PAC Examines Oil’s Future

(Given the April 20 oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, this year’s early-April Public Affairs Conference, which focused on oil, seems even more timely. This article was excerpted from “Conference ends—but does oil?” by Janet Irvine, a staff writer for the Principia Pilot.)

On the first sunny weekend in April, leaders in geology, energy policy, and sustainable development joined over 250 delegates for Principia College’s 61st Public Affairs Conference, which was titled “The End of Oil? Energy Challenges in the 21st Century.”

Attendees heard from speakers including former CIA director James Woolsey, journalist and author of The End of Oil Paul Roberts, Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Richard H. Jones, and Executive Director of the American Petroleum Institute of Illinois Dr. David Sykuta. The talks and panel discussions covered subjects ranging from current regional impacts of the oil industry to what the future of energy will look like in the United States and the world.

Each day of the conference saw speakers take the question “End of Oil?” in a new direction, which pleased conference faculty adviser and history professor Dr. David Winder: “Perhaps most encouragingly, the conference was not agenda-driven, hence the question, End of Oil?” Senior Kenny D’Evelyn, who co-directed the conference with junior Laura Buchanan, said of the title in his opening comments on Thursday night, “The question mark was intentional.”

Biology professor Mike Rechlin, Interim Director of the Principia Center for Sustainability, [was surprised to learn that] “there is a lot of oil out there. What I still wonder is, what’s the price going to be?” Buchanan felt the conference was helpful in outlining the issue. “We have more oil and the end of oil is not imminent, but we need to be more responsible with what we have left,” she said.

D’Evelyn said he hoped attendees came away with the thought that “we as individuals, communities, citizens, can make a difference on local and national levels. That’s the purpose of PAC—to empower the individual to enact change.”

Many of the speakers mentioned their appreciation for Principia and the conference. “I’ve been to a lot of schools, and it really feels like I’ve been invited back home here—and I’ve never been here before,” said Roberts in his closing speech. “I sense this is a community that cares about community.”

Read Irvine’s entire article in the Pilot.

See profiles of conference board members and guest speakers.