Taimur Ahmad: "Energy Inequality in the Polycrisis"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 553 Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2023
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode, Nate is joined by recent Stanford graduate and biophysical researcher Taimur Ahmad to discuss energy inequality within and across nations. Taimur offers a unique perspective as someone who has spent years studying the issues of the polycrisis, while also having experience growing up in Pakistan and living in the United States. How does the culture of a nation and its access to energy interrelate to create huge differences in the daily lives of the people who live there? How do the looming implications of climate change and energy depletion impact the relationship between the Global North and the Global South? And how do issues of class, wealth, and 'fictitious capital' interplay with the larger poly-crisis at hand?
About Taimur Ahmad
Taimur Ahmad is the author of the Fictitious Capital newsletter where he writes about understanding the base layer of the global system: money/finance, energy, and raw materials. He studied economics at Georgetown University in Qatar and recently completed a graduate degree from Stanford University where he focused on energy policy and electricity markets. After working in agricultural development in Pakistan, he worked in the Middle East supporting clients across energy, CP&I, and national development. From these experiences, he realized the importance of reframing contemporary socioeconomic issues in an energy and ecological systems framework. His work is now focused on exploring the intersection of development in the Global South, degrowth/post-growth, MMT, and leftist social theory.
To watch this video episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4hzDKA0aNJk
For show notes, and more information: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/80-taimur-ahmad
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The Great Simplification with Nate Higgins. |
| 0:06.1 | That's me. |
| 0:07.7 | On this show, we try to explore and simplify what's happening with energy, the economy, the environment, in our society. |
| 0:17.3 | Together with scientists, experts, and leaders, this show is about understanding the bird's-eye view of how everything fits together, where we go from here and what we can do about it as a society and as individuals. |
| 0:32.9 | Today's episode is with Taimur Ahmad, who is a graduate student at Stanford University, studying |
| 0:41.8 | international policy energy and systems. |
| 0:45.9 | Timur has been a longtime listener of this podcast and reached out to me a few months ago. |
| 0:51.3 | I went and spoke to him in his class, his students at Stanford. |
| 0:58.1 | He is a very bright young man from Pakistan who moved to the United States two years ago. |
| 1:05.4 | He is not energy blind. |
| 1:07.7 | And we had a great discussion about climate, about the global south, about energy systems |
| 1:15.6 | and the future. I expect he'll be someone you'll hear from in the future. He's very articulate, |
| 1:23.1 | cares about these things and I consider him a friend. Please welcome Timur Ahmad. |
| 1:30.3 | Timur, my friend. |
| 1:45.1 | Welcome, Sam, Nate. |
| 1:46.0 | How are you doing? |
| 1:46.7 | I'm great. |
| 1:47.5 | How are you? |
| 1:48.1 | Other things at Stanford University. |
| 1:51.0 | Very good. |
| 1:51.7 | The weather is really nice, nice, warm summer to make up for the cold and rain that we've had over the past few months. |
| 1:58.9 | It's possible your definition of cold and warm are different than mine, being from |
... |
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