Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens is the Executive Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF). Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians, and systems thinkers, ISEOF assembles roadmaps for understanding how human societies might adapt to lower-throughput lifestyles.

Nate hosts the podcast The Great Simplification, where he has conversations with experts in energy, ecology, government, technology, and the economy to provide a systemic view of the world around us.

After ten years in finance, Nate left Wall Street to study the interrelationships between energy, ecology, and economics—and the implications for human futures. He was the Managing Editor of The Oil Drum, one of the most respected websites for analysis and discussion of global energy supplies and implications of the upcoming energy transition.

Unordinary Interventions: How to plant seeds for a better future

What can one person actually do about the metacrisis? In this week’s Frankly, Nate explicitly outlines just a few of the countless actions we can take to actually change what’s coming.

October 6, 2026

‘Watch with both eyes open’: Nate Hagens on the beauty and the horror of our moment

Nate reflects on a week spent with friends and peers who share his understanding of the world’s converging crises and what it revealed about the deeply human need to be fully seen.

September 21, 2026

Andrew Millison

Andrew Millison — Restoring Global Ecology: The Great Green Wall and Large-Scale Permaculture in Action

In this conversation, Nate sits down with permaculture educator Andrew Millison to discuss the Great Green Wall project, a massive ecological initiative aimed at combating desertification in the Sahel region of Africa.

September 7, 2026

How to Think About the Future – Part 6: What matters most in an uncertain future?

Nate turns from describing possible futures to exploring how we can make decisions when certainty is impossible. He introduces a framework for planning under uncertainty by distinguishing between two common mistakes – failing to respond to real risks, and taking decisive action based on incomplete understanding.

August 17, 2026

How to Think About the Future – Part 5: How to build resilience from within

Nate scales his exploration of civilizational futures down to the future of a single human life and analyzes how the same patterns that shape economies, power, geopolitics, and Earth systems turn inward.

July 20, 2026

A legacy worth celebrating? Reflecting on 250 years of the American experiment

As America marks its 250th birthday, Nate takes a moment to step outside of the celebrations to seek out a wider boundary perspective on this milestone holiday. He poses the question of whether the United States has truly matured as a nation over two and a half centuries, particularly through the lenses of energy, ecology, history, and culture.

July 13, 2026

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