Why did the Deepwater Horizon blow up last year, kill 11 workers, and cause the massive oil eruption into the Gulf of Mexico? You’re likely to get different answers if you talk separately to a petroleum engineer or an anthropologist. When they team up, it gets really interesting. Anthropologist Joseph Tainter (author of The Collapse of Complex Societies) and petroleum engineer Tad Patzek talk about the new book they’ve co-authored: Drilling Down: The Gulf oil debacle and our energy dilemma.
Carl Etnier hosts.
Tags: Arctic oil, Culture & Behavior, Deepwater Oil, Education, Energy Infrastructure, Energy Policy, Fossil Fuels, Oil, Technology
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