Talking to ... Scott Tinker

If one were to describe Scott Tinker's work, perhaps the most apt
description would be to describe him as an anthropologist of
human energy use. In any case, as a trained geologist who, after
a few years in the Texas oil industry, went back to university
and, in 2000, became Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology
at the University of Texas in Austin and State Geologist for the
State of Texas, has spent a lifetime studying the relationship
between energy use and society - a concern that, as he says,
stems from a childhood memory of the former Soviet Union, where
he inhaled the smell of poverty. And, to address the world's
misery, he founded the Switch Energy Alliance, an
organization whose mission is educating the public on the energy
issue and how best to use it. To this end, he teamed up with the
American filmmaker Harry Lynch, with whom he made two
documentaries dealing with global energy consumption and energy
poverty in the global South. In this context, Tinker has traveled
to more than 65 countries worldwide and initiated a series of
collaborations with various communities and tribes - an activity
that’s also been reflected in his various TED Talks, Student
lectures, newspaper articles and television appearances. 


Films


Switch On (2019) - a film on global energy poverty directed by
Harry Lynch.


Switch (2012) - a film on global energy directed by Harry Lynch


Scott Tinker at the ARC conference in London, 2023


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