Category Archives: Society

Energy and resources limits what humans can do. So do their own systems. Financial systems fail, corruption, wars, religion, politics and more all play a role in how successful societies are and how wealthy their citizens are. As the distribution of wealth grows more unfair, the population is so immiserated at some point that collapse and a new society emerge

Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change?

Posted on July 20, 2021 by

Preface. Harper (2017) shows the brutal effects of plagues and climate change on the Roman Empire. McConnell (2020) proposes that a huge volcanic eruption in Alaska was a factor in bringing the Roman Empire  and Cleopatra’s Egypt down. In addition, … Continue reading →

Posted in Pandemic, Roman Empire | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Interdependencies & supply chain failures in the News

Posted on July 11, 2021 by

Preface. Joseph Tainter, explains in his famous book “The collapse of complex societies” how complexity causes civilizations to collapse. Fossil fuels have created the most complex society that has ever, or will ever exist, using fossil energy that can’t be … Continue reading →

Posted in Interdependencies, Microchips and computers, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Century from Now Concrete Will be Nothing But Rubble

Posted on June 26, 2021 by

Photo: road abandoned since 1984 in the Florida Keys Preface. Much of the material that follows is based on Robert Courland’s 2011 book Concrete Planet, which explains why concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure. And it’s all falling … Continue reading →

Posted in Concrete, Infrastructure & Collapse, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Peak Sand, Roads | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The History of Drunkenness

Posted on May 26, 2021 by

Preface. This is a book review of “A short history of Drunkenness” by Mark Forsyth. I expect alcohol to be a big part of life postcarbon not only because most cultures have embraced alcohol, but to drown the sorrows and … Continue reading →

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Pentagon report: collapse within 20 years from climate change

Posted on May 23, 2021 by

Preface. The report that the article by Ahmed below is based on is: Brosig, M., et al. 2019. Implications of climate change for the U.S. Army. United States Army War College. It was written in 2019, before covid-19 and so … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic, Blackouts, Climate Change, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Military, Over Oil | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

Posted on May 5, 2021 by

Preface. This is a book review and excerpts of Winchester’s “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers created the modern world”. The book describes how the industrial revolution was made possible with ever more precision.  First came the steam engine, possible to … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure & Collapse, Jobs and Skills, Life After Fossil Fuels, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

We’ve wiped out two-thirds of wildlife in just 50 years

Posted on April 11, 2021 by

Last updated 2022-4-28 Preface.  Human over-consumption is driving extinction far more than climate change. Humans  began reducing biodiversity 4 million years ago, when large carnivores in Africa began disappearing (Faurby, S., et al. 2020. Brain expansion in early hominins predicts … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Extinction, Food production, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Slavery in the Roman Empire

Posted on April 11, 2021 by

Preface. After fossils decline, we go back to wood as our main thermal source of energy for cooking, heating, smelting metals, ceramics, bricks, glass and other products that need the high heat of wood charcoal. Sadly, another source of energy … Continue reading →

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Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses” & wealth

Posted on March 11, 2021 by

Preface.  This is a well-written book with original insights into the economic, cultural, and politics behind how we got to a right-wing wannabe fascist incredibly unfair distribution of wealth.  But Andersen is unaware that energy, not money, is the basis … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of Wealth, Poverty | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Even Pencils will be hard to make

Posted on February 9, 2021 by

Preface. Most of us are unaware of how complex our society is, how things are made, how food is grown, how stuff is delivered, and the people, energy, transportation, and kinds and sources of materials in every day objects.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Localization, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments