by Kevin Ellis

The American government payment on the national debt is more than a trillion a year.

Our economy runs on oil, which flows via ships through waterways currently choked off by countries that hate us.

Congress of is paralyzed. The president is an adjudicated sexual assaulting, crypto player who is blackmailing the country because he can’t get his name on the local arts center in DC.

Newspapers, the lifeblood of democracy are basically dead.

Mark Zuckerberg agreed to pay billions because his business model depends on hurting the mental health of kids, especially girls.

The Colorado River and other water bodies are drying up.

Our homes have become desperate profit centers, slowly bought up by private equity bandits.

Sports teams, even Little League baseball, are now profit centers.

We seem to have abandoned – in the words of Robert Kennedy Sr. in 1968 –

“Personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.’’

It seems as if the entire society is now run by six companies, telling us that AI is coming whether we like it or not.

This cannot go on. Bill McKibben wrote the End of Nature in 1989, a long time ago. Yet we have not paid attention or figured out how to think about these crises and act upon them.

Nate Hagens has thought a lot about this. He sees the coming of a Great Simplification, a time when the chickens really come home to roost in an America that has lived very very large since the end of World War II.

Hagens is the Executive Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF), which assembles roadmaps for understanding how human societies might adapt to crises across the board.

He also hosts the The Great Simplification podcast, where he explores the polycrisis we are facing as a species via conversations with deep thinkers, writers and others.

Nate is coming to the University of Vermont on September 29 for a live audience speech. I will moderate panel discussion afterwards in reaction with deep thinking Vermonters.

More details and how to register are below. For now, enjoy our talk. And I’ll see you on September 29.

Nate Hagens — The Great Simplification

On Tuesday, September 29, leaders and community members from across the state will gather at UVM’s Davis Center for specialist-guided discussions, practical tools and insights, and opportunities to form partnerships across organizations and sectors.

Event details

Vermont Summit with Nate Hagens
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 | 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
UVM Davis Center, 4th Floor
590 Main Street, Burlington, Vermont

The Summit is free and open to the public, but registration is required and seating is limited.

For more details:

Register and learn more