Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Always eager to preview Long Emergency, end-of-civilization-oriented documentaries, I recently found myself in a rather blessed quandary. I received review copies of “Blind Spot” from Director Adolfo Doring and Producer Amanda Zakem and “The Great Squeeze” by Director/Producer Christoph Fauchere and Co-Producer, Joyce Johnson, but as I watched both several times, I found it almost impossible to decide which one I preferred.
One thing that becomes apparent as one peruses the peak oil preparation sites is that there is no clear line between a doomer and a sensible person thinking about preparations for a post-peak oil world.
Future Scenarios serves as a good introduction to the concept of future energy descent/climate change scenarios.
A weekly review from a UK perspective
Perfect storm of environmental and economic collapse closer than you think
Social effects of inequality have profound implications
The Three Bears & The Great Transition
Dr Robert Costanza on ecological economics
The Next Ten Years: What it Will Look Like
A weekly review from a UK perspective.
In any debate there are particular key arguments that are used to undermine the opponent. A debate as heated as that over the importance, or not, of population growth is sure to feature these. It should be clear to readers of my essay published last week that I regard population growth as the core issue in any discussion on sustainability. Many of the arguments used by those who wish to dismiss or lessen the importance of population growth are false, misleading or simply mental tricks allowing their advocates the comfort of self-deception.
Suspicious minds: paranoia on the rise
Psychology of denial
Framing The Collapsonomics Practice
Hot, Flat, and Confused
When asked about the future of, say, nanotubes, or nuclear fusion, or genetic engineering, all technologists and scientists will predict that it’s bright, and continue to say so until the day their grants are canceled, their salaried positions eliminated, and their labs shut down for political and macroeconomic reasons they are ill-equipped to try to comprehend.
Conflict over, and in the midst of, nature’s assets
NYT: Could energy success backfire in the end?
Gloom and doom
The secret
“The Great Squeeze” – film review
Interview: Matthew Stein, author of “When Technology Fails”
Homer-Dixon: Our Panarchic Future
Zero-Sum Game
If there is one thing that I would like to claim as my own, it is the comparative theory of superpower collapse. For now, it remains just a theory, although it is currently being quite thoroughly tested. The theory states that the United States and the Soviet Union will have collapsed for the same reasons, namely: a severe and chronic shortfall in the production of crude oil (that magic addictive elixir of industrial economies), a severe and worsening foreign trade deficit, a runaway military budget, and ballooning foreign debt. I call this particular list of ingredients “The Superpower Collapse Soup.”
