Category Archives: 2) Overshoot

The polycrisis/overshoot, 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: peak energy and peak everything, especially peak diesel since trucks, rail, and ships make this one-time only fossil fueled civilization possible. Wind, solar, nuclear, and so on also need fossil fuels for every single step of their life cycle, so that is a dead end. It is back to before the 15th century — wood world. Whether the house of cards collapses from chokepoints in the middle east such as the Suez canal, the financial shock of a natural disaster or from debt and corruption, Export Land Model, or nuclear war — there is certain to be a series of dislocations that ultimately bring population down to 400 million (population before fossil fuels) or less (due to overshoot factors such as top soil erosion, pollution, etc) Let’s hope there are some islands of sanity and that you are living on one of them!

Fresh water depletion, contamination, saltwater intrusion, & subsidence

Map of the U.S. showing cumulative groundwater depletion from 1900 through 2008 in 40 aquifers. Source: Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008), USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5079. Preface.  This isn’t mentioned in the subsidence paper below, but half of USA … Continue reading

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Invasive insects

Preface.  Below is a by no means exhaustive list of insect scourges, just the ones I happen to run across.  Whoever is still around after collapse will sure be hard pressed to survive — unless they add insects to their … Continue reading

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Book: John Perlin’s “A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization”

Preface.  This contains excerpts from John Perlin’s “A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization”. It’s one of my favorite books about natural resources, exploring the role wood has played in the rise and fall of civilizations since they … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Deforestation, Life Before Oil, Limits To Growth, Peak Resources, Soil, Wood | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Book review of “White Trash. The 400-year untold history of class in America”

Preface.  This book makes the case that the poor arrived 500 years ago when America was first settled, and most of them never rose to the middle or upper classes because “land was the principal source of wealth, and those … Continue reading

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Book Review about why the electric grid is fragile and falling apart

Preface.  This is a book review of Munson’s “The Business of Power and what it means for the future of electricity”. Although it was written in 2008 and some efforts have been made in some places to improve the grid, … Continue reading

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Book review of Hillbilly Elegy and why hillbillies voted for Trump

Source: David Horsey / Los Angeles Times Preface. I bought “Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis” because I’d like to understand why anyone would vote for Donald Trump. Before the election, it was well-known that … Continue reading

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The dangers of relativism, of not being able to criticize anyone or anything because all of our beliefs are equal

[ I’ve been criticized for attacking right-wing Republicans, fundamentalist Christians, astrology, medicinal quackery, and so on.  This is dangerous nonsense. It means I can’t criticize Hitler, because after all, he was a product of his times.  I can’t tell my … Continue reading

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Fantasyland 9. Myths and infotainment

Preface. This is the last of the Fantasyland review series. Links to the 9 parts of this book review:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the … Continue reading

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Fantasyland 8. Religion the main factor in America’s descent into the darkness of superstition

[ This is the 8th of nine posts about Fantasyland.  Andersen believes all of the madness and superstition in America originally springs from our history of religiosity. The scariest part of the insanity is that there are Christians trying  to … Continue reading

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Fantasyland 7. How America became the world’s biggest theme park

  Preface. This is the 7th of 9 posts about Fantasyland. Some theme park quotes: One of America’s first theme parks was created in 1894, Black America, with 500 pretend slaves advertised as “Fun for the Darkies” and the “Fun-Loving … Continue reading

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