Carey King of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin discusses how the last 70 years of economic and population growth have been fueled by the transition to petroleum, how a decreasing supply of it has increased political polarization, and what the future might hold as supplies continue to dwindle.
Carey's book, The Economic Superorganism: Beyond Competing Narratives on Energy, Growth, and Policy can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Superorganism-Beyond-Competing-Narratives/dp/3030502945)
Additional reading can be found here:
- A summary of Carey's latest paper on the economic dependence on resource consumption: http://careyking.com/new-harmoney-insights-into-the-interdependence-of-growth-structure-size-and-resource-consumption-of-the-economy/)
- The full paper referenced above: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41247-021-00093-8)
- A Lack of Systematic Thinking Keeps America from Staying Great, Energy Institute Commentary, January, 2018: https://energy.utexas.edu/news/lack-systematic-thinking-keeps-america-staying-great)
- The Rising Cost of Resources and Global Indicators of Change, American Scientist*, 103 (6), November/December, 2015: https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-rising-cost-of-resources-and-global-indicators-of-change)
- Delusions of Grandeur in Building a Low-Carbon Future, Earth Magazine*, August 2017, 32-37, online link). https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/delusions-grandeur-building-low-carbon-future)
