What Exactly is Collapse?

 

The (now defunct) historic Lowther Store property in Wheeler, West Virginia

More info here 

There are so many different subjects within the system of predicaments that I have spent so much time dealing with over the last decade that I could probably never finish writing about them. Alas, so much material to write about; so little time to do it. I took quite a long break from writing to work on finishing a project I have been working on for the last three years. I am in the process of finishing up replacing the old deck next to this project and building a new roof above part of the new deck. The roof was added to the project after I started it. New windows come in this week which was holding up some of the progress near where they will be installed, so come next spring I will be able to finish the concrete work and then paint the entire project to match the existing vinyl siding on the rest of the house. 

The weather is becoming too cold and rainy or snowy to get much done outside, so I do have a bit more time to spend inside writing now. Many people outside of the groups I frequent or those I talk with regularly may not know or know very little about collapse. When I speak of collapse, I tend to use the word rather generally to cover the aspects of civilizational collapse, climate collapse (the collapse of the norms of the climate of yesteryear bringing about collapse of the cryosphere, collapse of marine life, and collapse of many different tree species, among other types of collapse), and collapse of biodiversity, which is bringing increased disease, collapsing agricultural output, and collapsing the complexity and diversity of many different plant and anmial species. This allows for invasive species of all types to enter areas and "take over" the resources which abound in those areas, leaving fewer space and resources for existing native species found in those areas to begin with.  

In order to fully appreciate the action of invasive species and the damage they cause, I highly recommend William R. Catton Jr.'s book, Overshoot - The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Specifically speaking, invasive species utilize the takeover method of drawdown with respect to carrying capacity of the environment. As a species, humans act as an invasive force to the land we invade to utilize those resources for our own use, driving out most other wild native species. While this provides us with habitat, we have unknowingly sowed the seeds of our own destruction by continuing this practice throughout the entire globe. With the exception of Antarctica (and even there we have a presence, albeit a much reduced presence), all other continents and islands provide habitat for our species. To comprehend just how dangerous overshoot really is, realizing that we now fully depend upon these land bases we took over AND we also fully depend upon the energy we discovered in fossil hydrocarbon energy sources to provide not only the energy to do work daily that used to be provided by our muscles and those of draft animals we previously used before the steam engine and internal combustion engine became widespread in use, but also the energy to extract resources necessary to perform the continued production and operation of industrial civilization. One consequence of this is energy and resource decline, where the very energy and mineral resources we require to keep this unsustainable practice of civilization going are being depleted faster and faster year after year. Just think, there are now 8 billion of us on this planet; and all of us must eat, wear some kind of clothing, and have some sort of shelter to live in. 

I have written about collapse in many of my articles because of the inevitability of it happening within our lifetimes (indeed, it is happening NOW as I have pointed out in many different ways). Agricultural collapse is rather apparent to anyone who has visited a grocery store recently. Last week, I was shocked to find my local store COMPLETELY out of the normal type of eggs I usually buy. There are usually five different doors to the refrigerated section full of eggs but this time only two of the doors had any eggs, and even they were far from full. One door had two shelves of eggs and the other door had five shelves of eggs, down from the normal 15 shelves usually available. The other three doors were entirely empty with just bare shelves. 

Many other items were also notoriously absent. This isn't entirely new by any means, as the last three years have had ups and downs with regard to supply chain issues. The trouble is that very few ever mention energy and resource decline (the symptom predicament causing those issues) or ecological overshoot as the master predicament causing all these symptom predicaments. Of course, if it was admitted that the truth is that these are predicaments and not problems as is usually claimed, then people might begin to understand that there is no solution forthcoming and that, in fact, nobody is in control of all of this nor CAN anyone control all of it. That fact flies in the face of so many who desperately want to believe that we have agency over these things when in reality we don't.

A new article from Tim Watkins provides a great deal of insight into what collapse is and gives this quip at the end, quote:

"The old assumption that each new generation would be better off than its predecessor has been tested and found wanting.  And its passing will – one way or another – be accompanied by the end of an economic system based on the assumption that there will always be more tomorrow than there was today.  Indeed, the economic textbook which explains how we operate a perpetually shrinking economy has yet to be written… Until or unless it is, we will have to learn to accept that every proposed “solution” to our predicament is going to be wrong."

This article about collapse and the exponential function helps provide more detail to what collapse is. Previous articles contain much supporting material, so reading these articles and following the links in each will help tremendously in comprehending collapse more thoroughly; for instance, understanding how the technology of agriculture fits into all of this is extremely important. Just as important is how agriculture supports civilization and why civilization is unsustainable, making collapse inevitable. An indepth knowledge of what oil is and why it is so special is also necessary. Knowing how sociology fits into all of this fills in some of the blank spots about how society collectively has brought us to this point in time. So many professors, scientists, and experts have contributed to the large base of knowledge encapsulated in my blog, but one professor in particular has contributed a huge amount of information in just a few videos and articles - Sid Smith. My article about his new series this year gives yet more details about collapse. His newest video is here about why civilizations die and precisely why this is unavoidable. He also adds a nice touch about the difference between problems and predicaments - an excellent addition!

There are several more recent developments, however, which give added relevance to all of the preceding material about collapse. The shortage of energy is making quite a splash globally, but especially the need for diesel is highlighted here. Possibly exacerbating and/or expanding that particular issue is the potential rail strike here in the US. Also in the Guardian is a story about bringing back horse-drawn carts in France. Besides possible shipping woes and supply chain issues caused by a diesel shortage and potential rail strike, drought is causing major headaches for Mississippi River barges. The Mississippi is far from the only river being affected by drought. The Colorado River is suffering as well with a different set of issues. Many other rivers globally have suffered similar types of issues - either infrastructure and agricultural damage caused by flooding or troubles caused by drought.

Energy and resource decline is a major contributor to collapse. The master resource being fossil hydrocarbon energy, this article from John Peach highlights just how dependent we are on them for literally everything and just how quickly we are going to run out of recoverable amounts of them. I have brought up many times how shortages of fossil fuels will eventually cause the abandonment of the electrical grid, but the loss of fossil fuels will bring about far more than just a lack of electricity. Disease will also run rampant as less energy is available for producing medicines and medical supplies, among many other items. Here's an interesting short story titled, Interview With a Fungus, which details what they (fungi) think about humans. I highly recommend it, especially with regard to invasive species, where this gives much to consider.

One last source of information about collapse comes from Ugo Bardi here, and there is a group on Facebook with the same name as well.

I welcome any additions anyone has about collapse and precisely what it is. Until next time, 

Live Now!