Category Archives: Polycrisis

Google AI: A polycrisis is a single situation where multiple, distinct global crises occur simultaneously and interact in ways that amplify each other, making the overall damage significantly worse than the sum of its individual parts. Instead of dealing with isolated, sequential emergencies, a polycrisis features intersecting networks of stress across economic, geopolitical, ecological, and technological systems.
Core Characteristics
Causal Entanglement: A crisis in one system (e.g., a geopolitical conflict) directly triggers or worsens a crisis in another system (e.g., energy prices and global food supply chains).
Feedback Loops: The compounding effects bounce back and forth between systems, creating highly volatile and unpredictable domino effects.
Systemic Overwhelm: Because the crises are deeply linked, they cannot be successfully resolved one at a time, frequently paralyzing traditional governance and risk-management strategies

Groundwater depletion consequences

Posted on October 31, 2013 by

Robert. Glennon. 9 Oct 2002. The Perils of Groundwater Pumping. The excessive “mining” of our aquifers is causing environmental degradation on a potentially enormous scale. Issues in Science and Technology. National Academy of Sciences. Groundwater is more than 25 percent … Continue reading →

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Aquatic Invasive species

Posted on October 31, 2013 by

Allegra Cangelosi. 9 Jan 2003. Blocking Invasive Aquatic Species. Federal law must be updated to stop introductions of nonnative organisms, especially by ships. Issues in science and technology. National Academy of Sciences. Examples of invasive aquatic species Voracious snakehead fish … Continue reading →

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Oceans in danger: excessive fishing, pollution, bioinvasion, acidification, oil spills, eutrophication

Posted on October 31, 2013 by

Carl Safina, Sarah Chasis. 9 Oct 2004.  Saving the Oceans. Two major commissions have proposed far-reaching reform of ocean policy. It’s time for Congress to act. Issues in Science & Technology. National Academy of Sciences. Oceans have been suffering from … Continue reading →

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Phosphates add heavy metals such as cadmium to soils

Posted on September 10, 2013 by

Larsen, A., et al. March 1, 2001. Re-engineering the toilet for sustainable wastewater management. Environmental Science and Technology Vol 35(9):192-197  http://www.internal.eawag.ch/~maurer/abstracts/09larsen.html Current fertilizer production and use consume limited resources and harm the environment. At current extraction rates, reserves of phosphate … Continue reading →

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Pandemics

Posted on September 4, 2013 by

As declining energy leads to lower farm yields, malnutrition and starvation will make people far more vulnerable to diseases.  A lack of anti-biotics, and little transportation to get to medical facilities at some point down the oil depletion curve is … Continue reading →

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Decline and Fall of Civilizations links to articles about this

Posted on August 15, 2013 by

  The Histomap. Four thousand years of world history. Relative power of contemporary states, nations, and empires from slate.com

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Global Warming increases violence and wars

Posted on August 2, 2013 by

2 Aug 2013. Seth Borenstein. Global warming may fuel wars. A massive new study finds that aggressive acts like committing violent crimes and waging war become more likely with each added degree of temperature. The study was published online yesterday … Continue reading →

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Exponential growth and carrying capacity

Posted on July 28, 2013 by

Watch it happen — see the populations of major cities grow in these animated maps that reveal in 60 seconds how cities have exploded in size over the last 130 years Al Bartlett, Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Colorado, … Continue reading →

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Lack of water threatens energy production

Posted on July 22, 2013 by

July 2013. U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather. 18 July 2013. Katherine Tweed. Collision Between Water and Energy Is Underway, and Worsening. spectrum.ieee.org 24 July 2013. Bloomberg News. China Coal-Fired Economy Dying of Thirst as Mines … Continue reading →

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Peak fossil fuels means global warming less than projected

Posted on July 15, 2013 by

This Science article states we could emit CO2 at the same rate we are now for another 50 years before going over the 2 degrees Celsius level we need to avoid a runaway greenhouse.  Since we are at peak world fossil … Continue reading →

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