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)

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

Posted on May 9, 2019 by

Preface.  In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom said “there simply isn’t a path” for completing the project “from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A”, so instead he proposed building a 171-mile starter segment in the Central Valley … Continue reading →

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

Using manure for fertilizer in the future – it won’t be easy

Posted on April 21, 2019 by

Preface. At John Jeavons Biointensive workshop back in 2003, I learned that phosphorous is limited and mostly being lost to oceans and other waterways after exiting sewage treatment plants.  He said it can be dangerous to use human manure without … Continue reading →

Posted in Life Before Oil, Soil, Waste, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

California’s central valley aquifers may be gone in 2030s, Ogallala 2050-2070

Posted on April 6, 2019 by

Preface. Clearly the human population isn’t going to reach 10 billion or more. California grows one-third of the nation’s food, the 10 high-plains states over the Ogallala about a quarter of the nations food, and exports a great deal of … Continue reading →

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Why and how Jellyfish are taking over the world

Posted on March 19, 2019 by

Preface.  The more climate change kicks in, the more we over-fish, pollute, acidify and warm the ocean, create vast dead zones, and trawl ocean bottoms, the better the jellyfish do. It is quite possible that the ocean ecosystem will shift … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Extinction Books, Fisheries, Jellyfish, Peak Food | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Book review of Dirt: the erosion of civilization

Posted on March 16, 2019 by

Preface. On average civilizations collapsed after 800 to 2,000 years because they’d destroyed their topsoil, some of it caused by deforestation to grow more food, make metals, ceramics, glass and other objects requiring high heat, which fossils provide today. Today, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Peak Food, Soil | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Saving fuel: making combat vehicles lighter

Posted on February 26, 2019 by

Preface. The military would like to lightweight equipment to save on fuel. Although Peak Oil isn’t mentioned, no other department of the U.S. government is more aware of future energy shortages, and the implications that has for their ability to … Continue reading →

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Earthquakes in California could cost over $200 billion dollars

Posted on February 14, 2019 by

Preface. The figures below don’t do justice to the harm an earthquake would do.  There is $1.9 trillion dollars of property at risk from earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a catastrophic earthquake on the Hayward Fault would … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquakes, U.S. Congress Infrastructure | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Science magazine on Peak Sand 2017 and 2018

Posted on January 18, 2019 by

[ Sand is essential to make concrete, glass, silicon for computer chips, and many other products (longer list in Peak Sand), so no wonder top journal “Science” has had two articles on this topic. Sand mining also ruins ecosystems, lessens … Continue reading →

Posted in Peak Sand, Tsunami | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Lakes run dry from too much water extraction and climate change

Posted on January 8, 2019 by

Preface.   I think that declining oil will be the main cause of civilization to collapse, since it is the energy that makes all other activities possible, but there are so many other contenders I wonder if scholars in the future … Continue reading →

Posted in Air, Drought & Collapse, Overpopulation, Peak Water, Water Infrastructure | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Lakes run dry from too much water extraction and climate change

Deep-sea trawling harms biodiversity and carbon storage

Posted on January 5, 2019 by

Preface. Overfishing has eliminated 90% of the world’s large predatory fishes and is devastating marine ecosystems. Bottom trawling is one of the most devastating ways our oceans are being overfished, degraded and biodiversity destroyed .  This industry tossed 437 million … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Fisheries, Fishery destruction, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Deep-sea trawling harms biodiversity and carbon storage