Category Archives: What to do

Phosphate: All hopes rest on Morocco with 75% of remaining reserves

Preface. Phosphate is absolutely essential for both plants and animals.  It’s estimated that Morocco has of 75-85% of phosphate reserves that might last for 300-400 years.  Or peak in 25 years.  Walan (2014) has estimates of researchers who’ve predicted peak … Continue reading

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Climate change impacts on agriculture

Preface. There are three articles below on this topic.  Plus these articles in the news: Nakagawa T et al (2021) The spatio-temporal structure of the Lateglacial to early Holocene transition reconstructed from the pollen record of Lake Suigetsu and its … Continue reading

Posted in BioInvasion, Drought & Collapse, Extreme Weather, Food production, Heat, Peak Topsoil, Soil, Water, Where to Be or Not to Be | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Climate change impacts on agriculture

Ugo Bardi: Collapse. Where can we find a safe refuge?

Preface. This is from the excellent blog Cassandralegacy.blogspot.com of Ugo Bardi’s posted here. I agree that a small town or city might be best, but only if near agriculture, most towns in the desert SouthWest of the U.S. are not … Continue reading

Posted in Ugo Bardi, Where to Be or Not to Be | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Life before Cars: When Pedestrians Ruled the Streets

Preface.  The past is future after fossil fuels, but minus the horses for a while, since before cars they required about a sixth of U.S. farmland for their feed.  My grandfather, Francis J. Pettijohn, used to fondly reminisce about how … Continue reading

Posted in Automobiles, Transportation What To Do | Tagged | 1 Comment

Invasion of feral hogs yet another hazard for the future

Preface. The Decline category used to be Death By A Thousand Cuts. Feral hogs are yet another cut for anyone who survives peak oil. Not only will climate change be drastically cutting back food production, feral hogs will too, and … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Disease, Farming & Ranching | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

William Rees: Memo from a Climate Crisis Realist: The Choice before Us

Preface. I’m going to put Rees’ conclusion of 11 things to do first (rather than the Green New Deal, which can’t possibly work), followed by his arguments for why this needs to be done (if you haven’t read part 1 … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Expert Advice, Experts | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

After peak oil we need small family farms. But U.S. farms are getting even bigger

Preface. Oh dear, wrong direction! Eventually 75 to 90% of Americans will need to be farmers to feed their family and support craftsmen and others in towns, just as it always was before fossil fuels arrived. These big farms are … Continue reading

Posted in Farming & Ranching | 2 Comments

Northeast apple production suffering from Climate Change

Preface. Although this article is only about one crop in one area, it portends a darker future for food production in the future, with each region having their own issues (i.e. drought in California). It’s only a matter of time … Continue reading

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When wood is again our main energy source, how long will it last?

Preface.  Just when civilization is decades from returning to wood as the main energy source (due to peak oil in 2018), climate change is allowing invasive beetles to survive winters and kill trees, with drought and wildfires increasing the damage. … Continue reading

Posted in BioInvasion, Drought & Collapse, Nate Hagens, Where to Be or Not to Be, Wildfire, Wood | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on When wood is again our main energy source, how long will it last?

Airplanes are energy gluttons. Finite oil should be used for ships, locomotives, & trucks

Preface. As oil declines and the energy crisis worsens, airplanes ought to be the first to go since they are 600 times less energy efficient than large cargo ships (30,000 / 50), 50 to 120 times less efficient than trains, … Continue reading

Posted in Airplanes, Transportation What To Do | 4 Comments