Category Archives: Food issues

2013: Beginning of Long-Term Recession?

Posted on January 6, 2013 by

We have been hearing a lot about escaping the fiscal cliff, but our problem isn’t solved. The fixes to date have been partial and temporary. There are many painful decisions ahead. Based on what I can see, the most likely … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications, Food issues, Planning for the Future | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 158 Comments

Is Sustainable Agriculture an Oxymoron?

Posted on December 26, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Toby Hemenway, author of  Gaia’s Garden, a Guide to Home Scale Permaculture. It is being republished with the author’s permission. It was previously published on his blog, Pattern Literacy.  Jared Diamond calls it “the worst mistake … Continue reading →

Posted in Food issues, Guest post, Planning for the Future | Tagged , , , | 143 Comments

Why Malthus Got His Forecast Wrong

Posted on December 12, 2012 by

Most of us have heard that Thomas Malthus made a forecast in 1798 that the world would run short of food. He expected that this would happen because in a world with limited agricultural land, food supply would fail to rise … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications, Food issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | 160 Comments

The Long-Term Tie Between Energy Supply, Population, and the Economy

Posted on August 29, 2012 by

The tie between energy supply, population, and the economy goes back to the hunter-gatherer period. Hunter-gatherers managed to multiply their population at least 4-fold, and perhaps by as much as 25-fold, by using energy techniques which allowed them to expand … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Book draft, Food issues, Introductory Post | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 158 Comments

Kidding ourselves about future MENA oil production

Posted on October 19, 2011 by

Recently, the International Energy Agency’s Chief Economist Fatih Birol was quoted as saying, In the next 10 years, more than 90% of the growth in global oil production needs to come from MENA [Middle East and North African] countries. There … Continue reading →

Posted in Food issues, News Related Post, Oil and Its Future | Tagged , , , , , , | 57 Comments