The Iconic Book List

Taken at the Hagood Mill Historic Site, South Carolina

When I started blogging the year before last, I never thought I would write so many articles. In fact, I started it more for the files section than for any articles, although I had written several articles over time in an effort to save myself time posting the same links over and over along with a description of what they meant. I never considered the possibility of writing more than a few articles.

However, it became obvious to me that some people actually enjoyed reading my articles and even though I think that most of it is terribly depressing, I think it helps others to know that there are folks like me who understand many of the same things they do. I'm slowly going back to some of the things which woke me up a decade or more ago and eventually led to the knowledge I now have to share with others. 

My journey began on Netflix, believe it or not. I am a curious guy who really enjoys documentaries, and Netflix was a newer service at the time which was just unveiling a new service - streaming. I had started out with just having a couple of DVDs mailed to me and I would watch them at my leisure and return them, similar to Redbox (although no DVDs in the mail from them), which I was also using frequently at the time. I would occupy my spare time watching these documentaries and enjoyed learning all sorts of new things. One day I came across a new one titled, "Collapse," with Michael Ruppert. This started my knowledge of energy and resource decline (peak oil). When all the buzz about climate change seemed to be grabbing the headlines, this was something I had no knowledge about until that point in time. My interest was definitely piqued, but I was too busy with life and my job at the time to focus much attention on it. I would poke around here and there whenever I got the chance, but not much came of any of it. 

Fast forward four years and I discovered NTHE, which tied into peak oil along with many other predicaments. I slowly began connecting the dots and came across several websites which went into explaining the scenario more fully for me. Naturally, like most other people, I became interested in discovering what could be done about this "problem" and how we could "fix" it. Sound familiar? I began reading more and watching more videos and documentaries. I joined groups and got involved in running them, which taught me far more than I could have ever learned on my own. Anyway, I quickly learned within three months of learning about NTHE that it was not a problem with an answer or a solution like I had first thought, but a predicament with an outcome. This was something I wasn't prepared for, no differently than most other people who came across all of this happenstance, and it takes a rather long time to come to full acceptance for most people. Even those who accept the predicament of ecological overshoot tend to go back and forth through the stages of grief every now and again.

My blog is an effort to explain the difference between a problem and a predicament and the role technology and its use has had in helping cause ecological overshoot. One of my last articles actually explained the scenario rather well, although it wasn't actually anything I wrote; all credit goes to Ernie Fidgeon. Now, this may not be obvious at first glance, but technology itself didn't cause ecological overshoot. This is no different than a gun - it does not kill people by itself - humans kill people through the use of the gun. Humans likewise use technology to create ecological overshoot. It is caused by our behavior. 

Our behavior is caused by actions and choices we make, and many times these actions and choices are based on false beliefs and/or denial. Many of you reading this most likely already know all of this, but I can't assume that everyone reading this article has also read all my other articles, so I try to post lots of links to other articles to help any first-time readers who may stumble across this article. 

Understanding the root causes of the predicaments we face is extremely important, as I pointed out in one of my last articles (as in many of my articles as well), as it is simply impossible to comprehend how we got to this point and what can be done to reduce ecological overshoot without this knowledge. Without this understanding, many well-intentioned people will make the mistake of actually making the existing predicaments we face WORSE rather than better through increasing ecological overshoot rather than reducing it. 

To help others understand the situation better, I have written many articles explaining specific scenarios and provided links to many different media sources for proof. Many of my stories are about new developments that I ran across through regular research, and I would then combine older material I was familiar with which coincided with these new developments. As I have continued writing, old issues have been given a new life, so to speak, and many times I have found myself repeating similar themes. So, over time, I have been bringing more older material into the mix which helped me out many years ago back when I first started on this journey. 

One of the best sources of reading material was an entry from Dave Pollard of a reading list he compiled. I'm very grateful that this entry still exists (as it saves me from recreating it), despite the fact that some of the links no longer go to their original locations. Needless to say, for anyone really wanting to understand all these predicaments and where we're heading, these books will definitely help. Some of the books and/or articles will be recognized instantly as items I have included in my articles. In hindsight, some of the material was too advanced for my full comprehension back then; so if anything seems to be too much to handle, save it for later. You can always come back to it when it will make more sense to you. 

It took me several years before I actually had connected all the dots and comprehended why things were the way they were. Just like all parts of life, things weren't all neat and tidy and some of the parts of my understanding came with messy underpinnings. This is fairly natural and part of the acceptance process; sometimes sort of like a roller coaster ride one cannot exit. Going down the rabbithole sometimes has that effect. Mistakes have been made and nobody will get through this without making a few. Forgive yourself and keep on Living Now!