Category Archives: 2) Collapse

The collapse of the financial system, breakdown of supply chains, blackouts, end of being able to make computer chips, and so on are symptoms of the underlying cause: LESS OIL AVAILABLE TO DO MILLIONS OF ESSENTIAL TASKS. Whether the house of cards goes from the financial shock of a natural disaster or from debt and corruption, blockage of the Suez canal, Export Land Model, or (nuclear war) — there is certain to be a series of dislocations that ultimately bring population down to 1 billion or less, and given past collapses, take about 20-30 years. Let’s hope there are some islands of sanity and that you, dear reader, are living on one of them!

Book Review: The Fall of the Roman Empire: A new history of Rome and the barbarians

Posted on November 26, 2020 by

Preface.  Most historians see the fall of the Roman Empire as due to the invasion of barbarians from the North, partly pushed towards Italy by the brutal Huns.  These lands had never been conquered by Roman armies because they were … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Roman Empire | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries

Posted on November 17, 2020 by

Preface. In the half dozen science magazines and newspapers I get, almost the only environmental stories are about climate change. Yet there are 8 other ecological boundaries (Rockström 2009) we must not cross (shown in bold with an asterisk below) … Continue reading →

Posted in Acidification, Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Climate Change, Critical Thinking, Peak Oil, Planetary Boundaries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

What can California do about sea level rise?

Posted on November 11, 2020 by

Projected sea level rise from one meter (dark red) to six meters (light orange) in California’s Bay Area. (Weiss and Overpeck 2011) Preface. Nearly all, if not all, possible solutions to rising sea levels along all the coasts in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy Infrastructure, Infrastructure & Collapse, Rail, Roads, Sea Level Rise, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What can California do about sea level rise?

Book review of “The Death of Expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters”

Posted on November 5, 2020 by

Preface.  Those who attack experts are exactly the people who will not read this book review (well, mainly some Kindle notes) of Nichols “The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters”. They scare me, they … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Political Books, Politics | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Book review of “The Death of Expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters”

Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions

Posted on September 30, 2020 by

Preface. Below are excerpts from two articles on why the extinction of insects could lead to our own extinction, not to mention all the other species on earth. Though if peak oil did happen in 2018 (citations chapter 2 of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Extinction, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A Strong Case for the Anthropocene: no other species has ever consumed so much of earth’s resources so quickly

Posted on September 24, 2020 by

Figure 1. Produced energy and the pattern of human population growth from 1750. Utilization of these energy sources, together with the energy used by humans from net primary production, is now approaching the entire energy available to the global ecosystem … Continue reading →

Posted in ! PEAK EVERYTHING, Climate Change, Human Nature | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Native American enslavement

Posted on September 15, 2020 by

Preface.  This is a book review of “The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America” by Andrés Reséndez Slavery is an important postcarbon topic because given our past history, future wood-based civilizations will certainly return to slavery, … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Slavery | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

A book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman

Posted on September 12, 2020 by

Preface. This is a book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman 2016. I found this book hard to put down.  It should be read because it tells the role guns played … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Military, guns, Slavery, Social Disorder, Violence, War Books | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman

Book Review of “Against the Grain. A Deep History of the Earliest States”

Posted on September 9, 2020 by

Preface.  Energyskeptic.com is ultimately about the rise and fall of civilizations, although I didn’t know that when I first started writing this as an energy and resource blog.  Our civilization too will fail as fossil fuels decline, and then we’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Human Nature, Life Before Oil, Slavery | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Maddow’s “Blowout”, Russian peak oil, corruption, fake news

Posted on August 21, 2020 by

Preface.  Since this blog focuses on peak resources, I drastically rearranged my notes from this book in the order I found most interesting. I’m also interested in corruption, Putin, fake news, and more, as you’ll see below.  Since the book … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Corruption & Finance, Oil shock collapse, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments