Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (6 of 7) @LocalFuture

Uploaded February 2011 | Updated September 2026, 14 minutes ago

localfuture.org The collapse of complex societies of the past can inform the present on the risks of collapse. Dr. Joseph Tainter, author of the book The Collapse of Complex societies, and featured in Leonardo Dicaprio's film The Eleventh Hour, details the factors that led to the collapse of past civilizations including the Roman Empire.

This is part 6 of 7 of the lecture (1 of 2 of a question and answer session) following Dr. Tainter's keynote talk delivered to the 2010 International Conference on Sustainability: Energy, Economy, and Environment organized by Local Future nonprofit and directed by Aaron Wissner.

Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter (6 of 7)

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$Fracking in Michigan? http://www.localfuture.org Will fracking come to Michigan? In 2010, the Academy Award nominated film Gasland brought the issue of the health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing or fracking to the attention of the public. As of May, 2012, there were only twelve wells in Michigan, which had been drilled horizontally under the land, and then fracked, all of these in the northern portion of the lower peninsula. In this 30-minute talk, Aaron Wissner, a University of Michigan graduate, teacher, and founder of the Local Future non-profit, discusses the upcoming auction of leases for State of Michigan land for oil and gas drilling, the various concerns with fracking, the impacts of fracking on water quality in two scientific studies, as well as clarifying two recent accidents in Michigan related to drilling. Finally, Wissner discusses the local solutions of energy conservation, and energy from the sun and wind. This event was sponsored by Local Future non-profit and held in Middleville, Michigan at the Thornapple Kellogg Middle School gymnasium. A second talk, immediately following this one, was provided by MaryAnn Lesert, a local college professor and member of Ban Michigan Fracking. Notes: 1. At one point, Wissner reads Mcf as million cubic feet. This should have been thousand cubic feet. (M, in this case, is the roman numeral for 1,000.) 2. The high price for natural gas in the USA was over $15/MMbtu near the end of 2005. 3. As of spring 2012, natural gas prices had reached the lowest point in a decade, at around $2/MMbtu.$