Political economist, activist and writer Gar Alperovitz and Post Carbon Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg discuss ‘Equality and Inequality in a Shrinking Economy–Strategies and Consequences’.
This is a recording of video chat recorded May 22, 2012.
This is an important conversation taking an unflinching look at the global consequences–both obvious and surprising–of shrinking resource pools.
Gar Alperovitz is the Lionel R. Bauman professor of political economy at the University of Maryland. He is the author numerous books, including most recently America Beyond Capitalism and, with Lew Daly, Unjust Deserts. Gar is the co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative, an innovative think tank developing new models for sustainable, equitable and cooperative community development.
In addition to his work in economics, he is also an acclaimed historian whose work has focused on the decision to use atomic weapons at the close of World War II. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the New Republic, The Nation, and the Atlantic among other popular and academic publications. He has been profiled by the New York Times, the Associated Press, People, UPI and Mother Jones and has been a guest on numerous network TV and cable news programs, including “Meet the Press,” “Larry King Live,” “The Charlie Rose Show,” “Cross Fire,” and “the O’Reilly Factor.”
In addition to his media appearances, his work has been featured in TV documentaries, including two BBC programs and an ABC Peter Jennings Special on the use of the atomic bomb. As a well known policy expert, he has testified before numerous Congressional committees and lectures widely around the country.
Richard Heinberg is the author of ten books including The End of Growth: Adapting to our New Economic Reality (June 2011), Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis (2009), Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (2007), The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse (2006), Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World (2004), The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003)
He is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost Peak Oil educators. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, The Ecologist, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Z Magazine, Resurgence, The Futurist, European Business Review, Earth Island Journal, Yes!, Pacific Ecologist, and The Sun; and on web sites such as Alternet.org, EnergyBulletin.net, TheOilDrum.com, ProjectCensored.com, and Counterpunch.com.
He has appeared in many film and television documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour, and is a recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education.
