The Oil Drum

Camel,

What Prof. Hall is "doing" is educating the next generation of workers, managers, environmentalists, and (yikes!) politicians. He challenges all of his students, from all backgrounds, to consider the future restraints in energy availability in all of their disciplines and future work. He not only is teaching students about peak oil, EROI, limits to growth, etc. but gives them the tools to challenge others, especially those with dogmatic neo-classical economic beliefs. He challenges students to question what "sustainability" truly means, and his work on the nation of Costa Rica demonstrates the difficulty in maintaining population "sustainably" even for a relatively small agricultural country.

My fellow students in class want the same answers from him as you do. Many of them (including myself) occasionally walk away agreeing in principle, but searching for answers.

Dr. Hall learned about Peak Oil in the 1970s and decided not to have children (see his bio on his site). He doesn't advocate this for everyone, but noted his personal choice in the matter. Certainly him having no more children has a significant impact on the world, and negates the argument above.

Debating who can call call them self an "expert" is a game of "whose CV is longer", and is a waste of time in my eyes. I suggest that you read his efforts on biophysical economics.

I for one am happy to take part in the discussions in his classroom. In a way I wish the type of conversation that is taking place here could be done face to face. It is easy to flame someone anonymously, it's another to be able to defend your position in a discussion.