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

The Scientific Consensus on Maintaining Humanity’s Life Support Systems in the 21st Century

Posted on October 13, 2014 by

May 21, 2013. the Scientific Consensus on Maintaining Humanity’s Life Support Systems in the 21st Century In the one month since it was written, 520 global scientists have signed on to this statement. You can, too. There is more information, … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientists Warnings to Humanity | 2 Comments

Almost half of Rail Freight is Energy, increasingly Crude Oil

Posted on October 8, 2014 by

Source: American Association of Railroads. 46% of all tonnage hauled by freight trains is Energy: In 2014, crude oil will likely be 650,000 carloads — 2% of all carloads, 2.2% of tonnage.  In addition 2.6% of rail tonnage was refined … Continue reading →

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Super Rust Corrodes hundreds of ships and could sink the oil industry

Posted on October 4, 2014 by

Blame it on super-rust, a virulent form of corrosion that has destroyed hundreds of ships and could sink the oil industry. By Richard Martin, June 2002. Wired Magazine. Key points (see the full article at http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/superrust.html): Ships that cost hundreds … Continue reading →

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Signs of Peakiness, oil companies are running out of cash

Posted on August 29, 2014 by

Andrew Nikiforuk, August 29, 2014. A big summer story you missed: Soaring oil debt. The Tyee.  Over 100 of the world’s largest energy companies are running out of cash. Photo of Keystone pipeline in Nebraska by Shannon Ramos. Creative Commons … Continue reading →

Posted in Debt, Energy Markets, Peak Oil | 1 Comment

American Physical Society: has the Battery Bubble Burst?

Posted on July 15, 2014 by

Aug/Sep 2012. Has the Battery Bubble Burst? Fred Schlachter. American Physical Society. APS News Vol 21, number 8. Phys.org Three years ago at a symposium on lithium-air batteries at IBM Almaden there was great optimism. The symposium “Scalable Energy Storage: … Continue reading →

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Michael Klare: Twenty-First-Century Energy Wars

Posted on July 9, 2014 by

Twenty-First-Century Energy Wars by Michael Klare, originally published by Tomdispatch Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine, the East and South China Seas: wherever you look, the world is aflame with new or intensifying conflicts.  At first glance, these upheavals appear … Continue reading →

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David Korowicz: Catastrophic shocks through complex socio-economic systems

Posted on July 6, 2014 by

David Korowicz. 2013. Catastrophic Shocks through Complex Socio-Economic Systems. The globalized economy has become more complex (connectivity, interdependence, and speed), delocalized, with increasing concentration within critical systems. This has made us all more vulnerable to systemic shocks. This paper provides … Continue reading →

Posted in David Korowicz, Stages of | 1 Comment

Biggest Waste of Wealth in All of history: America’s Interstate Highway system

Posted on June 9, 2014 by

A book review by Alice Friedemann of: Swift, Earl. 2012. The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways. Related articles $46 Trillion Infrastructure in USA, $6 Trillion is Transportation Expressways & … Continue reading →

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$46 Trillion Infrastructure in USA, $6 Trillion is Transportation

Posted on June 3, 2014 by

James Howard Kunstler has written that Suburbia will be the largest waste of money and physical assets in human history. The end of the age of oil means that just about everything will be useless too.  Below is just the … Continue reading →

Posted in Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Gail Tverberg: How this collapse differs from past collapses

Posted on June 1, 2014 by

Converging Energy Crises – And How our Current Situation Differs from the Past  May 29, 2014 by Gail Tverberg At the Age of Limits Conference, I gave a talk called Converging Crises (PDF), talking about the crises facing us as we reach energy … Continue reading →

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