Book Review: Powerdown

Hello Reader,

Now that I'm back, I figured I might post a copy of one of my assignments from Sustainable Consumption. The following is book review I wrote for Richard Heinberg's book Powerdown. As part of the assignment, we were asked to write the review targeted at readers of a particular academic journal, so please note that I did not actually write this for Local Environment and that it is in no way affiliated with the journal in any way. Otherwise, I hope this gives you an idea about whether or not the book is worth your while.

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Book Review of
Powerdown: Options and actions for a post-carbon world
By Richard Heinberg

I. Introduction

I will be reviewing the Richard Heinberg (2004) book Powerdown: Options and actions for a post-carbon world for Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability. Regular readers of Local Environment will likely find the general subject matter of Powerdown familiar; however, the author frames the potential outcomes and options for action available to individuals and society more starkly than the manner in which most environmentalists and policymakers may be accustomed.

As such, I recommend this as a must read for readers who are looking for a unique perspective. However, I must caution readers that some of the political rhetoric contained within certain sections will likely put off those with staunch right-leaning and to some extent left-leaning political beliefs. Since this book was originally written in the lead up to the 2004 US Presidential election, I must urge academic readers to look past the strong partisan and anti-Bush messages and focus more on the issues of sustainable consumption which are well articulated. During the remainder of this review, I will provide further context for the views of the book, summarize and discuss the main arguments of the book, and highlight some of the strengths and weakness of the book.

II. Context

This book was published prior to the release of the 2007 IPCC report on global climate change, which has largely served to indicate that the problem may indeed be more severe and the solutions more complex than was initially portrayed by the author (Jansen et al. 2007). Thus, this book should be read with the understanding that Heinberg’s words were fairly revolutionary in that almost no one else (at least in the US) was saying what he has written. Or perhaps, given that Heinberg refers to a number of authors, institutions, and projects that support his ideas, it is more appropriate to say that almost no one was hearing or reading the sort of ideas put forward in Powerdown.

Beyond the overt anti-Bush messages sprinkled throughout the book, Powerdown must be read with an eye toward the other major events occurring while it was being written and published. Fortunately for the reader, Heinberg highlights many such events in grey sidebar boxes as they relate to the subject matter, which makes the context relatively clear even if some sidebars are politically biased.

Despite the left-leaning political bias of the author, Heinberg tends to make credible points, which are legitimately relevant to the subject matter, through the use of the sidebars. One clear example of this is the sidebar entitled: “WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN George W. Bush’s Speech to the Nation, 9/11/2001” (emphasis and capitalization from original, Heinberg 2004: 76-77) in which the author rephrases President Bush’s speech to contain a message supporting sustainable consumption and shifting away from a dependence on foreign resources that facilitates global inequity and breeds international contempt for the United States. It is seems unlikely that any modern president, let alone President Bush, would have phrased the speech in quite the same way as Heinberg. However, this simply acts to reinforce the author’s message throughout the rest of the book, which is based on the differences between a society and infrastructure that support sustainable consumption and the current system.

III. Summary

Heinberg begins the book by frankly discussing the historical, current, and likely future state of global energy consumption based on trends in the discovery, processing, and consumption of fossil fuels (and other energy sources). Then the author goes on to describe current mainstream policies, cultural norms, and industrial practices which have set the world up for what he describes as the “Last One Standing” scenario. The last one standing, which Heinberg considers the default result, is a scenario where nations compete more fiercely through economic and military means over evermore scarce resources until society collapses or humanity becomes extinct. In response to the last one standing, the author offers an alternative, which he terms the “Powerdown” scenario. The powerdown scenario, which the author frames as possible but extremely unlikely, requires cooperation and self-limitation on individual, community, national, and global scales.

After laying out the two primary scenarios, Heinberg refutes a number of the easy ways out of the looming energy crises, including finding alternative fossil fuel sources and converting to a hydrogen-based economy. The author also emphasizes that the root of the problem lies within the current system of unsustainable consumption that was established during a long period of increasingly available, cheap fossil fuel energy sources, which will not last during the inevitable, impending decline in oil discovery and production. Finally, Heinberg provides examples of options for preserving society, individuals, and local communities beyond the more likely last one standing scenario, and he ends the book by outlining options and limitations that different groups (government and corporate elites, members of the environmental movement, and members of the general public) will face as they attempt to address current unsustainable practices.

IV. Analysis

The main message of Powerdown is clearly that non-mainstream changes to consumption habits will be very difficult but ultimately necessary to avoid the worst results of current consumption patterns; however, given the political context in which it was written, it is important to extract the academic messages from the general message to verify the urgency of action and the magnitude of the issue.

As noted previously, the urgency and stakes called for by the author seems to be codified at least in spirit by the release of the 2007 IPCC report. Although, it is interesting to note that Heinberg (2004: 96) refers to the Kyoto Protocol as “an initial step toward Powerdown: while intended as a solution to global climate change, it effectively also addresses the problem of energy resource depletion.” This view raises some ideas that are not thoroughly explored by the author regarding whether the effects of climate change or resource depletion will first make an impact that could spur a powerdown scenario or if the effects of both occurred simultaneously with more horrific (or offsetting) results than those discussed in the book.

Additionally, in an article in Local Environment Rees (2008) describes biological, psychological, and sociological evidence that is consistent with Heinberg’s assessment of the likelihood of the last one standing scenario and the necessity and difficulty of fulfilling the powerdown scenario. Furthermore, the premise of current consumption and future depletion of available fossil fuel resources upon which Powerdown is based, even if it turns out to be overstated, seems consistent with messages from oil industry professionals, some of whom are sited directly in the book and can be verified on the US Energy Information Administration (2009) website. Thus, it seems reasonable to consider Powerdown as an academically sound book with an important message for those considering environmental, energy, and consumption policies as well as the general public.

V. Strengths

To the author’s credit he makes a number of attempts to highlight the actions of the very policymakers who he is criticizing to confirm that his understanding of the world’s energy situation is not unfounded, nor truly unique. A particularly good example of this is the sidebar entitled: “The CIA’s Interest in Peak Oil” (Heinberg 2004: 40-41), which refers to the US’s strategic attempt to foster the depletion of USSR oil reserves to facilitate its economic collapse. In this sidebar, as in many other examples, specific, verifiable references are given to support his statements and ideas.

Additionally, in the chapter entitled “Waiting for the Magic Elixir: False Hopes, Wishful Thinking, and Denial” Heinberg spends time specifically refuting common ideas that would otherwise indicate that sustainable consumption issues are not urgent or even exist. This is particularly important as it limits the amount of criticisms available to people who wish to disprove or discredit the thesis of the book simply because it is convenient or useful to them. It also forces those working in the sustainability-related fields to question whether or not what they are doing is truly producing the impact that they intend to make.

Finally, the author does a reasonable job of acknowledging where his own knowledge and his predictions are limited. Thus, the reader is reassured that it is unlikely the author is purposefully exaggerating or that certainty is being claimed where it does not exist. This ultimately allows the reader to be more confident in the author’s conclusions.

VI. Weaknesses

The most pervasive weakness in Powerdown is the political overtones throughout the book. Readers that already agree with the author’s actual message are often those that agree with the political messages in the book, so including politics is somewhat superfluous. However, some readers that could potentially agree with or be convinced of the author’s thesis may put off by the political rhetoric and personal attacks on President Bush. Furthermore, the political rhetoric in the book is directly contradictory to the author’s message that cooperation is necessary. With all of this said, Heinberg certainly would have not done his readers any service by completely ignoring the shortcomings of recent and current political leaders; therefore, the extent to which this issue is an actual weakness of the book is limited.

A second weakness arises from the fact that a large portion of Heinberg’s references are to his previous book The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies. In and of itself this is not necessarily a detriment to the casual reader, and it does allow the reader a further option to explore the underlying principles of the author’s thesis. However, the result for an academic reader, particularly those just beginning to familiarize themselves to the topic, is that Powerdown is not necessarily a standalone resource. Concurrently, to retrieve many of the author’s primary sources the reader must read Heinberg’s other book, which is an excellent marketing strategy, but not necessarily conducive to academia.

VII. Conclusion

Though the direct impact of Powerdown is difficult to ascertain, the book sales were apparently successful enough to warrant a reprinting in 2007. Also, according to search results on Google Scholar during the writing of this review, this book has been cited by 77 other sources including academic papers, books, and university websites from across the globe. Furthermore the potential impact of the book is fairly flexible due to the wide audience for which the author has written the book.

If you happen to have the luxury of picking up Powerdown at a bookstore or library, and you are not sure if you want to read through the entire book, I recommend you flip to the grey sidebar entitled: “This is how I feel sometimes” (Heinberg 2004: 11-13). This sidebar should give you an excellent idea of whether or not this book is for you. If you relate to the way that the author feels, this book is definitely for you, and I suspect you will greatly appreciate it. If you feel as though you are represented by one of the other characters the author describes, you could certainly benefit by taking some of the author’s messages to heart, though you may struggle to relate to some of his messages. Finally, if you do not relate to the author and do not feel you are represented by any of the characters, I recommend that you read this book to try to figure out why not.

Citation for book being reviewed:
Heinberg, R. (2004), Powerdown: Options and actions for a post-carbon world. (Clairview Books, Forest Row).

Other References:
Energy Information Administration (2009), “Forecasts & Analyses: analyses and projections of energy information”, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/forecasting.html, last accessed 8th November 2009.

Jansen, E., J. Overpeck, K.R. Briffa, J.-C. Duplessy, F. Joos, V. Masson-Delmotte, D. Olago, B. Otto-Bliesner, W.R. Peltier, S. Rahmstorf, R. Ramesh, D. Raynaud, D. Rind, O. Solomina, R. Villalba and D. Zhang (2007): Palaeoclimate. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. 466-475.

Rees, W. (2008), “Human Nature, Eco-footprints and Environmental Justice”, Local Environment. 13(8) 685-701.