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The Bulletin: November 7-13, 2024

The Bulletin: November 7-13, 2024

Thousands Of Californians Lose Power After PG&E Protects Grid As Wildfire Risks Soar | ZeroHedge

The Possible Relevance of Joseph Tainter – by Brink Lindsey

The Recession of 2025 Will Be Backdated | The Epoch Times

‘Ecosystems are collapsing’: one of Australia’s longest rivers has lost more than half its water in one section, research shows | Water | The Guardian

Do You Want Truth or Illusion?

Has the world ‘surrendered’ to climate change? These authors think so | CBC News

Here’s Why These Geopolitical and Financial Chokepoints Need Your Attention…

67 Reasons why wind turbines cannot replace fossil fuels | Peak Everything, Overshoot, & Collapse

Adapting For the End of Growth

All States are Empires of Lies | Mises Institute

It Is Time We Educate Children About The Coming Collapse – George Tsakraklides

What Kind of Society Will We Have?

We Are On the Brink Of An Irreversible Climate Disaster

Trump’s Three Arrows

What You Need To Know About Preparing For Emergencies

Can We Escape Our Predicament? – The Honest Sorcerer

Science Snippets: Buildings Collapsing Due to Climate Change

Surviving the Apocalypse: A Practical Guide to Modern Risks

The Politics of Collapse: uncommon conversations for unprecedented times – Prof Jem Bendell

Microplastics Could Be Making the Weather Worse | WIRED

Nuclear electricity generation has hidden problems; don’t expect advanced modular units to solve them.

Trump Inherits Turd of an Economy – Ed Dowd | Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog

Amsterdam shows us just how brazenly the media rewrites history

Global Food Prices Re-Accelerate For Second Month As Situation Remains ‘Sticky’ | ZeroHedge

‘Nothing grows anymore’: In Malawi, eating becomes a daily struggle due to climate change

Financial Collapse Within 18 Months

Why Don’t We Just Build More Nuclear?

Buzzkill: The Alarming Impact of Light Pollution on Honey Bee Health

Understanding Energy Use: The Challenge Of Substituting Electrification

The Bulletin: September 26-October 2, 2024

The Bulletin: September 26-October 2, 2024

Persecuted Former FBI Specialist Urges Americans to Stock Up on Food and Prepare For Hardship – modernity

Our Violent Future

New Book Investigates the Trudeau Government Response to the Freedom Convoy, by Using the Emergencies Act – Global Research

US War Profiteers Bring World To Brink Of Armageddon | ZeroHedge

oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: What’s Changed? What’s Different This Time?

Oil: Beyond the Peak. Peak oil demand is close. What should… | by Sarah Miller | The New Climate. | Sep, 2024 | Medium

Four Million Without Power, Thousands Of Flights Disrupted As Helene Terrorizes US East Coast | ZeroHedge

British Government Warns Of Weak Military – Says Civilians Must Be ‘Ready To Fight’ | ZeroHedge

John Kerry Says The Quiet Part Out Loud: “First Amendment Stands As Major Block” To “Govern” | ZeroHedge

What is Ecological Overshoot and Why is it so Controversial?

Misinformation Is Bad. Prohibiting It Is Worse | ZeroHedge

Ahead Lies Ruin: The Decay of Social Trust

The Babylon Bee Strikes Back: Lawsuit Takes on California’s Anti-Satire Laws

Politicians Who Promise “Economic Growth” Are Lying 💰

Extreme rainfall leaves over 260 dead or missing in Nepal – The Watchers

Biggest Monetary Shock in 50 Years – The Daily Reckoning

The Digital Puppeteers: Big Tech’s Influence on Society

The Numbers Don’t Lie: Why Climate Denial Is No Longer Possible | Art Berman

The Bulletin: September 13-19

The Bulletin: September 13-19

Popular Narratives That Do Not Hold Up Under Scrutiny

Environmental Impacts of Human Migration

Did Putin Just Issue the Most Serious Warning to Date? – Global Research

Putin Warns of ‘Direct’ War as US Mulls Letting Ukraine Use Long-Range Western Missiles | Common Dreams

It’s Also “Disinformation” When Our Government Does It | Mises Institute

A Short Conversation About Politics – by Caitlin Johnstone

How We’re Supposed to Live Now | how to save the world

By Kira & Hideaway: On Relocalization – un-Denial

The Permian Basin Is Depleting Faster Than We Thought

Urban Futures, Rural Futures

The Day when Food Ran Out – by Ugo Bardi

G20 Ministers Meet in Brazil To Discuss “Disinformation” Censorship Agenda

The Scary Truth About Living in Big Cities During the Turbulent Times Ahead

Grocery Rationing Within Four Years – by Quoth the Raven

The End of the Great Stagnation – The Honest Sorcerer

The Real Election Meddling Will Happen Right Out In The Open

Project 2050, Part One

Nassim Taleb: People Aren’t Seeing the Real De-Dollarization

What Matters

Australia’s Latest Censorship Bill Threatens Big Fines Over Online “Misinformation”

Entire Polish city of 44,000 asked to evacuate as Storm Boris floods wreak havoc | The Independent

You could be breathing in microplastics that then enter your brain, new research reveals | Euronews

Methane Levels at 800,000-Year High: Stanford Scientists Warn That We Are Heading for Climate Disaster

Deep State Knows It Cannot Cheat Kamela In – Martin Armstrong | Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog

Israel’s War Cabinet Greenlights Offensive War Against Hezbollah, Sends Elite Brigade North | ZeroHedge

The Bulletin: September 6-12

The Bulletin: September 6-12

We really need a plan

Signs of Collapse: Broken Things | how to save the world

Lockheed Martin Develops System to Identify and Counter Online “Disinformation,” Prototyped by DARPA

The Seneca Cliff of Petroleum Production – by Ugo Bardi

Is the World Walking Blindfolded Toward a Nuclear War? – Global Research

Was 911 a False Flag?

From the Archives: Martin Armstrong (Correctly) Predicts Chaos

The Blair Witch Project: Former Prime Minister Calls for Global Censorship – JONATHAN TURLEY

The Looming Shift: Oil Markets Signal a Structural Phase-Change | Art Berman

A Short History of Progress | how to save the world

Matt Taibbi: Why Censorship Is Suddenly Fashionable

The Continuing Lies and Crimes. 9.11 X Twenty-Three = Speechlessness – Global Research

17 Signs of Collapse

Crude oil extraction may be well past peak

The Sun Is Doing Something That It Is Not Supposed To Do, And That Could Mean Big Trouble In The Months Ahead

The Bulletin: August 23-29, 2024

The Bulletin: August 23-29, 2024

Global Food Production Is Being Limited by a Lack of Pollinators | Technology Networks

There’s No Good News In The Unfolding Of Armageddon

You Don’t Get To Vote On Any Of Your Government’s Most Consequential Actions

Russia warns the United States of the risks of World War Three | Reuters

Common Threads In Societies That Collapse

COUNTDOWN TO CRISIS, CATASTROPHE AND COLLAPSE – The Burning Platform

Inflation is Forever – by David Haggith – The Daily Doom

The Hidden Agenda: How Governments Use Inflation To Redistribute Wealth

MM #16: Recap and Mythology | Do the Math

50 Things That Everyone Should Be Stockpiling To Prepare For Election Chaos, World War III, Cataclysmic Natural Disasters And The Next Global Pandemic

The Coming of the Roman Tax Collectors – Doug Casey’s International Man

Must Go Faster. Must Have More. – by Guy R McPherson

Climate Change Is Making the Middle East Uninhabitable

A Tour of the Jevons Paradox: How Energy Efficiency Backfires

60,000 tons of treated water from nuclear site discharged so far | The Asahi Shimbun

The Permanent Temptation of All Governments | AIER

The future is community – by Patrick Mazza – The Raven

The Lines Between Fact and Fiction Are Blurred… Here’s Why You Should Question the Narrative

Disposable Power Plants: Wind and Solar are the Single-Use Plastic of the Power Plant World

The Bulletin: August 8-15, 2024

The Bulletin: August 8-15, 2024

Introducing The Bulletin, a collation of recent articles focusing upon those predicaments flowing from the ongoing collapse of our global, industrialised complex society.

Coming Clean on Clean Energy: It’s a Dirty Business | RealClearWire

The Energy Debate: Fanboys, Fangirls, and the Real Cost of Pollution | Art Berman

More Bargaining And Hopium

Natural Farming Cannot Co-exist with GM Crops – Global Research

US Hints At Regime Change In Tehran If Israel Is Attacked | ZeroHedge

The coming Planetary Emergency and its consequences

In 2023 the world’s forests stopped acting as a carbon sink

Is The West’s Growing Oppression a Portent? | how to save the world

MM #11: Renewable Salvation? | Do the Math

Washington Further Escalates Its War On Dissent

The myth that renewables are cheap persists in part due to the flawed use of LCOE – Watt-Logic

Nobody Would Vote For Any Of This Bullshit Without Extensive Manipulation

The Dieselgate Scandal

The Ardent Pipe Dreams of American Voters – OffGuardian

Deep Sea Delusions

Off-grid: further thoughts on the failing renewables transition

Science Snippets: 2030 Is Still Too Soon

FOIA Files: How Feds, Press, and Academia “Coordinate” on Speech

Make Preparations – by Jordan Perry

The Empire Is The Real Enemy

#286: Whatever happened to progress? | Surplus Energy Economics

One Step Away From the Biggest Oil Shock in History – International Man

Trilaterals over Stockholm

It Became Necessary to Destroy the Global Economy to Save It

Russia ready to execute nuclear attacks on NATO targets, according to leaked documents

Report: 82% of Scientists Say Overpopulation is a Major Problem | by HR NEWS | Aug, 2024 | Medium

“An Intricate Fabric Of Bad Actors Working Hand-In-Hand” – So Is War Inevitable? | ZeroHedge

Peace Is Not On The Ballot In November

Low Tech Life | Kris De Decker – by Rachel Donald

The Population Problem: Human Impact, Extinctions, and the Biodiversity Crisis

July 11, Readings

July 11, Readings

How El Niño And La Niña Are Affecting Weather Patterns | ZeroHedge

The Nationwide 500,000 EV Charger Charade › American Greatness

Will the BRICS Currency Use a Gold Standard? – MishTalk

Doug Casey on Preparing for Coming Shortages – International Man

House Report Reveals GARM’s Role in Stifling Online Discourse–Reclaim the Net

House Judiciary Report Shows I am Being Censored by the Largest Corporations in the World–Robert Malone

EV Boosters Cannot Do Math | RealClearWire

Yes it Was a “False Flag”, “Murder their Own Soldiers”. Israelis Widely Used “Hannibal Directive” on Oct. 7: Israeli Report – Global Research

Fed Chair Jerome Powell Eyes Interest Rate Cuts Starting September – MishTalk

The Modern Stock Market And The Birth Of A Fiat Aristocracy–Melifinance 

As ocean surfaces acidify, a deep-sea acidic zone is expanding, and marine habitats are being squeezed–Phys.org

Food, form and function – by Shane Simonsen

June 29, 2024 Readings

Attempting a new format (that I will probably fiddle with for a week or so) for sharing articles of interest. Below you will find a number of links to those articles. Note that I may add a few before the day ends so check back. Hope this works for everyone…

First-Responder Trauma: A New Framework for Activists

The Future We Deserve

Climate Disaster Preparation Guide | by Climate Survivor | Jun, 2024 | Medium

The World Lost Two-Thirds Of Its Wildlife In 50 Years. We Are to Blame

How Does Anyone Still Care About This Bullshit?

Julian Assange Is Free. Washington Crafter ‘A Face Saving Deal’. Massive Violation of Habeas Corpus as a Favour to Washington. Paul C. Roberts

Health Prepping: Microbiome Maintenance is Key to…Everything

The Coming US Budget Disaster Will Impoverish Americans | Mises Institute

oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: 10 Geopolitical / Financial Risks to the Global Economy

Welsh Police Pay Home Visit To Man For Displaying Reform UK Political Sign

American Pravda: JFK, LBJ, and Our Great National Shame, by Ron Unz

The Spread of Artificial Intelligence. The Emergence of ‘Deep Fakes’, Masterful Distortions. ‘Who Controls the Past Controls the Future’

Fact-Checking Network Says Online Face Checks Aren’t Censorship

US Readies To Evacuate Americans From Lebanon If War Erupts, Marines En Route | ZeroHedge

The UN: “We must all work to eradicate (hate speech) completely.

UN food chief: Poorest areas have zero harvests left

Where is the Sense of Urgency? – by Matt Orsagh

A water war is looming between Mexico and the US. Neither side will win | CNN

 

Odds Are High You’re Going To Need Your Survival Supplies In The Next Few Years

Odds Are High You’re Going To Need Your Survival Supplies In The Next Few Years

In 2020 at the onset of the covid pandemic scare and right before the lockdowns I’ll never forget going on a grocery run on a Friday afternoon only to find near empty roads and near empty stores. The few other people shopping had a glassy stare in their eyes, like they were dazed or shell-shocked. For me and those I know that prep, it was just another day; for those that hadn’t prepped it was a nightmare of uncertainty.

In Montana we didn’t pay much heed to the lockdowns after the first month.  In three months everything was basically back to normal except for the mask mandates which most people ignored. With more data available on the virus it was clear that the chance of death was greatly exaggerated. What scared us far more was the pervasive talk of vaccine passports in 2021. The proposed state and federal restrictions on people that refused to take the jab were familiar – This was the beginning of full blown tyranny unless we stood firm.

In the meantime there was a public rush to buy up as many necessities as they could afford. And of course, the covid stimulus measures helped to trigger a stagflationary crisis that had already been building in the US for many years.

In the face of so many potential threats preppers were still well protected. If vaccine passports became the norm and access to public places was blocked then we had food storage to get us through for a long time to come. If the buying panic and inflation led to a supply chain disaster then we were ready, along with the guns and ammo and training needed to keep what we had. If a fight was coming then we had the means to defend ourselves.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Seriously… Governments around the world are telling citizens to prepare for war

Seriously… Governments around the world are telling citizens to prepare for war

You don’t need a high-tech mountain bunker to get ready for a potential crisis. The time to start is now.

We may be closer to World War 3 than at any other time in history. At least that’s what many political commentators are warning.

President Biden’s recent authorization of the use of American weapons to strike inside Russia, Russia’s possible ICBM installations in MexicoIran’s continued stockpiling of enriched uranium, and North Korea’s recent launch of military reconnaissance satellites are just a few examples. For the first time in decades, the threat of nuclear war is being discussed more seriously — and more openly.

Across Europe, countries are making plans to get their populations ready for conflict. Last week, Germany updated its ‘Framework Directive on Comprehensive Defence’ — a 67-page plan outlining the measures the country would take during a military conflict. The document was originally adopted in 1989, but the new update notes that Germany’s security policy environment has changed fundamentally since then, and that “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine” has put Germany under military threat for the first time in decades.

As CNN reported, this new plan of action notes that Germany would reinstate mandatory conscription into the army and demand that skilled laborers aged over 18 work certain jobs, “including in bakeries and post offices – as well as being prevented from quitting their jobs. Doctors, psychologists, nurses, and vets may also be repurposed in military and civil service roles.”

Rationing would also be brought in. In the event of dwindling food supplies, the government would stockpile food to provide citizens with “one hot meal a day” for an undisclosed period of time, according to the document. Federal reserves would include foods like rice, pulses and condensed milk.

…click on the above link to read the rest fo the article…

Where You (Shouldn’t) Store It: Nine Places

Where You (Shouldn’t) Store It: Nine Places

Think like a thief…

A marketing email just came from Michael Major, author of a book called No Grid Survival Projects, on where NOT to hide your valuables. His ideas are sometimes counterintuitive, which makes them potentially useful:

9 Hiding Spots In Your House Where Looters Always Look First

You may think you already have it figured out for how you can keep your stockpile a secret and hidden from any thieves or looters who may break in.

Unfortunately, thieves and looters can be a bit smarter than you may think. They’re already taking a major risk by breaking into any home, and they won’t want to leave empty-handed in exchange for taking that risk.

Furthermore, many thieves and looters will already be experienced and know exactly where to look in your home for your valuables or stockpiles.

That’s why it’s critical to be extra creative with where you hide your stockpiles and avoid hiding them in areas where looters are likely to look first.

Here are the nine hiding spots in your house that looters will always look for first:

Attics And Basements
It’s common practice for preppers to stockpile their food, water, and other supplies either in the attics or the basements of their homes.

The logic for doing so certainly makes sense. This way their stockpiles are out of the way and out of sight of any guests who come to visit. It’s important to keep your stockpiles as much of a secret as you can.

Just because your neighbors and regular guests are friendly now doesn’t mean that they won’t come knocking on your door demanding supplies later.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Dodging The Gator – What Can Be Done?

Dodging The Gator – What Can Be Done?

Photo by Dušan veverkolog on Unsplash

Humanity is in overshoot, and a major correction is already underway, something, which will only accelerate even further. A runaway energy crisis, together with resource depletion, climate change and ecosystems collapse will upend centuries of growth and prosperity. But what does that mean on an individual level? Is there any way to course correct? If not, what are the possible ways of adaption?


The world economy faces a runaway energy crisis, not seen by most commentators. The energy needed to extract the next unit of both oil and minerals increases exponentially due to rich depleted deposits being replaced with ever poorer quality ones. Since energy is the economy, not money, an exponential rise in this area will eventually make further expansion impossible, and lead to a relentless decline. Something, which cannot be stopped, nor financed without bankrupting the economy… In the meantime, both investors and politicians act as if energy were just a cost item, and its supply could expand without any hurdles. What could possibly go wrong?

We are clearly approaching a civilizational tipping point, and there is nothing anyone in power can do about this. The entire process is driven by physics and geology, not wishful thinking and clever humans supposedly inventing their way out if this mess. However, if you were following the logic of how we got here so far, I don’t think it is realistic to say that the passing of this inflection point will suddenly upend civilization, and push everyone, everywhere back into the stone age in a matter of years. Instead, we are about to walk down a long winding road fraught with all sorts of perils, and have to prepare ourselves accordingly.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh XLVI–Preparing For Collapse


Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh XLVI

April 4, 2022 (original posting date)

Monte Alban, Mexico (1988) Photo by author

Preparing For Collapse

A contemplation prompted by a couple of posts I read early this morning. One was a list of actionable ideas for preparing for Peak Oil and the other an article on the mainstreaming of ‘Doomsday Prepping’.


I’ve written several times about the importance of energy. Of paramount importance to our complex, global and industrialised societies is the finite energy resource of fossil fuels, particularly oil[1]. Fossil fuels underpin almost everything we depend upon[2] and there is no adequate replacement. None. In fact, all those marketed as ‘renewable’ substitutes and promising a seamless transition away from fossil fuels leave out the very important and inconvenient fact that they rely quite substantially upon fossil fuels from the mining and refinement of the resources needed to produce them to their after-life reclamation or disposal — they are non-renewable energy-harvesting technologies that cannot exist without fossil fuels, and are only truly ‘renewable’ in the sense of the energy source they attempt to harness[3].

Unfortunately for our energy-intensive and -dependent complex societies, fossil fuel extraction has encountered significant diminishing returns and will eventually cease to be available; not because we’ve run out of them but because it will require increasing amounts of energy to retrieve and transport them than we get back in return. And despite all the narratives surrounding a ‘voluntary’ cessation of fossil fuel extraction in order to address anthropogenic climate change[4], this will not happen by our conscious endeavours for a variety of reasons but primarily because of the thermodynamic, biophysical, and economic properties inherent in our exploitation of a finite resource.

The tremendous surplus of energy we’ve been leveraging to sustain our phenomenal growth and technological wonders over the past century or more has disappeared. We’ve been able to avoid the negative consequences of this physical reality for the last few decades mostly through some technological tweaks and monetary/financial manipulations[5]. However, it is increasingly looking like our attempts to kick-the-can-down-the-road have reached a tipping point — there’s no more hiding the fact that infinite growth on a finite planet was never a sustainable thing. Ever. It’s only been possible in our imaginations and we’ve crafted some fairly comforting narratives to help us believe it was an entirely plausible scenario, particularly because of our ingenuity and technology; and we have some very strong psychological mechanisms in play to help us deny the anxiety-producing reality that this would all end someday.

It seems that the narratives that we can continue to chase the infinite growth chalice and that we can easily transition to some alternative energy source (that is miraculously ‘clean/green’) are appearing to be coming under significant pressure. Reliance upon finite resources in somebody else’s backyard is being exposed as problematic for self-sufficiency[6]. Supply chains and the just-in-time delivery systems are increasingly showing their fragility[7]. Price inflation (as a result of money/credit expansion) in almost everything is placing more and more people in precarious economic straits, while those at the top of our power and wealth structures are accumulating more and more. The ruling class is beginning to voice the idea that global ‘austerity’ may be more than just a ‘transitory’ phenomenon — naturally they’re blaming this on everything but finite resources, and their chasing perpetual growth and other related economic/geopolitical ambitions.

The jig is up. The scams are being exposed. Increasing numbers of people are catching on to the various frauds and propaganda. The faulty and purposely fanciful stories are being interpreted for what they are: attempts to keep the unsustainable sustained just a bit longer[8].

Degrowth or ‘collapse’ is coming whether we wish it or not.

While I often refer to ‘collapse’ of our complex societies, I tend to do this in the context of archaeologist Joseph Tainter’s definition of it[9]. As he argues, collapse manifests itself as: less stratification and social differentiation; less economic and occupational specialisation; less centralised control (i.e., less regulation by elites); less behavioural control and regimentation; less investment in the epiphenomena of complexity (e.g., monumental architecture); less flow of information between a central authority and its periphery; less trading (i.e., more localisation); less coordination of groups; a smaller territory.

Most of that, quite frankly, doesn’t sound too bad.

So, what to do about all this?

I believe it would be in people’s best interest to recognise this and prepare for it .

I would argue there are at minimum three things we as individuals/local communities need to be ensuring: procurement of potable water, local food production, regional/climate-based shelter needs. Everything else is ‘gravy’ and can be considered after the aforementioned are procured. Do not put your faith in our sociopolitical systems or the complex technologies they cheerlead. Both of these are unsustainable and actually work against one’s preparatory interests. No matter how much propaganda there exists about having choice and ‘control’ in a democratic society, there is actually very little if any with respect to the large societal trends. I, personally, lost the belief that voters have any real agency via a ballot box decades ago. As I’ve written previously, the ruling class’s primary motivation is the control and/or expansion of the wealth-generating/-extracting systems that provide their revenue streams; it is not you or I except in terms of labour and tax generation.

More and more I personally am focusing upon the ‘actionable’ part of preparing rather than the ‘cerebral/academic/economic/political’ aspects of what’s happening. I can’t control what happens much outside of my own little ‘world’ so why worry about it and/or the reasons for what is happening.

And when push comes to shove it doesn’t matter the reason for our ‘collapse’, what matters is the re-learning of ‘lost’ skills/knowledge for self-sufficiency (especially for those of us enculturated in the ‘modern’ complex societies that have oriented towards a future of techno-cornucopianism that always had a relatively short lifespan on a finite planet). The last three books I have read are about composting, seed saving, and first aid/CPR. The one I just started is about mini-farming. You can find my personal summary notes of these books here (along with a couple of others, including Tainter’s).

And while my aging body may not be quite ready for the continuing work I have planned in our ever-increasing home food-production gardens, I am looking forward immensely to the coming transition to warmer weather for my northern climate and the time away from the distractions of the internet. My days will be spent outside with nature working on some specific projects requiring lots of physical labour and problem solving while I listen to some of my favourite music and get the exercise I need to be able to continue doing this work for as long as I’m physically capable.


Please consider visiting my website and purchasing my fictional novel trilogy, Olduvai, to help support my continuing online work. Less than $10 Canadian gets you the entire trilogy in PDF format.


[1] Virtually all of our other important energy sources are derived from and/or dependent upon fossil fuels in one way or another; especially the mining, refining, and transporting of minerals for nuclear plants, dams, solar panels, wind turbines, etc.. Steel and concrete production in particular cannot be done without fossil fuels.

[2] Of particular importance are resource extraction and refining, transportation, modern agriculture, long-distance supply chains, and ‘money’ (that is basically a potential claim on future energy).

[3] The narrative around ‘renewable energy’ being a solution to our fossil fuel use is a huge distraction from our underlying predicament of ecological overshoot. All the ‘clean/green’ energy in the world can’t save us from the ‘collapse’ that always accompanies a species overshooting its environmental carrying capacity and, in fact, the production and use of such energy-harvesting technologies will simply serve to put us further into overshoot.

[4] I am constantly confounded by the number of people/institutions that demand we cease our extraction of fossil fuels immediately without the slightest foresight as to what this would entail for our world, especially considering their associated call for a wholesale transition to ‘renewable’ energy. Their thinking is entirely magical in nature because it discounts entirely the reality of how non-renewable renewables are produced.

[5] Money/credit expansion and fraudulent accounting have been the primary avenues pursued.

[6] The current explanations for this are being warped by politics and economics that tends to take precedent over the biological and physical ones. But biology and physics always trumps human constructs in the end.

[7] I’ve long argued with my local politicians that dependence upon long-distance supply chains over which we have zero control is a recipe for disaster as they cheerlead the ever-increasing paving over of our limited arable lands to expand housing/industry. My Canadian province of Ontario depends upon these supply chains for 80+% of its food to feed its almost 15 million inhabitants.

[8] To consolidate more wealth at the top of the power/wealth structures in my opinion.

[9] See The Collapse of Complex Societies.

A Primer For American Patriots And Preppers Facing An Uncertain Future

A Primer For American Patriots And Preppers Facing An Uncertain Future

The average patriot (or prepper) is usually a middle class conservative or libertarian with a tendency towards independent thinking and some experience with economic struggle in their past. Most of us have made something of ourselves from very little, or, we had parents that made something of themselves from very little and we watched as children while they climbed their way up the ladder through hard work and merit.

Our philosphy is based on experience and a willingness to look beyond the veil. Most of the western public is bombarded with endless messaging about how stable and safe and “prosperous” our society is. We are constantly slapped in the face with propaganda telling us that patriots are not only crazy, but also dangerous.  We are the bumbling bad guys in every film and TV show.  We’re the “extremists” that refuse to accept that the system works, and if we would just stop trying to be independent from the system, we will find safety and happiness.

We are told a lot of things that aren’t true, and this is really the first thing that sets the preparedness culture apart from everyone else – A healthy sense of skepticism when it comes to establishment claims and mainstream assumptions. We will NOT be sitting idle listening to the band play while the Titanic sinks. We understand, however, that there’s a considerable number of people out there that are content to do so…

There are numerous and unique motivations for people who delve into the patriot life and I think there’s a perception that it requires some kind of abnormal shift in routine or a complete upending of one’s existence.  If you become a patriot or prepper you have to live in a compound and wear army garb everyday and be suspicious of everyone…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

The Vulnerabilities Of A High-Tech Society

The Vulnerabilities Of A High-Tech Society

In the title of this piece, I use the term, “high tech” however this is about the vulnerabilities of any advanced civilization. Such societies tend to be specialized with their members dependent on services and jobs being carried out by others in the community to provide the basic necessities they need. If people were suddenly faced with losing the things they need to survive it is easy to envision a situation where survival of the fittest became the mantra of the day and things would rapidly become quite dicey.High-tech societies are particularly vulnerable to collapse due to their population being dependent on both the system and others to provide the basic items they need to survive in everyday life. Electricity, food, water, sewer systems, phone and computer connections, transportation, and healthcare fall into this category. Just about everything else we have come to expect and experience as we go through our day depends on technology.

Life has become more complex as we transferred the task we did in the past to machines, and this could come back to haunt us. Our growing dependence on computers and devices such as smartphones and computers has dumbed down society. This has compromised the skills we need to endure and survive. We have reached the point where many people can not do simple math or read a map.

A video by City Prepping reveals just how difficult it would be to survive following a massive disaster where no help or aid comes forth. Imagine being forced to exist for months on your own. The video points out many people will die if such a situation would arise. Would you know what to do? Even if you do, many of the things that would help you and your family survive are easier said and done. 

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Olduvai IV: Courage
Click on image to read excerpts

Olduvai II: Exodus
Click on image to purchase

Click on image to purchase @ FriesenPress