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From Climate Crisis to Polycrisis
From Climate Crisis to Polycrisis Climate change, resource depletion, extreme weapons, AI, and more: Richard Heinberg looks at the individual threats composing the unprecedented convergence of risk leading us to a global polycrisis. Though he finds no easy answers, he concludes that humanity’s collective survival will require setting aside our hubris and coming to terms […]
Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh XLVII–Faith in Government: A Misplaced Belief
Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh XLVII April 13, 2022 (original posting date) Monte Alban, Mexico (1988) Photo by author Faith in Government: A Misplaced Belief Today’s contemplation has been prompted by an article by ecologist and educator Richard Heinberg (see link below). Infinite growth. Finite planet. What could possibly go wrong? As our awareness of the various existential […]
The World’s Top Industrial Countries Are in Treacherous Waters
The World’s Top Industrial Countries Are in Treacherous Waters Sometimes, after reading a slew of news articles from around the world, I feel confused and weary. But occasionally patterns seem to emerge. I say “seem” because the human brain is all too eager to see patterns where there are none (hence humanity’s fascination with false […]
Capturing Carbon With Machines Is a Failure—So Why Are We Subsidizing It?
Capturing Carbon With Machines Is a Failure—So Why Are We Subsidizing It? Human activity—mostly the burning of fossil fuels—has raised Earth’s atmospheric carbon content by 50 percent, from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 420 ppm. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, we’ve released approximately 950 billion metric tons of carbon into the air. Every year, humans emit more than […]
A realistic ‘energy transition’ is to get better at using less of it
A realistic ‘energy transition’ is to get better at using less of it Image via Shutterstock. In 2022, I authored two articles expressing doubts about society’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable solar and wind power. In this final article in the series, I’ll explain why my conclusions are based on experience as well as analysis. My […]
The Renewable Energy Transition Is Failing
The Renewable Energy Transition Is Failing Not sustainable: Vast quantities of minerals and metals are required for the renewable energy transition. (Photo credit: AleSpa/Wikimedia Commons) Renewable energy isn’t replacing fossil fuel energy—it’s adding to it. Despite all the renewable energy investments and installations, actual global greenhouse gas emissions keep increasing. That’s largely due to economic […]
Richard Heinberg: Limits and prospects for human survival
Richard Heinberg: Limits and prospects for human survival
Oil, war and the fate of industrial societies
Oil, war and the fate of industrial societies The world teeters on the brink of economic disaster due to energy shortages caused by war. The main oil-producing nations are unable and unwilling to increase output, even though prices are high and threatening to go much higher. The solutions being proposed—electric cars and renewable energy technologies—are […]
Is the Energy Transition Taking Off—or Hitting a Wall?
Is the Energy Transition Taking Off—or Hitting a Wall? Forecast cloudy: Solar panels are wiped off for peak performance at The Wash Basket Laundromat, in Palmyra, Pennsylvania, in 2011. The business qualified for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Energy for America Program assistance to add 72 photovoltaic panels to reduce electrical demand by a […]
Museletter #349: After the Ukraine Invasion
Museletter #349: After the Ukraine Invasion This month has seen the start of a historic and tragic invasion. In this month’s Museletter I’ve examined some of the Ukraine war’s likely implications for energy, economy, and geopolitics. Meanwhile, in a second piece Museletter maintains its gaze on an even bigger picture–what we humans are doing to […]
MuseLetter #349
MuseLetter #349 Dear subscriber, This month has seen the start of a historic and tragic invasion. In this month’s Museletter I’ve examined some of the Ukraine war’s likely implications for energy, economy, and geopolitics. Meanwhile, in a second piece Museletter maintains its gaze on an even bigger picture–what we humans are doing to the planet […]
The 1970s Again?
The 1970s Again? For the United States and much of the rest of the world, the 1970s were a time of high oil prices, surging inflation, stock market swoons, political upheaval, and geopolitical tension. Add pandemic and climate change to the list, and it also sounds like a fair description of the world today, a […]
The Failure of Global Elites
The Failure of Global Elites In the 1970s, global political and corporate elites had all the information they needed to put the world on a path toward long-term stability. Systems science was sufficiently advanced that a team of its practitioners organized a scenario study to see how trends in industrial production, population, food, pollution, and resource usage […]
After the Ukraine Invasion: Sobering New Global Energy-Economic-Political Terrain
After the Ukraine Invasion: Sobering New Global Energy-Economic-Political Terrain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the West’s response, are ushering the world into a new energy, economic, and political era. In broad outline, this new era will have less-globally-integrated energy markets, and less-secure supplies of fossil fuels. Since energy is the irreducible basis of all economic […]
Dennis Meadows on the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Limits to Growth
Dennis Meadows on the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Limits to Growth Only rarely does a book truly change the world. In the nineteenth century, such a book was Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. For the twentieth century, it was The Limits to Growth. Not only did this best-selling 1972 publication help spur the environmental […]
