Categories
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Recent Posts
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
- Mental Health. Coping with the future: notes from Jackson & Jensen’s “An Inconvenient Apocalypse”
- Tesla Semi trucks hauling corn chips
- What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
- Where to be? Links to Superfund, hazardous waste and other toxic sites in U.S.
- Why methanol cannot replace petroleum in shipping
- Why is everyone afraid of AI taking over? It makes stuff up!
- Do you want to eat, drink, or fly?
Monthly Archives: May 2017
Federal government subsidies, tax breaks, costs of renewable and fossil energy production GAO 2014
[ I’m far more interested in the energy returned on invested than money since that’s what really matters. So I often stopped taking notes, and didn’t organize them. But the tables and figures give you an idea of subsidies and … Continue reading
Posted in GAO Government Accountability Office, Subsidies
Tagged renewable energy, subsidy, tax
1 Comment
Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
Preface. This is a very long post with summaries of two GAO reports on interdependencies of energy, water, and climate change from 2014 and 2012. While cheap and plentiful oil remains, these problems can be fixed, hiding the true depth … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Energy Infrastructure, Energy Production, GAO Government Accountability Office, Interdependencies
Tagged climate change, energy, infrastructure, interdependency
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Why Civilizations Fail by William Ophuls
[ These are my notes from the book, not a proper book review, and since the notes are disjointed, you’d be wise to buy the book– it’s excellent! Plus then it’s on your shelf for future generations to understand what … Continue reading
Why can’t we have a global government?
MacKenzie, D. September 6, 2014. Imagine there’s no countries…it isn’t hard to do, sang John Lennon. Actually it is. Is there an alternative? NewScientist. Nation states cause some of our biggest problems, from civil war to climate inaction. Try, for … Continue reading
Posted in GOVERNMENT
2 Comments
Climate change effects on conflict, social unrest, health, mass migration, food, and national security
[ Since oil shortages from exponential decline rates of conventional oil will affect every aspect of civilization from farming to electricity to supply chains far harder and sooner than sea-level rise and other climate change problems, think “energy shortage” whenever … Continue reading
Posted in Caused by Scarce Resources, Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries
Tagged climate change, drought, health, war, wildfire
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Climate change is already collapsing nations
Ahmed, Nafeez. 2017. Failing States, Collapsing Systems BioPhysical Triggers of Political Violence. Springer. “The last half century has seen a dramatic increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events in the form of droughts, wildfires, extreme rainfall, … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Collapsed & collapsing nations
Tagged climate change, death, global warming, heatwave
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How to survive a nuclear winter
[ Clearly you’d want to move to Australia or New Zealand or stockpile 5 years of food. Related posts: Nuclear winter: World-wide ozone loss from small nuclear war = 1 billion + deaths The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear War, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged nuclear war, nuclear winter, survival
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Plant more prairies to save topsoil and prevent pollution runoff
[ A program to plant more prairies to enrich the soil, keep topsoil from blowing and washing away, and provide a bio-diverse habitat for hundreds of species is receiving little funding or farmer participation, even though it would save farmers … Continue reading
Posted in Farming & Ranching, Peak Topsoil
Tagged agriculture, food, peak soil, prairie
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Climate change may corrode concrete even faster
[ I’ve paraphrased and shortened this article about how climate change will corrode concrete faster in the future from increasing carbon dioxide levels, and in coastal cities, from the chloride ions in sea spray. After that is the introduction section … Continue reading