I can't recommend her enough!  This will not be a technical physics lecture.   Try to attend this one! -Tim EMAN410 SEMINAR SERIES - PUBLIC WELCOME Physics Department, Room 314, Sciences III (Science Library Building, next to St David Lecture Theatre) Susan Krumdieck Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Canterbury  “The Power of the Myth: energy myths and how they threaten progress toward sustainability” Myths are a universal fixture of human society, and provide several vital psychological services.  People need to make sense of complex situations, and they need heroes with super-human powers to save the day.  Myths have universal themes that help us understand moral dilemmas, to identify right and wrong.  The real power of the myth, however, is when it is a widely held false belief, something that is fictitious or nonexistent. The interesting thing about false beliefs is that there is almost always a reason behind them.  There is currently a Western Industrial Mythology of simple solutions to a complex problem: alternative clean energy sources and technologies that will substitute for fossil fuels to support the life_style_s we are afraid to change.  This package of myths includes fuel cells, hydrogen, biofuels for transport, carbon capture and storage, wave and tidal energy, air cars, and electric cars. The myths are easily communicated, easily believed, and once believed, difficult to correct with facts. Generating and propagating green energy myths is low-cost compared to the loss of income which would be incurred by conventional fuel and transport markets if people started responding en-masse to the imperative of CO2 emission reduction and the reality of fossil fuel depletion.  Thus, we discover the purpose behind the creation and propagation of the Green Energy mythology.  Every year that the general population can be made to wait for miracles and super-heroes, is another year of car sales, fuel sales, road building, sprawl development, jet-setting eco-tourism, entertainment governance and air-freighting of eggs to the USA.  It also means another year lost and increased risks, with no changes in urban form, land use integration, high efficiency transport networks, or other innovations that would reduce the motorized travel demand and improve wellbeing. Friday 28 August 2009 2.00 pm Room 314, Science 3 Building All interested are welcome to attend Bev Reynolds, Department Secretary. Physics Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Phone +64 3 479 9101 Fax +64 3 479 0964 _______________________________________________ EMANseminars mailing list This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it http://mail.physics.otago.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/emanseminars