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Category Archives: Planning for the Future
Human population overshoot–what went wrong?
There are seven billion people on earth now. I originally thought that the primary reason for the recent human population explosion was that fossil fuels enabled a larger food supply and better medicine, and thus a higher population. While the … Continue reading
Posted in Planning for the Future
Tagged Craig Dilworth, ecology, overshoot, population, territoriality.
137 Comments
More Reasons Why We are Reaching Limits to Growth
In a recent post, I talked about why we may be reaching Limits to Growth of the type foretold in the 1972 book Limits to Growth. I would like to explain some additional reasons now. In my earlier post, I … Continue reading
Where do continued high oil prices lead us?
We know high oil prices have an adverse impact on the economy, often leading to recession. According to Economist James Hamilton, 10 out of 11 of US recessions since World War II have been associated with oil price spikes. But … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Implications, Planning for the Future
Tagged fossil fuels, high oil prices, oil, oil prices, oil supply, recession, renewables
67 Comments
Financial Impacts of Reaching ‘Limits to Growth’
I gave a talk on expected financial implications of the oil limits that we are now reaching at a recent meeting of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA. My talk consisted of two parts: Why the impact of … Continue reading
European Debt Crisis and Sustainability
What would humans have to do to really live sustainability with the world’s ecosystems? I got a shock when I read about the pattern of species extinctions which is taking place that form a part of what is called the … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Implications, Planning for the Future
Tagged Euro, European debt, Greek debt, sustainability
100 Comments
Should We Take United Nations’ Projections Seriously?
This is a guest post by Dr. Gary Peters, author of Population Geography. The United Nations warned recently that the global consumption of natural resources could almost triple to 140 billion tons a year by 2050 unless nations take drastic … Continue reading
Planning for Higher Food and Energy Prices, and their Wider Impacts
Over the years, we have become accustomed to a rising standard of living. One of things that has helped this happen is a gradually declining ratio of food costs to total personal expenditures. Energy costs have not followed as clear … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Implications, Planning for the Future
Tagged employment, Food prices, oil prices
27 Comments
Tainter’s Law: Where is the Physics?
This is a guest post by Ugo Bardi. This post previously appeared at his English language blog, Casandra’s Legacy. Joseph Tainter’s interpretation of the cause of the collapse of civilisations is that social structures generate negative returns when they become … Continue reading
Peak oil and the third demographic transition: A preliminary model
This is a guest post by Dr. Gary Peters, retired geography professor and author of Population Geography. The growth of the human population cannot continue forever—there is a limit to our numbers, even if we cannot specify what that limit … Continue reading
Posted in Food issues, Planning for the Future
Tagged demographic transition, population
43 Comments
