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.

Gail Tverberg: Why peak coal, oil, and natural gas will all happen at the same time

Posted on March 27, 2017 by

China: Is peak coal part of its problem? by Gail Tverberg,  OurFiniteWorld.com  | Jun 20, 2016 The world’s coal resources are clearly huge. How could China, or the world in total, reach peak coal in a timeframe that makes a … Continue reading →

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The electromagnetic pulse EMP Threat: House of Representatives hearing 2005

Posted on March 10, 2017 by

[ Related articles: Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Blackouts Electric Grid, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Nuclear spent fuel fire | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Devil’s Scenario – near miss at Fukushima is a warning for U.S.

Posted on March 9, 2017 by

[ The most likely event to trigger a loss of power long enough to cause a spent fuel pool zirconium fire meltdown and release of radioactive particles into the atmosphere is a nuclear or natural geomagnetic storm electromagnetic pulse (see … Continue reading →

Posted in Nuclear Power Collapse, Nuclear spent fuel fire, Nuclear Waste, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

After collapse: plunder or feudalism?

Posted on March 7, 2017 by

  IWW poster “Pyramid of Capitalist System” (c. 1911), depicting an anti-capitalist perspective on statist/capitalist social structures Preface. In this post an anonymous author looks at what will happen if society collapses and we have to suddenly go back to … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming & Ranching, Peak Food, Peak Phosphorus, Soil, Where are the rich going | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Coal power plants depend on railroads to deliver coal

Posted on February 18, 2017 by

[ The extract of a Senate hearing below is mostly spent on testimony by utilities bashing the railroads for not delivering enough coal due to a disaster in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming area, where coal dust infiltrated the stone … 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 →

Posted in Extinction, Nuclear War, Terrorism | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Gail Tverberg: 2017 The year the world economy starts coming apart

Posted on February 9, 2017 by

[ Note: In a 2016 post “Overly Simple Energy-Economy Models Give Misleading Answers” Tverberg points out that: “The common lay interpretation of simple models is that running out of energy supplies can be expected to be our overwhelming problem in … Continue reading →

Posted in Limits To Growth | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Why is Detroit falling apart so fast?

Posted on February 6, 2017 by

Using Google street view history, www.goobingdetroit.com records the decay of homes in Detroit. Above shows homes September 2009, September 2011, and September 2013 I’ve been fascinated with the decline of Detroit since a guy in my dormitory told me back … Continue reading →

Posted in Crash Coming Soon, Infrastructure & Collapse, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Poverty | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Why is Detroit falling apart so fast?

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

After the harvest – protecting food from rats, mold, insects, fire, and bacteria

Posted on January 28, 2017 by

Preface. It’s hard enough to protect crops before a harvest. In New South Wales, Australia a plague of millions of mice has multiplied after a bumper grain harvest and eating whatever they can find. Mice can produce 500 offspring a … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Books, Farming & Ranching, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments