Lou Grinzo is a writer and researcher currently living in Rochester, New York. Having earned an economics bachelor's degree from Kings College, Grinzo also describes himself as a "programmer, technical editor and writer, and woodworker by profession, and energy geek by genetic predisposition." His interest in climate change began as early as 1983, when the writer fondly remembers watching cars sit in gas lines. Today, Grinzo is best known for hosting his blog The Cost of Energy.

According to Grinzo, the recent rise in oil prices is an early indicator of the Peak Oil phenomenon- a process he imagines will be more gradual than sudden. But how long do we really have left until we exhaust our resources? To what extremes will we go? And, most importantly, why the lack of response? 

Grinzo believes America's corrupted political system is a huge part of the answer. "If you have enough money," Grinzo writes in The Cost of Energy, "you can basically buy puppet politicians by running enough ads to get voters to vote against their own interests." Meanwhile, our time keeps running out. If man continues to infuse chemicals into the climate, or as Grinzo puts it, "load the dice," our weather's intensity will grow . Though we are still unsure of where exactly the tipping points to devastating climate change feedback lie, it can be said with certainty that our current energy consumption brings us closer by the day.

You can listen to NPTR's 05/13/2012 interview with Lou Grinzo here.