Category Archives: 1) Decline

Decline will be death by a thousand cuts as too many problems occur and overwhelm societies ability to fix them (i.e. Tainter’s “complexity”). Already our infrastructure (oil and gas pipelines, electric grid, roads, bridges, etc) has a Report Card of D from the American Society of Civil Engineers. All 18 components of essential infrastructure, from the electric grid to the financial system are vulnerable to cyber-attack, The end of growth means bankruptcy for cities, pensions, families, and businesses, and no credit for energy companies to borrow for new projects to obtain oil, coal, and natural gas, the real drivers of the economy (just try putting dollar bills in your gas tank)

Ted Trainer: The radical implications of a zero growth economy

Projections of business as usual from Meadow’s et al “Limits to Growth” Preface. Clearly infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. Returning the world to ecological health requires humans to live within ecological boundaries in a steady state economy. … Continue reading

Posted in Debt, Economic Decline, Investing advice, Other Experts | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Few net-zero trucks from ports to inland redistribution

Preface. In my first book “When Trucks Stop Running” I made the case that our civilization, across all sectors, depended on diesel heavy-duty trucks, and explored the ways they might run on Something Else, since if that problem were not … Continue reading

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Will California’s high-speed rail go off the tracks?

Preface.  Way down below is the original post, a 2014 U.S. House hearing I summarized that revealed so many flaws with the California high-speed rail project I was sure funding would end. It is so bad, so flawed, that in … Continue reading

Posted in Railroads, U.S. Congress Transportation | Tagged | 3 Comments

Egads! An unfair distribution of wealth is good for the climate

Preface. Good grief!!! I never thought I would write a post with that title. I am pro Democracy, pro fair distribution of wealth!  As you can see at posts here. But it has occurred to me that if if everyone … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of Wealth, Overshoot, Poverty, Social Disorder | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Government of Canada: Disruptions coming!

Preface. Just in case you do not have enough worries, the Government of Canada has stepped in to help you out with potential future catastrophes. And there are dozens, perhaps a new one to add to your list, such as: People … Continue reading

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Chemical industrial farming does not work: Pests evolve immunity quickly

Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides destroy soil and ecosystems. Yet a third of crops are lost to pests just as in the many millennia of farming before chemicals Preface. This is a book review of Dyer’s “Chasing the Red Queen”, and … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity Loss, Chemical Pollution, Chemicals, Overshoot, Peak Food, Pesticides, Soil | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chemical industrial farming does not work: Pests evolve immunity quickly

Who Killed the Electric Car & more importantly, the Electric Truck?

Preface. Who cares about electric cars? Civilization ends when trucks stop running. Trucks can’t run on batteries because they’re too heavy, with 63 times less energy density than diesel. If all U.S. transportation were to be electrified, the existing electric … Continue reading

Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Critical Thinking, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electrification, Transportation, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Who Killed the Electric Car & more importantly, the Electric Truck?

Peak Menhaden

Preface. This is a book review of: Bruce Franklin’s 2007 The Most Important Fish in the Sea. Menhaden and America. Island Press. I’d never heard of menhaden until my husband, who grew up in Florida, mentioned them. Just half a … Continue reading

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Building a national super grid in America

Preface. Renewables are not evenly distributed.  Just 10 states have 80% of hydropower (Homeland Security 2011), 10 states produce 75% of wind power (EIA 2017), and 10 states produce 79% of solar power (CE 2020). With a national grid, instead … Continue reading

Posted in Blackouts Electric Grid, Electric Grid, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Electricity Infrastructure, National Super Grid, Solar, Vaclav Smil, Wind | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Book review of “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID”

Preface.  This is a book review of “Pandemic Politics” about the myriad ways Trump mishandled the covid-19 pandemic. With the 2024 election coming up, it is a good time to remember how spectacularly Trump failed in managing covid-19. In 2016 … Continue reading

Posted in Pandemics, Political Books, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments