Category Archives: Extinction

Our system is so interdependent that a electromagnetic pulse from the sun or nuclear weapon that knocks out the grid also knocks out transportation and the financial system. Oil decline will eventually lead to the end of transportation and fall of civilization as I explain in my book “When Trucks stop running: Energy and the Future of Transportation (Springer 2016). When you add in declining resources (especially phosphorous which is essential for agriculture), corrosion of infrastructure, climate change caused food reduction and rising oceans plus all the other factors in decline and collapse, it wouldn’t take much to turn a gradual into a fast collapse. My gut feeling is that there will be a fast crash that would take years at worst (EMP or nuclear war), and decade(s) at best. Certainly not centuries.

Biodiversity loss has gone beyond the planetary boundaries

Posted on June 22, 2018 by

Source: Tanja Folnovic, June 23, 2015 “Loss of Biodiversity”. http://blog.agrivi.com/post/loss-of-biodiversity Preface. The survival of homo sapiens depends on the ecosystem that supports us, so a loss of biodiversity is a threat to our survival and ultimately can lead to extinction. … Continue reading →

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Overfishing is driving large marine creatures extinct

Posted on August 23, 2017 by

[Overfishing is driving marine mammals extinct.  Luckily oil will soon begin a relentless decline and fishing boats won’t be able to travel to the ends of the world using spotter planes to net the remaining schools of fish.  And it … Continue reading →

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Nuclear war between India and Pakistan more likely, up to a billion deaths

Posted on February 12, 2017 by

[ It doesn’t take an all out war between the United States and Russia to cause a billion or more deaths.  Even a small war could do that (Robok, A. 2007. Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts. Atmospheric Chemistry and … Continue reading →

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Largest Mass Extinction caused by Mega-Eruptions in Siberia

Posted on November 17, 2016 by

Kerr, R.A. December 20, 2013. Mega-Eruptions Drove the Mother of Mass Extinctions.  Science  Vol. 342:1424  [Excerpts] After 20 years of trying, researchers have finally convicted massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia as the culprit in the greatest of all mass extinctions, … Continue reading →

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Scientific American: Peak oil and coal may keep catastrophic climate change in check

Posted on September 15, 2016 by

[ Since conventional oil, 90% of supply, peaked in 2005-6 we’ve been on a plateau.  Since the rate of conventional oil decline exponentially decreasing, and population is still exponentially increasing, it is unlikely unconventional oil like shale “fracked” oil, tar … Continue reading →

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Humans driving species to extinction 1,000 times the natural rate

Posted on July 11, 2016 by

[ According to a paper published in Science the current rates of extinction are 1000 times the background rate. This estimate is higher than previous estimates is due to a more sophisticated analysis. Other extinction news: 2017-1-18 World’s primates facing … Continue reading →

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Dennis Coyne predicts world coal production peak in 2025-2030

Posted on April 5, 2016 by

See Coyne’s article at: Dennis Coyne. March 11, 2016. Coal Shock Model. peakoilbarrel.com [ The IPCC has not invited geologists to estimate fossil reserves, and sides with the “no limits to growth” economists.  The IPCC believes that too expensive or … Continue reading →

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E. O. Wilson to save humanity from extinction, get rid of religion

Posted on March 27, 2016 by

[ Below is an excerpt, out of order, from New Scientist’s 21 Jan 2015 interview with E.O. Wilson “Religious faith is dragging us down“. The extinctions we cause will kill us too, says the sociobiology pioneer – the best thing … Continue reading →

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Peak fossil fuels limits climate change to low-to-medium outcomes in IPCC report

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

Excerpts from 24 page:  Höök, M., Tang, X. 2013. Depletion of fossil fuels and anthropogenic climate change: a review. Energy Policy, 52: 797-809 Conclusion of paper: Fossil fuel constraints will limit anthropogenic climate impact towards the low-medium outcomes presented by … Continue reading →

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Earth’s Magnetic Flips May Have Triggered Mass Extinctions

Posted on June 13, 2014 by

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/06/10/earths-magnetic-flips-may-triggered-mass-extinctions/#.U5oyJ41dVXu Earth’s Magnetic Flips May Have Triggered Mass Extinctions At several times in Earth’s history, mass extinctions have come close to wiping life out altogether. The reasons for these catastrophes are still unclear – they’ve been blamed on everything from asteroid impacts to cosmic … Continue reading →

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