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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 2020
Life before Cars: When Pedestrians Ruled the Streets
Preface. The past is future after fossil fuels, but minus the horses for a while, since before cars they required about a sixth of U.S. farmland for their feed. My grandfather, Francis J. Pettijohn, used to fondly reminisce about how … Continue reading
15 Nations that Collapsed because of Drought: will we be the 16th?
Preface. Another repercussion of drought may be the Muslim religion as Fleitmann (2022) proposes below. This post began with 10 civilizations that collapsed due to drought (below), and I’ve added 5 more. Will the American South West be #16? Lynn … Continue reading
Posted in Collapsed & collapsing nations, Drought & Collapse
Tagged Akkadia, Anasazi, Arabia, civilization, collapse, drought, Harrapan, Himyar, Khmer Empire, Maya, Ming Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Tiwanaku Empire
1 Comment
World’s Oceans are losing Oxygen rapidly
Preface. Yikes, add deoxygenization to your list of worries. Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans declined by roughly 2% from 1960 and 2010. The decline was largely due to climate change, though other human activities such as nutrient runoff from … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Extinction, Mass Extinction, Planetary Boundaries
Tagged climate change, deoxygenation, phytoplankton
7 Comments
Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change
Preface. This is a summary of the National Research Council 2013 study of abrupt changes of climate change. Related: 2019-12-6. Research reveals past rapid Antarctic ice loss due to ocean warming. “…the sensitive West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during a … Continue reading
Nuclear waste will last a lot longer than climate change
Preface. One of the most tragic aspects of peak oil is that it is very unlikely once energy descent begins that oil will be expended to clean up our nuclear mess. No one wants the spent fuel! New Mexico is … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear Waste, Planetary Boundaries
Tagged climate change, decommissioning, nuclear waste
3 Comments
Giant oil field decline rates and peak oil
Preface. Of the roughly 47,500 oil fields in the world, 507 of them, about 1%, are giant oil fields holding nearly two-thirds of all the oil that has ever been, or ever will be produced, with the largest 100 giants, … Continue reading
Posted in Flow Rate, How Much Left, Peak Oil
Tagged deline rates, depletion, giant oil fields, land, non-opec, offshore, OPEC, peak oil
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USGS: Half of U.S. Coal runs out in 35 years, not 250
Preface. The USGS did a survey of coal in the U.S. in 1974 and announced that America had 250 years of coal left. In 2007, the National Research Council wrote a report suggesting 100 years was more likely due to … Continue reading
Will covid-19 delay peak oil?
Preface. Here is my take on the effect this pandemic will have on oil production. Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, and “Crunch! Whole … Continue reading
Were other humans the first victims of the 6th mass extinction?
Preface. This article makes a good case that we did indeed wipe out other hominids. “…Yet the extinction of Neanderthals, at least, took a long time—thousands of years. While Neanderthals lost the war, to hold on so long they must … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature
Tagged extinction, human nature
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Movie review of Michael Moore’s “Planet of the Humans”
Preface. This documentary was made by Jeff Gibbs, a writer and environmentalist, with Michael Moore as the executive producer. This movie is worth watching, and an entertaining and quick way to understand why rebuildable “renewables” are neither green or a … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Biomass, Coal, Natural Gas, Solar, Wind
Tagged green power, Michael Moore, Planet of the Humans, renewables, solar, wind
15 Comments