Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Scenes from earlier times in Glen Haven, Michigan. From top, D.H. Day Farm, Glen Haven Canning Company, Outside of Glen Haven General Store, and the last two showing the inside of the Glen Haven General Store. When I began this blog last December, my main goal at that particular point in time was to replace the files in the groups I run with an outside source so I could get away from the unreasonable rules that Facebook had instituted regarding the editing of those files; of course once they did away with personal files (the files still exist but the only way one can get to them now is if they saved the address for them), the writing was on the wall that group files would also be going away. The group files are still around for the time being, but FB has discontinued the possibility of creating new documents in groups unless the file is a PDF or other recognized file. I had no idea that I would be writing all these articles, as that certainly wasn't what I originally had in mind....

  Today I want to tackle once again the subject of the much-hyped "energy transition" which has been thoroughly debunked from articles, books, documentaries, and presentation videos such as Planet of the Humans , Bright Green Lies  (also located here ) , Life After Fossil Fuels , Earth and Humanity: Myth and Reality , The Hydrogen Economy Myth , Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet ,   The Fantasy of Electrification ,   What Would it Take for Humanity to Experience Radical Transformation? and Pulling Back The Curtain On The Energy Transition Tale . I have pointed out how these hilarious ideas attempt to use technology to solve the problems and predicaments that technology use has CAUSED, which most people can deduce is an impossibility. Some people have accused me of being a "technology hater" which is completely false. I'm not really much different than most people, I enjoy all the modern conveniences that technology provides and am very gratefu...

  It is truly saddening to see so many articles which proclaim complete nonsense. The worst part is that so many people are culturally indoctrinated to the point where they cannot see through these false claims. In this particular one , the claim is made that we need to protect nature (true), quote:  " Our five breakthroughs for nature echo and expand upon those same themes, emphasizing the urgent need to transform our relationship to the natural world on which we ultimately all depend. In a nutshell, here is the handful of headline actions that we are advocating: We need to put nature at the heart of decision-making, with governments and the private sector held accountable for making nature a global priority. An annual investment of US$500 billion to protect and restore nature is a minimum requirement, with funding diverted from environmentally harmful activities into nature-positive initiatives. The communities and local organizations working on the front line of conservati...

  OK, I am going to try to keep this quite short and to the point. Everyone familiar with me knows that I have been rather outspoken against what are commonly called "technofixes" for a considerably long time. Of course, this has always been for very good reasons, being that technology is what has caused the predicament of ecological overshoot in the first place. However, given the hype, marketing, advertising, and PR work done by the industries involved, many people are unaware that these technologies do not reduce fossil fuel use, they actually INCREASE their use by requiring (among other things) a considerably larger electrical grid, storage of energy for when intermittent devices are not generating, and large losses due to the realities of electrical transmission. Because the overwhelming message presented to society over the years that technology is "great" and does so much for us, the inculcated message is that technology can do no harm. Unfortunately, this c...

  In my last post , I expressed my concerns regarding methane emissions along with the growing speed which our collective predicaments appear to be gaining. Then I explained precisely why we have thus far not made any real progress on these predicaments based upon our collective denial , which has a considerable amount to do with our basic human psychology. In conclusion, the reality is that very few people are actually paying an ounce of real attention. What they are paying attention to are all the distractions - the hype, advertising, marketing, and propaganda. Today I bring more evidence of the increasing speed of these predicaments as I recall some of my articles which I had privately hoped might be a long way off into the future. I'm not one to try to evade uncomforting news. If I was, I most certainly wouldn't be reading and watching these articles, reports, studies, videos, and other media to try to understand and comprehend fully where we are and where we're heade...

  Two pictures from Falls Mill, Tennessee, depicting life in the late 1800s. The mill now houses a museum and is open for tours and a bed and breakfast is also on site. Last week, I updated the files here with over 250 new articles and studies ( see this list ). There were 59 new entries in the Climate Change and Collapse file alone. So many of these files now contain new studies which are increasingly worrying; some of these new entries are located in the Species and Biodiversity Loss , Extinction , Disease , Pollution Loading , Tree Decline and Deforestation , and Ocean Acidification and Marine Life files. As can be seen in these studies, this is a rapidly developing situation which is now beginning to gather speed and overwhelming existing infrastructure to deal with the ongoing disasters. There is a new article regarding methane emissions through permafrost thaw which is rather chilling. Another version in the Smithsonian Magazine describes the "methane time bomb" a...

My last article focused on mindsets and how they can lead us into traps. One of the most pervasive of these traps is the energy trap . People are constantly searching for new types of energy, new energy generation, and/or ways to improve energy efficiency, ALL of which unfortunately are ultimately dead ends. The search for this energy is often with the idea to reduce emissions in an effort to reduce the effects of climate change. The trouble is in the fact that this ignores the root predicament of ecological overshoot and that producing more energy requires destruction of our planet resulting in MORE ecological overshoot, not less. Ultimately, the only way to reduce emissions is to consume less globally, period. I pointed this out in my article, What Would it Take for Humanity to Experience Radical Transformation?  and added that continuing civilization is a non-starter. Yet, practically every single idea we see to "solve" climate change consists of ideas to ramp up energy p...