The Energy Forum

Please join us for another public forum, this time on the topic of Energy. Following a Welcome to Country offered by Aunty Elaine Magias, the format will again be a panel Q&A with both preset questions and questions from the audience on the night. We look forward to your participation as we deep-dive the many facets of energy. What exactly is it and what does it do? How can it help explain the global predicament we currently find ourselves in? And what does all this mean for our current and future relationship with energy including in our daily personal and community lives in South Australia and its bio/eco-regions - such as food, housing, transport, water and waste, trade, governance and our levels of consumption. A diverse set of panellists will again share their insights and perspectives. As this topic is complex, but profound, we ask that you view an important condensed 10 minute synthesis contained in this short video (start at 2min:45sec) by Nate Hagens on how energy has shaped our world. Please bring along your questions - it's sure to be another conversation we need to have (please scroll down for additional resources).

Welcome to Country:

offered by Aunty Elaine Magias

Panellists include (as of 20 August):

1. Graham Brookman, The Food Forest, Gawler

2. Jim and Dorothy Casanova, Members of the Southern Grazers and Growers Permaculture Group

3. Alex Gaut, Team Leader, Environment & Coast, City of Holdfast Bay, Resilient South

4. Jeremy Miller, Sustainability Specialist, City of Burnside, Resilient East coordinator

When: Tuesday 23 September, 7pm-9pm ACST

Where: St Joseph’s Catholic Church/Brighton Catholic Parish Activity Centre, 24 Strathmore Tce, Brighton 

Bookings: essential (online); limit of 80 persons

Car parking: available on adjacent streets and by the nearby Brighton Railway Station off Commercial Rd. The Parish car park is also available - enter via Old Beach Road:

Public Transport: nearby Brighton Railway Station stop (Adelaide Metro) for train and bus routes (see map below) 

Accessibility: level access, accessible toilets, car parks immediately in front of Church and in the parish car park off Old Beach Road (refer to map above)

Additional Resources:

1. Alexander, S., Voluntary simplification as an alternative to collapse. 2014. foresight, 16(6), pp.550-566.

2. Bejan, A., 2025. Unlocking nature’s secret behind energy and patterns.

3. Diesendorf, Mark & Society for Social Responsibility in Science (A.C.T.). 1979, Energy and people : social implications of different energy futures / edited by Mark Diesendorf. Society for Social Responsibility in Science (A.C.T.) Canberra

4. Hagens, NJ, White, DJ., 2021. Reality Blind (online book) and b) Film on Energy, Environment, and Our Future

5. Hall, Charles AS, McWhirter, Timothy. Maximum power in evolution, ecology and economics. Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences vol. 381,2256 (2023): 20220290.

6. Hall, Charles AS. Online course: Energy, Environment and Economics: a biophysical approach (8 YouTube Lectures here). Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Southern Oregon University.

7. Harari, Y.N., 2014. a) Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House, and b) view TEDx talk here

8. Heinberg, R., 2021. a) Power: Limits and prospects for human survival. New Society Publishers, and b) view book discussion here and c) read a bioregioning article here

9. Hensher M, Zywert K. Can healthcare adapt to a world of tightening ecological constraints? Challenges on the road to a post-growth future BMJ 2020; 371 :m4168

10. Holmgrem, David, a) Energy Descent including the b) Hepburn Shire Energy Descent Plan (2011) and c) Retrosuburbia: The Downshifter's Guide to a Resilient Future

11. Hooker CA, MacDonald R, Van Hulst R, and Victor R, A framework for energy policy-making (chapter) in Energy and the Quality of Life: Understanding Energy Policy, University of Toronto Press. (1981)

12. Lenton, Timothy M et al. Selection for Gaia across Multiple Scales. Trends in ecology & evolution vol. 33,8 (2018): 633-645 and Lenton TM. 2025 The evolution of Gaia(s). Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 380: rstb.2024.0095.

13. Mobus, George. 2010. Energy Flow, Emergent Complexity and Collapse. The Oil Drum.

14. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,. Energy, Justice and Peace. 2016.

15. Rees, William, 2025. a) CaCOR Live Talk: Our obsolescent brains: The climate, overshoot and economic growth and b) read Substack "standstoreeson" articles here and c) Cities as Dissipative Structures, Sustainability Science (2012) and d) Why Large Cities Won't Survive the 21st Century (2023).

16. Ridges, Mal. 2025. Reconnecting with Gaia to Understand Humanity’s Collective Trauma: Learning from Grandma Belah and Yungadhu. Challenges 16, no. 1: 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe16010011

17. Rifkin, J., Howard, T. (1980). Entropy: A New World View. Viking Press

18. Sherwood, S., Meyssignac, B., Mauritsen, T., Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models forecast – and the rate has doubled in 20 years. The Conversation, June 2025

19. Schneider, ED., Kay JJ., Life as a manifestation of the second law of thermodynamics, Mathematical and Computer Modelling, Volume 19, Issues 6–8, 1994, pg. 25-48

20. Tainter, Joseph, 2022. a) Interview on The Great Simplification podcast Surplus, Complexity, and Simplification and b) read publication, Taylor, T.G. and Tainter, J.A., 2016. The nexus of population, energy, innovation, and complexity. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 75(4), pp.1005-1043.

21. Thimsen, E., 2024. Planetary Energy Flows and Entropy Production Rate by Earth from 2002 to 2023. Entropy. 26, 350

22. Tidswell, A., 2025. Smart home energy savings - 70 tips/ideas; and notes from the Casanovas

23. Trainer, Ted., 2023. a) THE SIMPLER WAY: A visit to Ted Trainer's Pigface Point (video) and b) Working for transition from consumer society to a simpler, more cooperative, just and ecologically sustainable society (2025)

24. Zywert K, Quilley S. Health systems in an era of biophysical limits: The wicked dilemmas of modernity. Social Theory & Health. 2018 May;16(2):188-207.