Ugo Bardi

Ugo Bardi teaches physical chemistry at the University of Florence, in Italy. He is interested in resource depletion, system dynamics modeling, climate science and renewable energy. He is member of the scientific committee of ASPO (Association for the study of peak oil) and regular contributor of “The Oil Drum” and “Resilience.org”. His blog in English is called “Cassandra’s legacy”. His most recent book in English Extracted: How the Quest for Global Mining Wealth is Plundering the Planet (Chelsea Green”, 2014. He is also the author of The Limits to Growth Revisited (Springer 2011).

Laotzu riding an ox through a pass.

Stagnating science and disillusioned scientists: a personal story

This post was inspired by a recent article by Tom Murphy, in which he tells how he discovered that most science is not just useless but an evil force worsening the human situation. So much that he decided to quit. Murphy’s case is not isolated; a feeling of dismay runs through the very fabric of scientific research. My career as a scientist parallels Tom’s experience.

December 9, 2023

Limits and beyond

“The Limits to Growth” after 50 years: More relevant than ever

“The Limits to Growth” was a study of the future of the global economy. Its basic message was that growth could not continue to go on forever on a finite planet.

June 1, 2022

US choppers in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: The Twilight of the Global Empire

Of course, Afghanistan has no oil, and this much was known. But in the 1990s the oil reserves of the Caspian region, adjacent to Afghanistan, had been the object of a game of aggrandizing that led to exaggerating their extent at least of an order of magnitude.

July 28, 2021

fire and ice

Climate Change and Resource Depletion. Which Way to Ruin is Faster?

What could bring down the industrial civilization? Would it be global warming (fire) or resource depletion (ice)? At present, it may well be that depletion is hitting us faster. But, in the long run, global warming may hit us much harder. Maybe the fall of our civilization will be Fire AND ice.

July 15, 2021

stars

Star Parasites: Carbon-Based Life and the Future of the Universe

Nowadays, we are obsessed with the idea that we need to “produce energy.” That is, of course, a wrong way to express the concept.

June 9, 2021

Los Alamos nuclear facility

The Long Term Perspectives of Nuclear Energy: Revisiting the Fermi Paradox

Despite the hype, nuclear energy of any kind may remain forever a marginal source of energy.

June 3, 2021

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