Author Archives: energyskeptic

Deforestation in the news

Preface. I wrote in “Life after fossil fuels” that as energy declined, it would be hard to cut down distant forests with limited oil supplies.  I thought this because even in Britain, so denuded of trees people turned to filthy … Continue reading

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Review of “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads”

Preface.  This is a book review of Rundell’s “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads”. If this book is right, things have gotten a lot better in Saudi Arabia than when my other review on Saudi Arabia was written … Continue reading

Posted in Middle East, Peak Oil, Peak Resources, Threats to oil supply | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Human sprawl and wildlife destruction: a book review of “Nature Wars”

Preface.  This is a book review of Sterba’s “Nature Wars” and our interaction with wildlife as our insanely huge population growth wipes out nature.

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Can we grow enough food postcarbon? Irrigation needs water & electricity

Preface. Irrigated agriculture over 58 million acres consumes the largest share of U.S. water. And it’s shrinking as aquifers are drained, reservoirs evaporate, and drought reduces snowpack and rainfall at the same time population and the economy are growing. My … Continue reading

Posted in Interdependencies, Where to Be or Not to Be | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The myriad ways females play a role in evolution

Preface. This is a review of Cooke’s book “Bitch: On the female of the species”. I’ve been reading about evolution for a long time, but there was a great deal of new research on the role females play in evolution … Continue reading

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Nuclear waste storage plans in the news

Preface.  With world peak oil of conventional likely to have happened in 2008 (90% of our oil) and all oil, including conventional in 2018, there’s not much time left to clean up nuclear wastes to keep future generations for the … Continue reading

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Will women be accused of witchcraft after energy descent?

Preface. This is a book review of “In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial.”  The author Chollet writes that the book won’t spend much time on witchcraft today, but explore … Continue reading

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The staggering level of corruption & kleptocracy in the world

Preface.  This is a book review of Frank Vogl’s 2021 book “The Enablers: How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption – Endangering Our Democracy” (well, mostly kindle notes).  They couldn’t get away with it if there weren’t so many places … Continue reading

Posted in Banking, Bond Market, Corporate Welfare, Corruption, Crime, Gangs, Corrupt police, Private security, Debt, No Jail for Bankers & Wall St execs, Politics, Scams | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The staggering level of corruption & kleptocracy in the world

Horses will be essential to wars in the future

Source: De Decker K (2008) Bring back the horses. Low-Tech Magazine. Preface. Horses will not only play a key role in agriculture in the future after oil decline, they’ll replace the dozens of kinds of trucks that exist today, and … Continue reading

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China is destroying itself

Preface. China has been destroying itself for many decades now.  In Mao’s “great leap forward” about 35 to 50 million are estimated to have died from starvation from 1958 on, as you’ll read in my book review of” Shapiro J … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Hazardous Waste, Mining, Soil | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment