Author Archives: energyskeptic

SMR / Gen 4 nuclear reactors less safe & create even more toxic waste

  Preface. With climate change getting all the press and the coming energy crisis virtually no coverage, pro-nuclear forces are strongly pushing new nuclear plants as a way to lower CO2 emissions and deliver reliable power (but only baseload, they … Continue reading

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North Korea: what happened when the oil was cut off?

Preface. All nations will eventually run low and then out of petroleum, so it is worthwhile to see what happened to those countries where oil was scarce first to get glimpses of our own fate and perhaps try to mitigate … Continue reading

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An extremist Republican gun industry will lead to a dark future in the U.S.

Preface. This is a book review of Busse’s 2021 “Gunfight. My battle against the industry that radicalized America”. I have always wondered why stricter gun laws haven’t been passed after horrifying mass shootings at schools and workplaces. This book explains … Continue reading

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An Amazonian community in balance with nature

Preface. Now that limits to growth and energy have arrived, it’s past time to invent a sustainable society living in balance with nature without fossil fuels and electricity.  The Dawn of Everything showed us such civilizations from the past. Today … Continue reading

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Is the USA energy independent?

Preface. Below are excerpts from U.S. House & Senate hearings where various speakers made the case that due to tight fracked gas & oil the United States had 100 or 200 or even 250 years of Energy Independence ahead.  For … Continue reading

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Dawn of Everything Miscellaneous

Preface.  I’ve put interesting bits that don’t belong in a single category here as well as summaries and links to new archeological discoveries, societies today living in balance sustainably, etc.  Starting with the review from Science which summarizes the book … Continue reading

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States do not evolve from Bands to Tribes to Chiefdoms to States

Preface.  The bulk of this book is dedicated to showing why the idea of the evolution from tribes to states is false. If the authors are correct, then the flexibility of societies to invent ways of living with more freedom … Continue reading

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The freedom to travel enabled people to flee to better tribes

Preface.  One of my favorite books was Bruce Chatwin’s “Songlines” about how aborigines were included by the Australian government in the building of a new railroad so that sacred sites could be avoided and they could add the rail line … Continue reading

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How past societies avoided the Agricultural trap

Preface.  There’s a great deal of evidence that past tribes did grow food but deliberately chose not to make that the entirety of the way they lived, preferring a more seasonal styles of life with hunting and gathering, and governance … Continue reading

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Why were California & Pacific NW Native tribes so different from each other?

Preface.  Why do many societies near each other have such different values, beliefs, mythology, and governance?  In “Dawn of Everything”, the authors suggest that it’s because:

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