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!

Venezuela – when will it collapse?

Posted on August 19, 2022 by

Preface. This is a book review of Newman’s 2022 “Things are never so bad that they can’t get worse”. He lived in Venezuela from 2012 to 2016 as a correspondent for The New York Times.  Venezuela and Canada have the … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption & Finance, Crime, Gangs, Corrupt police, Private security, Venezuela | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Venezuela – when will it collapse?

Why did everyone stop talking about Population & Immigration?

Posted on June 25, 2022 by

Preface. This post summarizes the 20 top reasons why population growth was abandoned the past 40 years. A deeper understanding can be found in the excellent Beck & Kolankiewicz (2000) “The Environmental Movement’s Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Deforestation, Disease, Overpopulation, Pesticides, Pollution, Population, Transportation, Water Pollution, Wildfire | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The Vory. Russia’s Super Mafia

Posted on June 9, 2022 by

Preface. After reading this book about the history of organized crime in Russia, I thought surely Russia must be the most corrupt nation in the world.  But amazingly there are 47 countries that are ranked even lower of the 180 … Continue reading →

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North Korea: what happened when the oil was cut off?

Posted on May 30, 2022 by

Preface. All nations will eventually run low and then out of petroleum, so it is worthwhile to see what happened to those countries where oil was scarce first to get glimpses of our own fate and perhaps try to mitigate … Continue reading →

Posted in North Korea, Oil shock collapse | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why it is hard to replace diesel with biodiesel

Posted on April 12, 2022 by

Biodiesel is the great hope, our main hope, the only renewable fuel of all the many options, and the closest to the diesel essential for rail, trucks, and ships to do the actual work of civilization. The U.S. produces over … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiesel, Food production, Oil, Peak Biofuels, Peak Food, Transportation, Water | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Implications of Refinery closures for Homeland Security & critical infrastructure safety

Posted on March 24, 2022 by

Preface. The talk of electric vehicles saving the world from greenhouse gases is nonsense, a red herring to distract everyone from what’s really at stake, and from the material requirements to build them with rare earth and other scarce minerals, … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Oil & Gas, Peak Oil, U.S. Congress Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Review of Wrangham’s The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue & Violence in Human Evolution

Posted on March 18, 2022 by

Preface. This is a fantastic, must read book if you’re at all interested in how we evolved to be who we are today, how we domesticated ourselves, gossip, conformity, violence and more.  It reminds me of why I don’t read … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Human Nature, War Books | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Heat effects on habitability, biodiversity, and invasive species

Posted on February 22, 2022 by

Preface. Due to limits of human heat tolerance, much of Earth’s surface may not be habitable by 2300 if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at the current rate. But we can’t continue at the current rate. Peak oil production … Continue reading →

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Jellyfish in the news

Posted on February 16, 2022 by

Preface.  As we overfish, eutrophy and acidify the ocean with fertilizer and pesticides we risk a tipping point where jellyfish dominate the oceans and fish are scarce. Related: Why and how Jellyfish are taking over the world Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com  … Continue reading →

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QAnon and Witchcraft. Hard to tell them apart

Posted on February 10, 2022 by

Preface.  I just read Schiff’s book “The Witches: Salem, 1692”.  As I read it, I kept thinking that these Christian witch killers weren’t much different from QAnon believers, who are also mostly Christians (evangelists). I’m not the first to think … Continue reading →

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