The Resilience Community Forum is LIVE. Join the discussion here!

Limits to Growth: Where We Are and What to Do About It

By Nate Hagens, originally published by The Extraenvironmentalist

October 16, 2014

In this talk, Nate Hagens synthesizes the current landscape of global energy, environment and financial risks while offering suggestions on what to do as a hominid living on a full planet. He raises the question of whether it is possible to degrow our economies with conscious effort before our options are constrained by external forces. After a quick summary of the situation, he leads a conversation with the audience on appropriate responses to these challenges. Are large climate rallies accomplishing anything? If they aren’t, what is a better plan of action?

Recorded October 14th in Vancouver, BC. The event was part of New Economy Week 2014.

Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens is the Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF) an organization focused on educating and preparing society for the coming cultural transition. Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians and systems thinkers ISEOF assembles road-maps and off-ramps for how human societies can adapt to lower throughput lifestyles.

Nate holds a Masters Degree in Finance with Honors from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. He teaches an Honors course, Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota.

Tags: Culture & Behavior, degrowth, energy constraints, human behavior, limits to growth

A future of ‘fewer and less’ may be unavoidable. But how do we get there humanely?

By Robert Jensen, Savage Minds

With age, I’ve become more aware of the world’s complexity but also better equipped to come to simple, albeit painful, conclusions: We need to replace fantasies of endless growth with ideas about managing the contraction.

September 16, 2026

Affordability, not scarcity, is the real energy crisis

By Gail Tverberg, Our Finite World

In this post, I examine differences in economic behaviour by comparing two types of periods: those with low energy affordability and those with high energy affordability.

August 26, 2026

Inside the struggle to dismantle America’s greenhouse gas data

By Rachel Santarsiero, Ashley Braun, DeSmog Blog

New accounts show the oil and gas industry trying to weaken methane reporting while saving the federal emissions system it relies on.

August 24, 2026

Comments

We changed commenting systems on September 10, 2026 as part of a site-wide functionality and security upgrade. Your past comments have not disappeared, and you can still log in with your old Disqus account credentials if you wish. Contact us with any questions.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted