The 2026 energy crisis and our Wile E. Coyote moment
Richard Heinberg, Resilience.org
For the past couple of decades, we at Post Carbon Institute have been pointing out that a transition to alternative energy sources will necessarily be slow and incomplete. Given that oil is a depleting, polluting, non-renewable resource, industrial society is due for a reckoning. We are all in an extended Wile E. Coyote moment.
Upcoming Events
Editor’s Picks
Latest
Energy
Economy
Environment
Plastic waste is reshaping flood protection in cities
Food & Water
Society
Featured Topics
Uncharted Territory
No matter where you are in your climate journey, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to questions like: what should I do now? Or, where do I belong? To find our way, we don’t need more information, we need orientation.
Chokepoint
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of all seaborne oil trade moved in 2025, has laid bare our society’s utter dependence on crude oil and natural gas. But our disastrous dependence on fossil fuels is not a new story. What might be different this time?
The Hidden Power of Forests
In a natural, diverse forest, trees are so well connected that they behave as a single organism in many ways. For generations, Indigenous communities have understood their deep interconnections within and among forest elements—and in recent decades, science has explored how these fascinating systems work.
Nourishing a Bioregional Economy
In the globalized economy, money is the shaper of outcomes. If bioregioning is critical to achieving a prosocial and environmentally sound society, the economy needs to go bioregional too.
Beyond the Brink
Imagining a better future is an act of bravery, especially when you’re aware of all the challenges we face in the present. Envisioning a better world is essential, can be empowering, and is how our actions become the building blocks of real, transformative change.
Bioregioning
Millions of people are searching for a way to live that can meet their needs without undermining the life-support systems of the planet. Although there are no easy solutions to planetary overshoot or quick fixes to the culture behind it, bioregioning offers a deeply positive and systemic way forward.
Troubled Waters
Microplastic pollution is an issue that’s easy to overlook, but it’s deceptively threatening to both ocean and human health. Microscopic plastic particles are now found in nearly everything on the planet—from the deepest parts of the ocean to inside the cells of living beings.
Acceptance and Agency at the End of Modernity
Modernity is a story of inevitable growth and progress deeply embedded in the consciousness of our culture and institutions. But now both the story and the real-world manifestations of modernity may be expiring.
Where the Wild Things Were
We are experiencing a devastating loss of wild nature—both the habitats that have been left unaltered by human activity and the species that have historically inhabited those places. Where the Wild Things Were offers a place to start for addressing this crisis.
The Great Unraveling
Environmental and social challenges are now compounding to threaten the very systems that support the world we know. What does this Great Unraveling mean for both human civilization and the global ecosystem, and what we can do in response?
Democracy Rising
Deliberative democracy: What it is, why it’s powerful, why the time is right for it, how it works, and how to get it going in your community.
Online Course
Think Resilience
Start doing something about climate change and our other sustainability challenges—starting in your own community.
Think Resilience features twenty-two short video lectures by Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s foremost experts on the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels.
Resilience+ Deep Dives
Deep Dive: Building Emotional Resilience
- Panel event with Lise van Susteren and Dekila Chungyalpa (recording)
- 2 recorded interviews with emotional resilience experts
- 3 articles by Richard Heinberg and Rachel Donald
- Additional curated resources
Deep Dive: Surviving Political Polarization
- Panel event with experts on polarization and belonging (live/recorded)
- Facilitated discussion to exchange ideas & resources (live/recorded)
- 2 recorded interviews with experts and on-the-ground practitioners
- 2 articles by Richard Heinberg
- Additional curated resources
Deep Dive: Navigating Climate Unraveling
- Panel event with renowned experts (live/recorded)
- Facilitated discussion to exchange ideas & resources (live/recorded)
- 3 recorded interviews with on-the-ground practitioners
- 3 articles by Richard Heinberg
- Additional curated resources
Resilience+
Deep Dive: Navigating Climate Unraveling
- Panel event with renowned experts (live/recorded)
- Facilitated discussion to exchange ideas & resources (live/recorded)
- 3 recorded interviews with on-the-ground practitioners
- 3 articles by Richard Heinberg
- Additional curated resources
At Resilience+
Deep Dive: Navigating Climate Unraveling
- Panel event with renowned experts (live/recorded)
- Facilitated discussion to exchange ideas & resources (live/recorded)
- 3 recorded interviews with on-the-ground practitioners
- 3 articles by Richard Heinberg
- Additional curated resources
Online Course
Think Resilience
Start doing something about climate change and our other sustainability challenges—starting in your own community.
Think Resilience features twenty-two short video lectures by Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s foremost experts on the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels.
