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.

Exponential growth and carrying capacity

Watch it happen — see the populations of major cities grow in these animated maps that reveal in 60 seconds how cities have exploded in size over the last 130 years Al Bartlett, Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Colorado, … Continue reading

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Ugo Bardi: Quite likely we’ll have a fast collapse, a “Seneca Cliff”

Excerpts from: Ugo Bardi. August 28, 2011. The Seneca effect: why decline is faster than growth. Ugo Bardi. July 15, 2013.The punctuated collapse of the Roman Empire. Could it be that the Seneca cliff is what we are facing, right … Continue reading

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China is working on cyber attacks of our infrastructure and stealing secrets

Stone, R. March 1, 2013.  A Call to Cyber Arms. Science, Vol. 339 no. 6123 pp. 1026-1027 China’s extensive cyber research activities and allegations over cyber espionage have put the United States on high alert. The U.S. government is ramping … Continue reading

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Ground water declining at an alarming rate in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey

[ Lack of water in this region is destabilizing and thus could affect oil production as desperate populations migrate, civil wars, and social unrest unfold.  Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, … Continue reading

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China food security: climate change likely to reduce rice, wheat, and other crop yields

Climate change is also likely to lower wheat production:  Global warming will have a bad effect on heat-sensitive wheat, slashing yields even more than was originally feared.  It could be much harder than we thought to feed everyone in a … Continue reading

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Climate change is causing increased salinity in water and soil world-wide

November 23, 2012. Climate Change–Induced Salinity Threatens Health.  Science Vol 338: 1028-1029 Sea-level rise, storm surges, and cyclones exacerbated by climate change have begun to severely affect coasts and river estuaries in low-income countries. The resulting increased salinity in soil … Continue reading

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Phytoplankton have declined 40%: they provide food and oxygen for all creatures on Earth

This article from NewScientist discusses how phytoplankton are disappearing — and they provide half of the food animals both in the ocean and on land depend on, plus produce a great deal of the oxygen we breathe. Throw in overfishing, … Continue reading

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Why we might not go extinct from fossil fuel emissions

Peak Fossils means Peak Emissions and the lowest to medium IPCC projections at worst This is an overview, other posts in this category contain peer-reviewed papers that show why this is true.  The heart of the problem is that the … Continue reading

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We are over the edge of the Energy Cliff

Figure 1. Conventional Oil Production vs. Conventional Oil Discoveries. NOTE:  These conventional oil reserves DO NOT include Heavy oil or Oil Sands. Preface.  I don’t know who wrote what follows, I was on the end of a chain of many forwarded … Continue reading

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Oil Production Fueled Population Growth and Food Production

As oil exponentially declines, so will population and food. 1994. Elaine M. Murphy. World Population: Toward the Next Century, © 1994 by the Population Reference Bureau, 1875 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 520, Washington, DC, 20009. Property of Population Reference Bureau, … Continue reading

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