Category Archives: Cascading Failure

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

Climate change will damage energy infrastructure, costing trillions

Posted on January 28, 2022 by

Preface. Climate change and extreme weather will harm oil and gas exploration and production, electric power generation and increase energy demand due to sea level rise, heat, drought, floods, more storms, and blackouts.  Extreme heat and drought will force electric … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Climate Change, Electric Grid, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Production, Hydropower, Peak Water, Ships and Barges | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Climate change will damage energy infrastructure, costing trillions

Korowicz: A study of global system collapse

Posted on July 1, 2018 by

Preface. I’ve extracted about half of Korowicz’s paper, left out the references, math, charts, and tables, so you might want to read the original document yourself. This is a great explanation – one of the best – of the intertwined … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Critical Thinking, David Korowicz, Interdependencies, Liebig's Law, Social Disorder, Society, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Transportation: How long can we adapt before we fall off the Net Energy Cliff?

Posted on August 27, 2017 by

Preface. There are too many factors besides geological depletion to predict a future timeline of collapse. Plus each region will be more or less affected by each factor, sooner or later as well. This is a unique crash – there … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Infrastructure, Exponential Growth, Exports decline to ZERO, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Transportation, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Failing states, collapsing systems: biophysical triggers of political violence

Posted on January 31, 2017 by

Preface. In this post I summarize the sections of Nafeez’s book about the biophysical factors that bring nations down (i.e. climate change drought & water scarcity, declining revenues after peak oil, etc.) The Media tend to focus exclusively on economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Caused by Scarce Resources, Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Drought & Collapse, Exports decline to ZERO, Food production, Interdependencies, Limits To Growth, Middle East, Other Experts, Over Oil, Overpopulation, Peak Oil, Violence, War & Violence | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

Posted on June 20, 2015 by

Preface.  Of course, this website explains why the grid can’t stay up without fossil fuels, so by 2050 the grid will only be up in a few places, perhaps China, the Middle East, and Russia if war hasn’t brought on … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Cascading Failure, Congressional Record U.S., CyberAttacks, Interdependencies | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

1177 B.C. The year civilization collapsed

Posted on December 8, 2014 by

[ These are my notes that are disjointed but can give you an idea of how fast our fossil-fueled civilization could collapse.  We are far more interdependent on much longer global supply chains (a wind turbine has 8,000 parts). We … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure, Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Drought & Collapse, Interdependencies, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 1177 B.C. The year civilization collapsed

On the cusp of collapse: complexity, energy, and the globalised economy

Posted on March 21, 2014 by

On the cusp of collapse: complexity, energy, and the globalised economy by David Koriwicz, 2011. Fleeing Vesuvius The systems on which we rely for our financial transactions, food, fuel and livelihoods are so inter-dependent that they are better regarded as … Continue reading →

Posted in Cascading Failure | Comments Off on On the cusp of collapse: complexity, energy, and the globalised economy