Nate Hagens: Umbrella View of Resource Depletion & Human Behaviour

Talk by Nate Hagens of University of Vermont on Resource Depletion, Energy Supply, peakoil, Energy Demand, Human Behaviour and Finance held at the Alcatraz 'Peak' Summit from 26 to 28 June in Italy hosted by The Oil Drum, ASPO Netherlands and ASPO Italy. Nate's presentation I witnessed this June at the informal meeting organised by theoildrum.com and ASPO near Perugia, Italy, , is extremely interesting, if more than a little speedy. I highly recommend this presentation as it served to summarise in an hour what we had been talking about at Alcatraz for three days straight.

Umbrella View of Resource Depletion & Human Behaviour from Rembrandt Koppelaar on Vimeo.

Nate Hagens on Century of the Self(less)

Nate Hagens, the ex-vice president of Lehman Brothers turned generalist Limits to Growth scholar, wrote and article that introduced me to the wonderful documentary 'The Century of the Self', about how psychoanalysis was used in pubic relations and advertisement to bring consumerism and stable, western style democracy to a whole new level. Here is the link to the article for theoildrum.com on the BBC documentary 'Century of the Self'. I seriously recommend both the article and the documentary.

"I've recently rewatched The Century of the Self (COTS), a four part BBC special on the birth and explosion of public relations/advertising, and it's impact on American culture. The series documents how the Freudian theory of subconscious irrational behavior was seized on and manipulated by governments and businesses in the 21st century, initially spearheaded by Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, and consultant to several administrations (Coolidge, Roosevelt, Wilson per COTS). While watching, I had to agree that the 20th century WAS the century of the self, and in no small part from the cultural push/pull of advertising/media. The films creator, Adam Curtis, seemed to suggest that studying the behaviors of individuals is interesting, but that the real power to move societies lies in the ability to impact the psychology of crowds, via appealing to subconscious desires (for freedom, status, etc.)"

Documentary 'The Century of the Self, by Adam Curtis and the BBC

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Nate Hagens on Energy, Resources and Human Demand on a Full Planet

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Nate Hagens is an ex vice president of Lehman Brothers who voluntarily left his business career some years ago out of concerns about 'negative externalities'. Now he is doing his PhD at the University of Vermont Gund Institute for ecological economics, establishing connections in his research between the limits to growth and different possible responses, both in terms of alternative energy sources and change in consumption behaviour. I don't always like his reductionist take on questions of behaviour and ideology, explaining patterns of behaviour in terms of biochemical brain functions, but he has a lot to say about the predicament of the limits to growth.

His university page introduces Nate Hagens in these terms:

Nate is studying the impacts that a decline in liquid fuels will have on planetary ecosystems and society. On the supply side, he is exploring net-energy comparisons of the primary alternate fuel sources to oil: coal, wind, nuclear and biomass. While many new energy schemes will produce profits from a bottoms-up perspective, an EROI (Energy Returned on Energy Invested) analysis from a top-down perspective limits the scope of energetically and ecologically sound replacements for fossil fuels.

Because of this, real progress on the human and planetary scale issue will likely come from a reduction in consumption. On the demand level, Nate is studying the evolutionary mechanisms that cause humans to seek novelty, act impulsively, and value the present over the future (steep discount rates). Specifically, our neural plasticity combined with a culture promoting growth and consumption results in biochemical positive feedback loops akin to addiction. We can however, be happier, healthier and more sustainable by consuming less, if we are provided with a different cultural carrot. Nate’s thesis lies in modeling sustainable scale solutions to the future decline in EROI by researching ways to reduce the steepness of our discount rates, thus giving more weight to the planet’s future.