Ben McCall is the initiator and Founder of the Planetary Limits Academic Network (PLAN), Professor of Sustainability, and served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Hanley Sustainability Institute at the University of Dayton.
In conversation: Dave Murphy and Tom Murphy – What if the energy transition is not enough?
In the concluding installment of this discussion series, Tom Murphy and Dave Murphy wrestle with whether a just energy transition can truly be sustainable, or whether modernity itself is a dead end on a finite planet.
May 26, 2026
In conversation: Dave Murphy and Tom Murphy – Can modernity become sustainable? Cont’d
In this installment of an ongoing series, Tom and Dave Murphy explore what “sustainable” truly means and whether any disruption to natural ecosystems or energy flows by humanity is inherently unsustainable.
May 19, 2026
In conversation: Dave Murphy and Tom Murphy – Can modern civilization ever be sustainable?
Can modern civilization survive for the long term within planetary limits? This dialogue pits optimism about renewable energy and human adaptability against a more fundamental critique: that modernity itself may be incompatible with ecological sustainability.
May 6, 2026
In conversation: Dave Murphy and Tom Murphy – if modernity can’t last forever, what comes next?
If modernity cannot endure within planetary limits, what comes next? Dave Murphy and Tom Murphy debate the likelihood of collapse, the possibility of adaptation and what we owe each other in a time of ecological overshoot.
April 27, 2026
In conversation: Dave Murphy and Tom Murphy – can modernity survive planetary limits?
In a wide-ranging exchange, physicist Tom Murphy and energy scholar Dave Murphy explore the tension between optimism and planetary limits, debating whether modernity can endure or must give way to something entirely new.
April 23, 2026







