Peak Oil: Collapse

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6 Peak Oil: Collapse (128)
We're at the tipping point--where modern industrial society begins to scale down. Most people are unaware of the potential for collapse. Diagrams and articles will not sway them, for they are more emotional than rational. It will take some other experience for people to come about. At what point will society broadly recognize there is a significant, permanent problem? What will cause people to drastically change lifestyles? (Reading list compiled by the Bay Area outpost of the Post Carbon Institute.) Modified:
Created:
- 6 The End of Cheap Oil--Overviews (2)
  - • The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies Richard Heinberg, 2003.
  - • Geodestinies Walter Youngquist, 1997.
- 6 Fossil Fuels in more detail (6)
  - • High Noon for Natural Gas: The New Energy Crisis Julian Darley, 2004.
  - • Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage Kenneth Deffeyes, 2001.
  - • US companies potential victims, goats in energy crisis: report » Petroleum World, April 2004.
  - • China oil demand growth surpasses expectations-IEA » Forbes, April 2004.
  - • Natural Gas Supply, Demand and Pricing » Energy Pulse, April 2004.
  - • Can renewables sustain affluent society? » F.E. Trainer. University of South Wales. 1995.
- 6 Fossil fuels and Food (3)
  - • Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures » By Lester R. Brown. 2005.
  - • Beyond Oil: The Threat to Food and Fuel in the Coming Decades John Gever, 1991.
  - • Enriching the Earth Vaclav Smil, 2000.
- 6 Why there's no technical fix for replacing fossil fuels (4)
  - • The Case For and Against Nuclear Power » Wall Street Journal. June, 2008.
  - • The Solar Fraud: Why Solar Energy Won't Run the World Howard Hayden, 2002.
  - • Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction Joseph J. Romm, 2004.
  - • Nuclear Choices: A Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Technology Richard Wolfson, 1993.
- 6 The Fall of Civilizations from ecological collapse (3)
  - • Forest Journey: The Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization John Perlin, 1991.
  - • A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations Clive Ponting, 1993.
  - • Foreign governments finance a growing share of U.S. trade deficit » Economic Policy Institute. March, 2004.
- 6 Overpopulation (9)
  - • An uncomfortable truth: As the planet's resources dwindle, a debate on population control is needed more than ever » Guardian UK. February, 2009.
  - • Overshoot, by William Catton, 1982. » Summary published by Rachel's News.
  - • Population, Resources, and Human Idealism » Richard Heinberg. May, 2006.
  - • Population size 'green priority' » BBC News. January, 2006.
  - • A Century of War - Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order » F. William Engdahl. 1992.
  - • Life on a Crowded Planet: How You Can Help Create A Sustainable Future » John A. Uhl, MD. Updated September, 2005. 2) "Ecosystems can support only a finite number of organisms. (This is often called the "carrying capacity.") Therefore, if we do not control our population by decreasing births, it will be controlled for us by increasing deaths. Increased deaths are generally the result of war (or other violence), starvation, and disease. Often they work in combination."
  - 6 US gov't leaders 1930's-1970's acutely aware of overpopulation issues (1) Key US foreign and domestic policies secretly driven by concerns around continued population growth and competition for natural resources.
    - • Henry "Scoop" Jackson » Henry "Scoop" Jackson (pre-cursor of neocons) sponsored Marion Hubbert's initial papers describing future scarcity.
  - • David Rockefeller speaks about population control »
- 6 Poverty (2)
  - • Alive Today, Desperate Tomorrow » Jeffrey D. Sachs. August, 2005.
  - • Going Hungry in America » December, 2004.
- 6 Embers of another US civil war (2)
  - • The coming American Civil War? »
  - • The Quiet Retooling of the Militia Movement » September, 2004.
- 6 The nuclear threat (7)
  - • Atmospheric effects and societal consequences of regional scale nuclear conflicts and acts of individual nuclear terrorism » University of Colorado at Boulder. 2007.
  - • Nuclear energy can't solve global warming--Other remedies 7 times more beneficial » San Francisco Chronicle. August, 2005.
  - • Bush's Nuclear Madness » By Joshua Holland. May, 2006.
  - • Apocalypse Soon » By Robert McNamara. May 2005.
  - • States Map and Information for Nuclear Survival »
  - • The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military-Industrial Complex, Revised and Updated Edition » By Helen Caldicott. 2004.
  - • U.S. and Russian Nuclear Missiles are Still on Hair-Trigger Alert » December, 2004.
- 6 Learning from the Great Depression (9)
  - • The Great Bu$T Ahead: The Greatest Depression in American and UK History is Just Several Short Years Away. This is your Concise Reference Why and How Best to Survive It » Daniel A. Arnold, 2002.
  - • Rethinking the Great Depression (American Ways Series) » Gene Smiley, 2003.
  - • America's Great Depression » Murray N. Rothbard, 2000.
  - • Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California (Americans and the California Dream) » Kevin Starr, 1997.
  - • The Great Depression : America 1929-1941 » Robert S. McElvaine, 1993.
  - • The Great Reckoning : Protecting Yourself in the Coming Depression » James Dale Davidson, 1994.
  - • Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930's and More From Your Kitchen Today » Janet Van Amber Paske and Rita Van Amber, May 1986.
  - • Depression Era Recipes » P. Wagner, 1989.
  - • Grandma's Wartime Kitchen : World War II and the Way We Cooked » Joanne Lamb Hayes, 2000.
- 6 Human Ecology (2)
  - • Our Ecological Footprint Mathis Wackernagel, 1995.
  - • Overshoot William Catton, 1982.
- 6 Economic collapse (1)
  - • US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive » Telegraph UK. June, 2009.
- 6 Destruction of the web of life survival depends on (12)
  - • Why we need to worry about global warming, now » Ross Gelbspen. April, 2006.
  - • Hotter, Faster, Worser » Common Dreams. February, 2006.
  - • Global warming 'past the point of no return' » The Independent. September, 2005.
  - • World Living Beyond Its Environmental Means-WWF » By Richard Waddington. October, 2004.
  - • Lament For An Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery Michael Harris, 1998.
  - • Water Follies Robert Glennon, 2004.
  - • Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture Kimbrell, 2002.
  - • The Discovery of Global Warming Spencer Weart, 2003.
  - • Life out of Bounds: Bio-Invasion in a Borderless World Chris Bright, 1998.
  - • The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Counts Michael Novacek, et al, 2001.
  - • Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, and Survival? T. Colborn, 1996.
  - • Recent Warming of Arctic May Affect Worldwide Climate » NASA.
- 6 Understanding Human Nature (2)
  - • War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage Lawrence Keeley, 1997.
  - • The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life Robert Wright, 1995.
- 6 What can be done to make the descent of civilization less painful (5)
  - • Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World Richard Heinberg, 2004.
  - • Population Politics: The Choices That Shape Our Future Virginia Abernethy, 2000.
  - • Living Within Limits: Ecology, Economics & Population Taboos Garrett Hardin, 1995.
  - • Permaculture: A Designers' Manual B. C. Mollison, 1997.
  - • The Prosperous Way Down: Principles and Policies Howard T. Odum, 2001.
- 6 Will there be a WW III over the remaining resources? (2)
  - • The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia Lutz Kleveman, 2003.
  - • Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict Michael Klare, 2001.
- 4 Risks (35) What real dangers are we up against?
  - 6 Global economic slowdown (4)
    - • Increasing fuel prices lead to world recession
    - • Population increase leads to continued resource depletion
    - 6 Economic collapse of China (1) Illustrating the danger oil dependence to other countries, and triggering cascading economic problems in countries dependent on a stable Chinese economy.
      - • Fast growth is choked off by sharp declines in fuel
  - 6 International conflicts (4)
    - • Global oil grab
    - • Conflict between US and either Russia or China
    - • Destabilization in the Middle East
    - • Mounting terrorism worldwide
  - 6 US economic collapse (6) Probably followed by a global collapse.
    - • Lack of confidence from foreign investors
    - • OPEC switches oil pricing from US dollars to Euros
    - • Baby boomers slowly withdraw from stock market
    - • Interest rates increase and housing bubble bursts
    - • Blossoming federal debt
    - • Asia start selling off their US dollars
  - 6 Infrastructure failures (3)
    - • Electricity failures Rolling brownouts.
    - • Natural gas supplies sharply down Electricity and heating problems.
    - • Food shortages Decreased availability of water, skyrocketing fertilizer prices.
  - 6 Severe environmental change (6)
    - • Drought
    - • Major weather pattern changes
    - • Lack of safe water
    - • Catastrophic atmospheric changes CO2 increases, O2 depletion
    - • Rapid global warming Due to compounding CO2 increases, or even methane increases from melting ice.
    - • North Atlantic conveyor shutdown
  - 6 US civil conflict (6)
    - • Severe errosion of civil liberties
    - • Rising tension between pacifists and warmongers
    - • Widening division over family values
    - • Loss of social services leads to instability
    - • Massive political scandal
    - • Suspension of US constitution
- 6 Quotes (1)
  - • The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- 6 More information (2)
  - • Peak Oil »
  - • Sustainability »