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.

Missing monsoon crashes Indus Valley Civilization

Posted on August 17, 2016 by

19 March 2014 Withering monsoon may have doomed past Asian society. NewScientist. The Indian summer monsoon abruptly weakened 4200 years ago. The ensuing drought may have led to the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished around the Indus … Continue reading →

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Promoting soil health in agriculture at U.S. House hearing 2014

Posted on August 8, 2016 by

Preface.  At last, many years after I first published “Peak soil: Why biofuels destroy ecosystems and civilizations” in 2007, Congress had a hearing to educate House members on why preserving topsoil is so essential for food production for future generations.  … Continue reading →

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Plants are sucking streams dry thanks to more CO2

Posted on August 4, 2016 by

Slezak, M. October 24, 2015. Carbon emissions make Earth greener but are also drying it out. NewScientist. Source: Ukkola, A. M., et al. October 19, 2015 Reduced streamflow in water-stressed climates consistent with CO2 effects on vegetation. Nature Climate Change 6, … 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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Emerging threats of resource wars. U.S. House hearing

Posted on June 15, 2016 by

Goh Chun Teck, Lim Xian You, Sum Qing Wei, Tong Huu Khiem. 2011. Resource Wars. Players compete with each other for territories that generate resources such as coal, water, gold and gas. A Player can sell resources for money, which … Continue reading →

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Hybrid electric trucks are very different from HEV cars

Posted on June 7, 2016 by

Preface. The National Research Council paper I review in this post explains why it is hard to transfer auto hybrid technology to trucks.  They are entirely different animals — medium-duty trucks weigh up to 10 times more, have up to … Continue reading →

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Electric truck & car range less in cold weather

Posted on June 4, 2016 by

Preface. What follows are two articles. The first has excerpts from Calstart’s study of the effects cold weather had on lithium and Sodium Nickel Chloride e-truck batteries. The second article is from Consumer Reports, which says that half of driving … Continue reading →

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How Nixon and the Catholic Church conspired to stop actions to prevent overpopulation

Posted on May 27, 2016 by

[ All of what follows is from the article below.  Mumford makes the case that: “Had the recommendations of NSSM 200 been implemented in 1975, the world would be very different today. The prospects would have improved for every nation … Continue reading →

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The Hidden Costs of Oil. U.S. Senate hearing 2006.

Posted on May 25, 2016 by

[ This post has excerpts from the 2006 U.S. Senate hearing “The Hidden Cost of Oil”.  It is a timely reminder, now that gasoline prices are low and peak oil off the radar, that we are nowhere near the American … Continue reading →

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Oil shocks and the potential for crisis U.S. House 2007

Posted on May 11, 2016 by

Preface. There have been two oil shockwave “oil crisis stimulations”, summaries of both from 2005 and 2007 are below.  Oil Shockwaves confront a mock U.S. cabinet with highly plausible geopolitical crises that trigger sharp increases in oil prices. Participants must … Continue reading →

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