Category Archives: What to do

Even Pencils will be hard to make

Posted on February 9, 2021 by

Preface. Most of us are unaware of how complex our society is, how things are made, how food is grown, how stuff is delivered, and the people, energy, transportation, and kinds and sources of materials in every day objects.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Localization, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Fragility of Microchips

Posted on February 6, 2021 by

Preface. This is an introduction to how microchips are made to give you an idea of how difficult and amazing they are.  This is a very high-level overview gathered mostly from the textbooks of Quirk (2001) and Van Zant (2004). … Continue reading →

Posted in 2) Collapse, An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Interdependencies, Localization, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Microchips and computers, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Renewables: not enough minerals, energy or time and mining is destructive

Posted on January 22, 2021 by

Preface. Electricity generating contraptions like wind and solar can’t replace the 50% of oil used in global manufacturing, because they can’t generate the high heat needed, or run battery or catenary electric trucks as I explained in “When Trucks Top … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Battery - Utility Scale, Peak Critical Elements, Peak Platinum Group Elements, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Peak Resources, Recycle, Recycling, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Minerals essential for wind, solar, and high-tech, are anything but clean and green

Posted on January 16, 2021 by

This is a book review of Pitron’s “The rare metals war”.  To produce the metals and minerals to make a transition to wind, solar, nuclear and so on would be incredibly destructive and polluting. A fifth of China’s arable land … Continue reading →

Posted in Battery - Utility Scale, Mining, Peak Critical Elements, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Peak Resources, Photovoltaic Solar, Recycle, Recycling, Wind | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Book list: What to do about peak everything and limits to growth

Posted on January 13, 2021 by

If you search on prepping you’ll get 262 million results. That isn’t my focus, there are plenty of groups and websites devoted to that.  Where best to be is important but hard to decide since initially cities might be best … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Book List, Where to Be or Not to Be | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

328 Million Americans use 3.2 million pounds of minerals, metals, and fuels in their lifetime

Posted on January 10, 2021 by

Preface. Even if you go off the grid, civilization is using up minerals at an exponential rate to maintain the non-negotiable American lifestyle, which in 2006, required 3.7 million pounds of minerals, metals, and fuels in each person’s lifetime, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining, Peak Critical Elements, Recycle, Recycling | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Livestock threatened by toxic invasive species on rangeland

Posted on January 4, 2021 by

Preface.  Will cattle, sheep,goats, and horses have to be raised on feed lots in the future to prevent range land poisoning from invasive plants? Each year poisonous plants adversely affect 3-5% of the cattle, sheep, and horses that graze western … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Farming & Ranching, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Escape collapse on a DIY floating island

Posted on December 20, 2020 by

Preface. Build your own sustainable floating compound. At Freedom Cove, food preparation takes up a large part of the day. Without a refrigerator or freezer, the couple catch fish and grow almost all the food they consume in a large … Continue reading →

Posted in Where to Be or Not to Be | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Electrify ships with batteries?

Posted on December 17, 2020 by

Preface. You’d need 100,000 metric tons of batteries taking 40% of cargo space to go from Asia to Europe in 31 days on an 18,000 TEU container ship, and it is hard to imagine how or how long it would … Continue reading →

Posted in Ships and Barges, Transportation What To Do | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Megan Siebert at REALgnd.org “What to do”

Posted on December 8, 2020 by

Preface. This is what I saw on December 12, 2020. To see a more up-to-date list go to the Real GND website: https://www.realgnd.org/recommendations If you’d like to know how to fund these measures, then go here. To take action, go … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Birth Control, Population | Tagged | 11 Comments