Category Archives: 3) Fast Crash

The case for a fast, rather than a slow one. Most societies crashed in 20 years or less. There has never been or will be again a crash like ours, where the world of 7 billion people became utterly dependent on a non-renewable source of energy — fossil fuels.

Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries

Posted on June 23, 2026 by

Preface. Almost all environmental stories in the media are about greenhouse gases. Yet there are dozens of others in the meta/polycrisis and existential boundaries (Rockström 2009). Overpopulation is the driver, but the severity and magnitude is made possible by fossil … Continue reading →

Posted in Acidification, Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Climate Change, Critical Thinking, Peak Oil, Planetary Boundaries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina

Posted on June 2, 2026 by

Preface. This is a book review of Urbina’s “The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier.”  So many fishermen are enslaved for years, yet another reason to pay more for local fish at higher prices.   Globally, so many fish … Continue reading →

Posted in Fisheries, Fishery destruction, Natural History, Peak Food | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina

Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future

Posted on May 26, 2026 by

Preface. This is another “Scientists Warnings to Humanity” by many famous scientists, including Paul & Anne Erlich, John Harte, Peter Raven, and Mathis Wackernagel. Some of the challenges they point to are loss of biodiversity and consequent 6th mass extinction, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Extinction, Overshoot, Scientists, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Motherboards: too complicated to make after oil

Posted on May 19, 2026 by

Preface. The wood world of the future simply won’t have the energy and minerals required to make electronic devices and the precision machine tools to make them.  Once diesel fuel starts to decline, all supply chains will be affected. There … Continue reading →

Posted in Microchips and computers | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

“More and More and More” one of the best books on energy ever written

Posted on May 12, 2026 by

Preface. This is about Jean-Baptiste Fressoz’s book “More and More and More”, an amazing history of energy and explanation of why there never has been an energy transition or will be. We just keep burning more and more and more … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy Books, Interdependencies | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why the R/P Reserves to Production ratio does not show when oil will run out

Posted on April 21, 2026 by

Venezuela has an incredibly high oil reserves-to-production ratio This is calculated b dividing proved oil reserves by its annual production. That tells us how many years proved reserves would last if production stayed constant, and no new reserves were discovered … Continue reading →

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Why did everyone stop talking about Population & Immigration?

Posted on March 31, 2026 by

Preface. This post summarizes the top 26 reasons why population growth was abandoned the past 50 years. Further reasons can be found in Beck & Kolankiewicz (2000) “The Environmental Movement’s Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization” and Weisman’s “Countdown: Our … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Deforestation, Disease, Overpopulation, Pesticides, Pollution, Population, Transportation, Water Pollution, Wildfire | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

What would happen if trucks stopped running?

Posted on March 24, 2026 by

Preface. In “Why You Should Love Trucks” I showed that essential supply chains depend on trucks nearly completely.  Because of little inventory and dependence on just-in-time deliveries, our civilization would almost immediately feel the repercussions of trucks stopping. In fact, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Dependence on Oil, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Oil Shocks, Transportation Infrastructure, Transportation Supply chain, Trucks, When Trucks Stop Running | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

How to survive a nuclear winter

Posted on March 17, 2026 by

Preface. New Zealand and other countries in the southern hemisphere are expected to be safer since they are far from nuclear targets. But they would still experience extreme temperature drops and less sunlight, though less than the Northern hemisphere.  Still, there … Continue reading →

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The insect apocalypse will kill billions more people than climate change

Posted on March 10, 2026 by

  Preface. Below are excerpts from two articles on why and how the extinction of insects could lead to our own extinction and many other species. Although climate change is more deadly now, an insect apocalypse will kill far more … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Extinction, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments