Podcast: Satisfying Human Needs at Low Energy Use (With Jefim Vogel & Julia Steinberger)

This is a conversation with Jefim Vogel of the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds, and Julia Steinberger of the Institute of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Lausanne, about a paper they worked on entitled “socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use: An international analysis of social provisioning.” This is episode 91 of The Fire These Times podcast.

Both would like to thank their co-authors who were not part of the interview: Dan O’Neill, William Lamb and Jaya Krishnakumar. Julia is also an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, contributing to the report’s discussion of climate change mitigation pathways.

As usual, Patreon supporters get early access to this episode. You can join for as little as 1$ a month or 10$ a year.

Topics Discussed

  • How the major environmental and social crises of our time are interlinked, especially energy use
  • Meeting basic needs at low energy use
  • Leapfrogging fairly
  • Disparities between global North and global South
  • (Some of) the limits of economic growth
  • Citizens’ assemblies and other examples of ways forward
  • Living well within limits

Recommended Books:

Jefim’s:

Julia’s:


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Music by Tarabeat.

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