Energy is Life: A Rational Optimist’s Case for Human Progress with Zion Lights

What does energy really mean for ordinary lives — for safety, dignity, education, and opportunity? In this thought-provoking talk, science communicator Zion Lights reveals the human story behind one of the most misunderstood forces in our world. Drawing from her new book 'Energy Is Life', she explores how access to energy has lifted billions from hardship, empowered communities, and opened the door to human flourishing.
Blending personal insight with scientific clarity, Zion challenges assumptions, demystifies modern technologies, and offers a hopeful, humane vision of our shared future. She examines why our intuitions about risk often mislead us, how cognitive biases shape public debates, and what we can do to think more clearly in an age of misinformation.
Sharing her own journey from anti-technology activism to evidence-based advocacy, Zion makes a compelling, grounded case that science, reason, and abundant clean energy are essential to human progress and human flourishing.

About our Speaker: As the former Editor of Extinction Rebellion's print newspaper, The Hourglass, Zion Lights played a pivotal role in elevating climate discourse in the UK, achieving remarkable distribution figures and media reviews. As a spokesperson for the group, she highlighted the need for action on climate change on major outlets such as BBC Politics Live, Good Morning Britain, Byline TV, Sky News, and The Andrew Neil Show. She has also appeared in several documentaries.
Zion is particularly notable for her advocacy of nuclear energy following a highly public shift in her own views. With over 10 years of experience in communications, journalism, public engagement, and speaking, she has leveraged her expertise to make complex science accessible and compelling.

We are thrilled to host Zion Lights at our May event and we hope you'll join us for what promises to be an informative presentation and discussion.
This event is free to join, but we do ask that you register to help us manage numbers and, as always, any donations you are able to make on the night will be gratefully received as they help us to put on more events like this in the future.

We will meet at from 19:00 for a 19:30 start to the talk and discussion.