Award Winning Author Edwin Black gets positive response in the Sunshine State

New York Times bestselling author, Edwin Black was on the Eissey campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach, Florida, January 27th to talk to an enthusiastic audience about “The Truth about Oil Addiction & A Plan for the Future” – the subject matter of two of his latest books, Internal Combustion and The Plan.

Over 100 students and guests were on hand as he sparked their interest on where our addiction to oil started and challenged all to start now to find ways to reduce our dependence on oil and embrace the changes that will bring.

For over 90 minutes, his impassioned discourse challenged listeners to think beyond what we hear and read to find solutions that make sense, not only for the fuels we use in our cars, but also for the foods we eat and the electricity we use to power our homes, schools and workplaces. Because “when” the oil stops, everything we do will be affected and our comfortable way of life will change forever – and quite possibly for the better!

He gave us an enlightening historical perspective on our addiction to oil and that it is not necessarily the oil that is the issue, but rather the greed, power and corruption that is fueled by the control of any life affecting necessity. He cited the first fuel addiction was wood and in medieval times the kings owned the forests and made it illegal to cut down trees without paying the taxes for it, risking death as the penalty – this is the origin or the fabled Robin Hood tales, since Robin and his merry men lived illegally in the King’s forest.

He chronicled the last century and the origin or the electric car technology which surprisingly enough started in the mid – 1800’s. In the early 1900’s, there were the joint venture plans for Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to mass produce affordable electric cars in the early 1900’s until a mysterious flash fire destroyed Edison’s facility, all the plans with it, and ultimately the joint venture with Ford – a mystery to this day.
He left us with his “Plan”, a carefully logical blueprint for states, cities, communities and towns to translate locally and integrate in phases should oil interruption occur. At the conclusion of his presentation, Black stayed on hand to answer questions and sign copies of his books.

The Eissey Campus was pleased to have had the opportunity to engage students, faculty and community members with this event with the Environmental Science Technology Program and the Power Generation Program, as sitting in a pivotal role for the education of a sustainability mentality amongst our students.

Richard Pachter from the Miami Herald says of Black’s Plan, “Remarkable and rational--highly recommended. Black states the problem clearly and without hyperbole. A sane and remarkably rational step-by-step scheme for quitting our fossil fuel dependency. Highly Recommended. “

More about Edwin Black’s works can be found at www.edwinblack.com