Category Archives: Experts

William Rees: Memo from a Climate Crisis Realist: The Choice before Us

Posted on February 4, 2020 by

Preface. I’m going to put Rees’ conclusion of 11 things to do first (rather than the Green New Deal, which can’t possibly work), followed by his arguments for why this needs to be done (if you haven’t read part 1 … Continue reading →

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William E. Rees: Don’t Call Me a Pessimist on Climate Change. I Am a Realist

Posted on February 1, 2020 by

Preface. William E. Rees is professor emeritus of human ecology and ecological economics at the University of British Columbia. He’s one of my favorite ecological writers and has written about energy, limits to growth, sustainability and other ecological topics for … Continue reading →

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Energy Security: Historical perspectives and Modern challenges. Senate hearing 2009

Posted on December 17, 2016 by

[ In this hearing former President Carter was brought in by the Senate to help them cope with the energy crisis.  Carter said that no one but the President can educate the public about the energy crisis and  “explain to … Continue reading →

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Dmitry Orlov: How Russians survived the collapse of the Soviet Union

Posted on August 18, 2015 by

[ A great post by Dmitry Orlov about what collapse may be like, the best strategies to survive, and why the Russian way of life and culture prepared them far better for hard times than will be the case in … Continue reading →

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Charles Hugh Smith: How To Find Shelter From The Coming Storms?

Posted on July 11, 2014 by

How To Find Shelter From The Coming Storms? by Charles Hugh Smith Some basic suggestions for those who are seeking shelter from the coming storms of global financial crisis and recession. Reader Andy recently wrote: “I look forward to your … Continue reading →

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Disarray by James Howard Kunstler

Posted on May 6, 2014 by

Feb 21, 2008  DISARRAY  by James Howard Kunstler The dark tunnel that the U.S. economy has entered began to look more and more like a black hole recently, sucking in lives, fortunes, and prospects behind a Potemkin facade of orderly … Continue reading →

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Cash is King in a deflation — but there are dangers

Posted on May 1, 2014 by

Risk 1: Capital controls Restrictions on bank withdrawals (no ATM withdrawals, no bill payments, etc) Restrictions on money market fund redemptions Greater restrictions on retirement fund liquidations Fixing an official exchange rate and criminalizing market rate transactions Banning the conversion … Continue reading →

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Have Cash by Nicole Foss July 3, 2010

Posted on April 16, 2014 by

Since we at The Automatic Earth generally tell people to hold cash or cash equivalents, it makes sense to expand on that a little, and to point out some of the location-specific risks of doing so. Eventually you should get … Continue reading →

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The need for trust

Posted on April 15, 2014 by

Beyond the Trust Horizon  Oct 1, 2010  Nicole Foss   theautomatic earth Relationships of trust are the glue that holds societies together. Trust takes a long time to establish, and much less time to destroy, hence societies where trust is wide-spread, … Continue reading →

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Fleeing Vesuvius Overcoming the Risks of Economic and Enviromental Collapse

Posted on March 21, 2014 by

Fleeing Vesuvius.  Overcoming the Risks of Economic and Enviromental Collapse   This book has many ideas about what to do across many spheres. Escape routes: Fleeing Vesuvius – which way should we go?  summarizes the “what to do” conclusions of … Continue reading →

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