Civilization’s foundation eroding
Civilization depends on fertile soils. Ultimately, the health of the people cannot be separated from the health of the land.
Resource Depletion
Peak phosphorus still a threat to food security, despite new report
Researchers investigating a coming peak in world phosphorous production have urged caution on the revising up of estimates of reserves in a new report.
Norwegian TV on peak phosophorus
The Norwegian science program Schrödingers katt aired an excellent introduction to the concept of peak phosphorous. Phosphorus is required for modern agriculture, and like oil, its supplies are limited.
(YouTube video)
Will resource production networks warn us before failing?
1) There is a theoretical limit to how long a networked resource system can continue to function.
2) This limit is reached with little warning.
3) Even after the limit is approached and the squeeze on networked resources starts, the nature of the problem is not apparent to the resource producers, who are likely to say “there is still plenty of our resource available – we just need more inputs and better price signals”
The End of the World-as-we-know-it in 10 years? And the rise of the post-carbon era…
We are running out of time. By 2018, converging food, water and energy shortages could magnify the probability of conflict between major powers, civil wars, and cross-border conflicts. After 2020, this could result in political and economic catastrophes that would undermine state control and national infrastructures, potentially leading to social collapse.
Food & agriculture – Sept 20
– Roving Herds of Grazing Climate Helpers
– The backlash begins against the world landgrab
– Ezra Klein on Industrial Ag: Asking the Wrong Questions
– Greenhorns: the network that’s breathing new life into US farming
– How Peru’s wells are being sucked dry by British love of asparagus
– Forget Oil, Worry About Phosphorus
World Bank on land grabs: It’s all good unless you’re African, a woman, disempowered, or poor
The World Banks long-awaited report on land grabs is out. I’ve not had time to study it — I only found out an hour ago — but here are some first impressions.
Water water everywhere, but for how long? – Sept 9
-How to Stem a Global Food Crisis? Store More Water
-Six Steps For Avoiding a Global Water Crisis
-Life and Death on the Colorado River
-Pakistan Flooding Because of Farms?
Review: The Witch of Hebron by James Kunstler
The Witch of Hebron picks up a couple of months after World Made by Hand ended. Returning to the small upstate New York town of Union Grove, the new book further defines the post-apocalyptic setting, adds depth to characters who played only minor parts in the first story, ties up loose ends from the previous book and introduces some all new dilemmas. And it does all of this against the backdrop of a full-moon Halloween, lending a delicious sense of foreboding to the proceedings.
Nations & resources – Sept 3
– China Cuts Rare Earth Export Quota 72%
– Rare earth minerals from China are rarer
– Why the world is running out of helium
– Time to close the global energy gap
– Putin opens Russian section of Siberian-Pacific oil pipeline
The rare earth elements crisis
As economists focus on the Sacred GDP number, which must remain positive to maintain the statistical recovery myth, there is another crisis brewing in the world of crucial resources. In yesterday’s post Energy Consumption And Progress, I alluded to the Age of Resource Competition. Today this competition is most evident in the production of rare earth elements—
Energy consumption and progress
I’ve written lately that economists are the high priests of Progress. I don’t subscribe to the doctrine of Progress, which is a faith-based view of our future. Apparently, for most people all of the time, the alternative is simply unthinkable. The truth is that we had wars 4,000 years ago, and we have wars now. The large majority of human beings were poor and disenfranchised 4,000 years ago, and the large majority still are today.
