Dale Allen Pfeiffer

Who is Dale Allen Pfeiffer?

Dale Allen Pfeiffer is a geologist and writer from Michigan, U.S. who has investigated and written about energy depletion and potential future resource wars. He has also written about class war, sustainability, direct action and the environment. He is also an anarchist activist and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1999, he was one of the organizers of a hunger strike to provide medical care for political prisoner Leonard Peltier.

In 2001 he began writing articles regarding energy at From the Wilderness. In 2005 he ended his association with the website and its founder, Michael C. Ruppert. He is the author of the often cited essay on peak oil and food production titled Eating Fossil Fuels. In 2006, this paper was expanded into a book of the same title, published by New Society.

After a careful analysis, Pfeiffer believes that energy depletion will have a major impact upon the socioeconomic system that will not be resolved by turning to renewable energy alone. Through mathematical modeling, he demonstrated that energy consumption has grown to the point that we will never sustain our current consumption levels without plentiful and cheap fossil fuels.

He argues that we must cut our consumption, abandoning the current socioeconomic system in favor of re-localization, sustainability and decentralization. He believes it is possible for human society to achieve equitable, sustainable stability while maintaining a reasonable quality of life. To reach this goal, he recommends direct action on a grassroots level, as opposed to a reliance upon government and business.