Category Archives: Infrastructure

This site makes the case that collapse will take decades, not centuries. And the worst that ever has been or will be, it is fossil fuels that enabled 8.2 people to exist on the planet

After collapse: plunder or feudalism?

Posted on March 7, 2017 by

  IWW poster “Pyramid of Capitalist System” (c. 1911), depicting an anti-capitalist perspective on statist/capitalist social structures Preface. In this post an anonymous author looks at what will happen if society collapses and we have to suddenly go back to … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming & Ranching, Peak Food, Peak Phosphorus, Soil, Where are the rich going | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Coal power plants depend on railroads to deliver coal

Posted on February 18, 2017 by

[ The extract of a Senate hearing below is mostly spent on testimony by utilities bashing the railroads for not delivering enough coal due to a disaster in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming area, where coal dust infiltrated the stone … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Coal, Interdependencies, Railroads, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Coal power plants depend on railroads to deliver coal

Why is Detroit falling apart so fast?

Posted on February 6, 2017 by

Using Google street view history, www.goobingdetroit.com records the decay of homes in Detroit. Above shows homes September 2009, September 2011, and September 2013 I’ve been fascinated with the decline of Detroit since a guy in my dormitory told me back … Continue reading →

Posted in Crash Coming Soon, Infrastructure & Collapse, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Poverty | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Why is Detroit falling apart so fast?

Failing states, collapsing systems: biophysical triggers of political violence

Posted on January 31, 2017 by

Preface. In this post I summarize the sections of Nafeez’s book about the biophysical factors that bring nations down (i.e. climate change drought & water scarcity, declining revenues after peak oil, etc.) The Media tend to focus exclusively on economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Caused by Scarce Resources, Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Drought & Collapse, Exports decline to ZERO, Food production, Interdependencies, Limits To Growth, Middle East, Other Experts, Over Oil, Overpopulation, Peak Oil, Violence, War & Violence | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

After the harvest – protecting food from rats, mold, insects, fire, and bacteria

Posted on January 28, 2017 by

Preface. It’s hard enough to protect crops before a harvest. In New South Wales, Australia a plague of millions of mice has multiplied after a bumper grain harvest and eating whatever they can find. Mice can produce 500 offspring a … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Books, Farming & Ranching, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Doomsday: Will peak phosphate get us before global warming?

Posted on January 22, 2017 by

Price, Ed.  July 22, 2013. Doomsday: Will Peak Phosphate Get us Before Global Warming? oilprice.com Although climate change catches the headlines, it is not the only doomsday scenario out there. A smaller but no less fervent band of worriers think … Continue reading →

Posted in Peak Phosphorus | Tagged | 2 Comments

Sand mines used to frack oil & gas are destroying the best topsoil in the Midwest

Posted on January 19, 2017 by

Preface. Frac sand is a high-purity quartz sand that is injected into wells to blast and hold open cracks in the shale rock layer during the fracking process. In the United States, frac sand is being mined intensively from sandstone … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Sand, Soil | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Peak Uranium by Ugo Bardi from Extracted: How the Quest for Mineral Wealth Is Plundering the Planet

Posted on January 11, 2017 by

Preface. This is an extract of Ugo Bardi’s must read “Extracted” about the limits of production of uranium. You can find plenty of material saying there is are a lot of uranium reserves and resources  left elsewhere (EMD 2019). The … Continue reading →

Posted in Peak Uranium, Ugo Bardi | Tagged , | 5 Comments

EROI of Canadian Natural Gas. A peak was reached despite enormous investment

Posted on January 7, 2017 by

[ Although I’ve extracted much of this paper, it is not complete—there are missing equations, figures, tables, and text– so see the paper for details (it is available online).  I’ve rearranged the order of the paper.  The conclusion is just … Continue reading →

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Natural Gas, Peak Natural Gas | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Water as a geopolitical threat. U.S. House of Representatives

Posted on November 20, 2016 by

Preface. Water scarcity is causing unrest and could led to war in Asia and the Middle East. There’s a website that keeps track of conflicts over water going back for 3,000 years here — 655 of them.   The prevalence of … Continue reading →

Posted in Caused by Scarce Resources, Congressional Record U.S., Peak Water, Water | Comments Off on Water as a geopolitical threat. U.S. House of Representatives