Category Archives: Peak Food

Food production, population, and carrying capacity will also be reduced by peak soil, peak water, bioinvasion, pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity, war, infrastructure decay and nearly every other category at energyskeptic

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 →

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Peak food production happened, how will we feed 2-3 billion more?

Posted on April 10, 2025 by

Preface. Also see related article Limits to Growth? 2016 United Nations report provides best evidence yet. Nichols (2015) below shows that climate change is already affecting harvests of the world’s top 10 crops that comprise 83% of our calories: barley, … Continue reading →

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The conveyor belt may be slowing down — Yikes!

Posted on November 12, 2024 by

Preface. The conveyor belt (AMOC: Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) may be slowing down. If it stops, floods, increased sea level rise, and disturbed weather systems. Until recently the IPCC and other scientists didn’t think this might happen until 2300 or … Continue reading →

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Peak Potassium threatens crops

Posted on June 28, 2024 by

Potassium is one of the Big 3 essential plant nutrients that has allowed human population to soar to 8 billion people,as well as phosphorus and nitrogen. Potassium is a vital nutrient for plant growth that helps with photosynthesis and respiration, … Continue reading →

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Lab-grown meat is energy intensive – and up to 25 times worse for the climate than beef

Posted on May 3, 2024 by

Preface.  Meat production from animals uses a great deal of energy to produce, distribute, and refrigerate. Crops must be grown that erode soil and drain aquifers. Unfortunately, lab grown meat uses even more energy and also requires crops to extract … Continue reading →

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Energy and potato crops. U.S. House Hearing 2011

Posted on April 24, 2023 by

Preface. We eat so many potatoes I thought it interesting how future oil shocks may reduce potato crops. Potatoes are very “oily” needing a great deal of diesel fuel over their life cycle of planting, harvest, delivery to sorting, grading, … Continue reading →

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Collapse of Mayan civilization: drought, mercury poisoning, toxic algae

Posted on March 12, 2023 by

Preface. Drought is probably reason #1, but collapse is complex, I’ve seen lists of over 200 reasons for the Fall of the Roman Empire, and our own fall will have even more causes, though triggered by energy decline, since for … Continue reading →

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Look Before you Eat

Posted on September 30, 2022 by

Preface. This post is a book review of Be Wilson’s Swindled. From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee – The Dark History of the Food Cheats. Wilson explains why cheating has always gone on and always will, especially in societies with … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Corn for ethanol & soy for biodiesel tremendously destructive

Posted on April 9, 2022 by

In the news: Cullen A (2024) Corn Belt fertilizer is killing the Gulf of Mexico. Washington Post. About 30 percent of the nitrogen applied for raising corn is lost to water, and much of it right now is draining off … Continue reading →

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