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Tag Archives: civilization
11 Nations that Collapsed because of Drought
Preface. Recently it was discovered that Assyria collapsed in the 7th century BC. Jeff Masters list ten more civilizations that failed from drought. We may be next, as Lynn Ingram, a professor at U.C. Berkeley discusses in her book: The … Continue reading
How sand transformed civilization
Preface. No wonder we’re reaching peak sand. We use more of this natural resource than of any other except water. Civilization consumes nearly 50 billion tons of sand & gravel a year, enough to build a concrete wall 88 feet … Continue reading
Posted in Concrete, Sand
Tagged civilization, peak sand, sand
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Book: John Perlin’s “A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization”
Preface. This contains excerpts from John Perlin’s “A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization”. It’s one of my favorite books about natural resources, exploring the role wood has played in the rise and fall of civilizations since they … Continue reading
Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed, Deforestation, Life Before Oil, Limits To Growth, Peak Resources, Soil, Wood
Tagged civilization, collapse, deforestation, peak wood, wood
1 Comment
What would happen if trucks stopped running?
Preface. In “Why You Should Love Trucks” I showed that essential supply chains depend on trucks nearly completely. Because of little inventory and dependence on just-in-time deliveries, our civilization would almost immediately feel the repercussions of trucks stopping. That sounds … Continue reading
Posted in Cascading Failure, Dependence on Oil, Electric trucks impossible, Infrastructure, Oil Shocks, Transportation, Transportation, Trucks
Tagged civilization, electric trucks, life without lorries, trucks, trucks stop running
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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
Ward-Perkins “The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization”
[ This is a book review of Ward-Perkins “The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization“. What sparked my interest in reading several books on the decline of Rome was when James Howard Kunstler (KunstlerCast 278) interviewed me about … Continue reading
Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Roman Empire, Supply Chains
Tagged civilization, collapse, decline and fall, roman empire
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Why the demise of civilization is inevitable
MacKenzie, D. April 2, 2008. Why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable. NewScientist. Every civilization in history has collapsed. Why should ours be any different? Homer-Dixon doubts we can stave off collapse completely. He points to what he calls … Continue reading
Posted in 3) Fast Crash, Interdependencies
Tagged civilization, collapse, homer-dixon, tainter
1 Comment
Peter Turchin: violence and social unrest in the U.S. and Europe likely by 2020
[ Peter Turchin, an expert on the cycles of history and the rise and fall of civilizations, has used mathematical models of complex systems to predict political instability. Debora MacKenzie at NewScientist interviewed him about his upcoming book “Ultrasociety” in … Continue reading
Posted in Experts, Peter Turchin
Tagged civilization, collapse, rise and fall, Turchin
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Nature : Hydrocarbons and the evolution of human culture
Hydrocarbons and the evolution of human culture Charles Hall et al. 20 NOVEMBER 2003 NATURE. VOL 426 Most of the progress in human culture has required the exploitation of energy resources. About 100 years ago, the major source of energy … Continue reading
Posted in An Overview, Charles A. S. Hall
Tagged civilization, history of fossil fuels, overview
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