Alex Epstein

This speech introduces audiences to a new, moral case for fossil fuels. Epstein, a philosopher and energy expert, makes the case that the guiding principle of energy and environmental decisions should be human flourishing—and that if we look at the whole picture, human flourishing requires that we use more fossil fuels not less.

The oil and gas industry has a problem. “The Great Crew Change” brought on by the looming mass retirement of baby boomers and the shortage of workers in their 30s to 50s means that millennials will be a key source of industry talent in the years ahead, and that they will have to take on more responsibility more quickly than workers in the past. At the same time, those millennials have experienced by far the most anti-fossil fuel educational and media system of any generation of Americans, ever.

Drawing on new research and on-the-ground experience influencing hundreds of thousands of millennials, philosopher and energy expert, Alex Epstein, gives the industry a blueprint for educating millennials to becoming proud, persuasive champions of their industry.

In this speech, Epstein, a leading consultant on energy persuasion, discusses why companies have so much difficulty winning the hearts and minds of their stakeholders, including employees—and how reframing the conversation is the fundamental solution.

One common challenge throughout the fossil fuel industry is the challenge that employees have in talking to one’s friends, family, and communities about their work. In this speech Epstein, an innovator in “constructive conversations,” shares three key principles employees can use to effectively communicate what they do to their personal networks, both online and offline.

This speech introduces audiences to the moral case for creating and consuming genetically modified organisms (GMO). Drawing on the principle that the guiding principle for industrial and environmental decisions should be maximizing human flourishing, not minimizing human impact, Epstein illustrates how genetic modification has already added years to our lives. Using intelligent modification and the latest technology, he argues, we can continue to make human life longer, healthier, and happier.

This speech introduces audience to the moral case for nuclear power. Despite being the most proven, scalable form of non-carbon energy, nuclear power is opposed furiously by most opponents of fossil fuels. Why is this? Epstein, a philosopher and energy expert, argues that it is not because of stated concerns about safety (nuclear power has been empirically demonstrated to be the safest form of power ever devised). It is because of our society’s deep technophobia and nature-worship, which regards generating power via radiation as “unnatural” and therefore bad. Arguing that the guiding principle of energy progress should be human flourishing, not preserving nature, Epstein makes the case that with proper policies nuclear power can be the safest, most abundant, most affordable energy ever created.

This inspirational talk draws upon Alex Epstein’s work as an oil historian studying the lives and work of the creators of the modern energy industry—the people he calls “Energy Heroes.” It is guaranteed to inspire both new recruits to the industry and seasoned C-level executives.

In “Energy Heroes,” Alex tells the story of how scientists, inventors, engineers and, above all, businessmen transformed black glop into black gold—into the fuel that would power man’s transportation by car, boat, truck, airplane, space shuttle. He focuses on the legacy of the heroic John D. Rockefeller, who set a standard for efficiency and technological innovation that epitomizes the oil industry to this day.