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!

How long will concrete last if it isn’t maintained?

As energy grows scarcer and is devoted to growing food and other life-support services, our infrastructure will crumble. Bob Holmes. 12 Oct 2006. Imagine Earth without people. NewScientist.com Lack of maintenance will spell an early demise for buildings, roads, bridges … Continue reading

Posted in Concrete, Infrastructure & Collapse | Tagged , | Comments Off on How long will concrete last if it isn’t maintained?

Peak Coal already happened or likely soon, so worst IPCC scenarios may never happen

[ The good news is that The IPCC has greatly exaggerated the amount of coal reserves we actually have The scientists below find that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has greatly exaggerated coal reserves, so the IPCC scenario … Continue reading

Posted in But not from climate change: Peak Fossil Fuels, Climate Change, CO2 and Methane, Coal, Global Warming, Peak Coal, Planetary Boundaries, Runaway Greenhouse | Tagged | Comments Off on Peak Coal already happened or likely soon, so worst IPCC scenarios may never happen

Up to 9% of Methane lost in leaks erodes green credentials of natural gas

Jeff Tollefson. 2 Jan 2013. Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas.  Losses of up to 9% show need for broader data on US gas industry’s environmental impact. Nature, volume 493 Scientists are once again reporting alarmingly high methane … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Natural Gas | Comments Off on Up to 9% of Methane lost in leaks erodes green credentials of natural gas

David Korowicz: Tipping point near-term systemic implications of a Peak in global Oil production

[ This is the most brilliant and succinct paper I’ve ever seen that explains the interdependencies of our economic, energy, infrastructure, food, and other systems.  It is so well-written that you ought to read the entire paper, my summary can’t … Continue reading

Posted in 2) Overshoot, Crash Coming Soon, David Korowicz, Interdependencies, Organizations | Tagged , , | Comments Off on David Korowicz: Tipping point near-term systemic implications of a Peak in global Oil production

Corporate Welfare

Big business sets the agenda for what legislation our elected officials spend their time on at the national, state, and local levels, and even write the legislation and pass it on via lobbyists. What ever your issue is, you can … Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Welfare, Corruption & Finance | Tagged , | Comments Off on Corporate Welfare

China Water issues

China is one of a few and often only place making products from computers to furniture, as well as the components of most products, so if China collapses, the ripple effects will be felt elsewhere. On the other hand, if … Continue reading

Posted in Water Infrastructure | Tagged , , | Comments Off on China Water issues

Sea Level Rise

[ There are four major sources of sea level rise that are related to human activity: thermal expansion (as ocean water heats up, it physically expands), melting mountain glaciers worldwide, the continental ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, and the … Continue reading

Posted in Sea Level Rise | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Sea Level Rise

Ozone destroying HCFC is still being produced in enormous volumes

Johannes C. Laube, Mike J. Newland, Christopher Hogan, Carl A. M. Brenninkmeijer, Paul J. Fraser, Patricia Martinerie, David E. Oram, Claire E. Reeves, Thomas Röckmann, Jakob Schwander, Emmanuel Witrant, William T. Sturges. Newly detected ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere. Nature … Continue reading

Posted in Ozone Loss | Comments Off on Ozone destroying HCFC is still being produced in enormous volumes

20% of Invertebrate species threatened with extinction.

Brendan Borrell. Sep 3, 2012. One Fifth of Invertebrate Species at Risk of Extinction. Freshwater snails and reef-building corals are among the threatened groups. Nature & Scientific American. One in five of the world’s invertebrate species are threatened with extinction, … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Extinction | Tagged , , | Comments Off on 20% of Invertebrate species threatened with extinction.

Solar Infrastructure: Materials, Land, and Energy required

To replace just one year of world oil use (1 cubic mile) you’d need to mine, fabricate, deliver, and build 91,250,000 Solar panels every year for 50 years (Goldstein). A PV plant that could produce 5.5 TWh of power (what … Continue reading

Posted in Energy Infrastructure | Comments Off on Solar Infrastructure: Materials, Land, and Energy required