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Richard Heinberg’s Legacy

A prolific writer, teacher and communicator trying to alert students, policymakers and the public to the limits to growth on a finite planet, Richard was, in my experience, also humble and a good listener, always interested in different perspectives.

The world has lost a voice of clear, truth-telling wisdom—Richard Heinberg—whose work reached millions of people and fundamentally changed the lives of thousands.

Richard’s writing never minimized the severity of the challenges before us, but neither did it surrender to hopelessness. Again and again, he insisted that another path could be imagined and designed—one based on ecological understanding, community-based economics, and a renewed culture of commoning.

On Sunday, July 19, we lost our kind, brilliant friend and colleague, Richard Heinberg. 

I’ll never forget it. My family and I had just arrived in San Francisco in 2024 to begin a long tour with my podcast. I immediately reached out to Richard and was welcomed with the kindness that characterised him as much as his work.

I feel so deeply grateful to have known him, and for the support and enthusiasm he showed for the Transition movement as it emerged. He was a sensitive and thoughtful man who knew that human beings could do so much better.

Richard’s clarity and kindness went right into my heart. My activist was ignited again, not to stop the system but to help my community and others adapt. With kindness.

Richard Heinberg was a great sentinel, but he was never shrill. He had the intellectual and moral courage, underlain by common sense, to take radical stances. Anything but a technocrat, he always championed mutual aid and relocalization, never abandoning humanity. His death is a terrible loss.