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!

U.S. House meeting on terrorist threats to energy security

[ Even though this hearing was over a decade ago, the issues are still the same.  Nothing has changed. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation, 2015, Springer] House 109-70. July 27, … Continue reading

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How is California’s AB2514 experiment with utility scale battery storage coming along?

[ This is an excellent article by Tod Kiefer about tests of sodium-sulfur batteries, which are the only kind of battery for which there is enough material on earth to make. Battery electric storage is meant to “replace nimble, fast-ramping … Continue reading

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Stansberry on “The End of America”

[ Stansberry has been predicting a market crash and currency collapse for a long time.  But this hasn’t happened yet, so Stansberry re-evaluates his ideas. He notes that the top 20 industrialized nations have pension and retiree obligations that aren’t … Continue reading

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Book review of “Spiral: Trapped in the forever war”

[ I understand why anyone who might be believed about the energy crisis keeps their mouth shut about peak oil, it would be like shouting “fire” in a crowded theater and could bring down stock markets world-wide.  Why?  Because there … Continue reading

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North American freshwater mussels are going extinct

Stokstad, E. 2012. Nearly Buried, Mussels Get a Helping Hand. Science Vol. 338, Issue 6109, pp. 876-878 [excerpts] Freshwater mussels are in trouble. They are the most endangered group of organisms in the United States, with most of their river … Continue reading

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Corruption and economic instability in the news

[ I can’t keep up with the flood of news about corruption, fraud and economic instability, which is just a symptom of the real problem: the end of growth. In a credit/debit system, lenders won’t lend if they think the … Continue reading

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Pessimism and Optimism versus Ignorance

Below are my thoughts about whether views based on scientific evidence can be labeled optimistic or pessimistic. Skeptical energy news: 2017-2-7 Renewable Lies And The Deception Of Dutch Commuters Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and … Continue reading

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Richard Heinberg: “An Order of Chaos Please”

[ Richard Heinberg’s article comes after my comments below: It really matters who is in power when the energy crisis hits, because some leaders will soften collapse more than others. Surely right-wing / libertarian “everyone for themselves” leaders will have … Continue reading

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Dams: last 100-200 years, make floods worse, an environmental disaster, most will soon be past their lifespan

Failing Dams in the news: 2017-2-23: America’s Aging Dams Are in Need of Repair. New York Times. 2017-2-20. California Dam Crisis Could Have Been Averted. A dismissed lawsuit to strengthen the dam because of climate change effects predicted catastrophic flooding.  … Continue reading

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Kurt Cobb on the true definition of corruption

Kurt Cobb. April 10, 2016. Corruption, resources, climate and systemic risk.  resourceinsights.com Corruption is a loaded word. One person’s corruption is another’s sound social policy. Some people believe providing unemployment benefits to laid-off workers corrupts them by making them “lazy.” … Continue reading

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