The Mike Joy Introductory Lecture
New IGPS Senior Researcher Dr Mike Joy and guest Nathan Surendran will discuss biophysical economics, a more intellectually rigorous economic model.
“The imperative is recognition that the economy is an energy system, not a financial one, in which money plays a proxy role as a claim on output”. (Tim Morgan, former Global Head of Research at Tullett Prebon).
The energy cost of fossil fuel extraction is rising, as is the environmental cost of fossil fuel use. Our economic thinking needs to take account of the decline of net energy and the imperative to reduce GHG emissions: biophysical economics needs to enter the mainstream.
To celebrate his appointment as an IGPS Senior Researcher, Dr Mike Joy and guest Nathan Surendran will discuss the often-ignored role of energy in our economies. They will challenge the sloppy energy literacy where "energy" and "electricity" are used interchangeably, and explain the importance of understanding energy density. The aim is to introduce a more intellectually rigorous economic model, focusing on the central role of energy flows through the economic system.
About the presenters
Mike Joy was a late starter in in academia, first attending Massey University in his early thirties after working on farms, in the building trade and sailing the Pacific. After gaining his PhD in Ecology he became a Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at Massey, specialising in freshwater ecology, ecological modelling and bioassessment. He moved to Victoria University's Institute of Governance and Policy Studies as a Senior Researcher in 2018. His numerous awards for his outspoken advocacy for environmental protection in New Zealand include the 2017 inaugural NZ Universities Critic and Conscience award.
Nathan Surendran has spent the last decade entangled in the thorny questions of what constitutes a positive response to biophysical limits, talking publicly and lecturing on energy auditing, whilst engaged in various entrepreneurial endeavours. ("I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison). In recent years his focus has shifted towards economics and policy, and the need to define a constraint- aware pathway for governnment, to enable positive change.