In this Frankly, Nate recasts his favorite book series, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, with some speculative “archetypes” of our human world grouped by various timelines. The eventual reduction in energy and material accessibility will likely alter the archetypes that we’re familiar with today – perhaps to become something not helpful to larger society. What categories of human archetypes in the future will have the potential to best influence their communities and the Earth? What will the most powerful among us choose when it comes to protecting their (monetary, temporary) wealth vs using it towards prosocial collective responses? Finally, and most importantly what archetypes will form a new Fellowship of humans to ‘bring the ring to Mordor’ during humanity’s ‘Bend not Break’ moment? Which archetype do you resonate with? Are there others?
Teaser photo credit: “Welcome to Hobbiton” sign in Matamata, New Zealand, where Peter Jackson’s film version was shot By Matt Boulton – Flickr: Matamata, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26538776
Nate Hagens is the Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF) an organization focused on educating and preparing society for the coming cultural transition. Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians and systems thinkers ISEOF assembles road-maps and off-ramps for how human societies can adapt to lower throughput lifestyles.
Nate holds a Masters Degree in Finance with Honors from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. He teaches an Honors course, Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota.
Related Articles
'SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id)
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.ID NOT IN (3500465) AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (2,3,5,9001)
) AND wp_posts.post_type = \'post\' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = \'publish\'))
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
LIMIT 0, 3'
In Tughgoz village, located in the remote Ishkashim District of Tajikistan, agriculture is more than a livelihood — it is the foundation of daily life. Like many rural communities in the region, village residents rely on their land, local knowledge, and traditional seed varieties to sustain their families and protect their future.
As wars escalate, ecological systems collapse, and inequality deepens, traditional, nation-centered ideas of security and peace are no longer sufficient. “Planetary peace” links peace with ecological balance, regenerative economics, social justice, and planetary cooperation in this new human era.
Nate invites listeners to view the constant churn of headlines through a wider-boundary lens. He begins with the misleading framing of recent oil production statistics by the United States, which blurs distinctions between crude oil and broader petroleum products.
