence of the problem, and so anything that will reduce emissions is viewed as a solution. If societies shift from using a high-carbon fossil fuel (coal) to a fossil fuel with lower carbon content (natural gas), this an obvious benefit in terms of climate risk-and it is potentially an easy sell to politicians and the general public, because it merely requires a change of fuel, not a sacrifice of convenience or comfort on the part of the general public. And so, again, climate analysts tend to accept at face value official high reserves estimates and production forecasts-in this case, for natural gas...

For depletion analysts and activists, societal dependence on vanishing, non-renewable energy resources is the essence of the greatest dilemma that our society currently faces. We have created a complex, global economic infrastructure built to run on fuels that will start to become scarce and expensive very soon. From this perspective, natural gas is not a solution but an enormous problem: even if the global peak in gas production is 10 to 20 years away, regional shortages are already appearing and will continue to intensify...

[I]t is probably inevitable that emissions and depletion activists will continue to pursue their separate policy goals. But it makes sense for the two groups to be informed by one another, and to cooperate wherever possible.

It is fairly obvious why such cooperation would benefit the depletionists: Climate Change is already a subject of considerable international concern and action, whereas Peak Oil is still a relatively new topic of discussion.

But how would such cooperation aid emissions activists?

In a word: motivation. As discussed earlier, emissions activists appeal to an ethical impulse to avert future harm to the environment and human society, while the Peak Oil issue appeals to a more immediate concern for self-preservation. In extreme circumstances, the latter is unquestionably the stronger motive...

Heinberg revisited the subject of climate change in November of last year, in an essay entitled "Big Melt Meets Big Empty."

In his most recent Museletter, "Resilient Communities: A Guide to Disaster Management," Heinberg recognizes that we are preparing too slowly to make a smooth transition to an energy-scarce future. He begins to explore what it would look like to modify existing emergency response institutions to prepare better for being unprepared.

Whatever his topic, Heinberg is invariably engaging and well grounded in the facts. And the topic of his every lecture and essay is a facet of what he calls "our central survival task for the decades ahead...to make a transition away from fossil fuels -- and to do this as peacefully, equitably, and intelligently as possible." I think you'll find it well worth your time to see him live in Brattleboro on Wednesday evening or in Montpelier on Thursday evening, or to hear him on the radio Wednesday at 1:05 pm (WDEV 96.1 & 96.5 FM/550 AM) or Thursday at 9 am (WGDR 91.1 FM or streaming).