Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan

This article is a collaboration with John Peach, from  Wild Peaches .  John Peach is an applied mathematician who held a research position at MIT Lincoln Laboratory until retirement in 2020. As lead investigator of a team of physicists and mathematicians at MIT, he spearheaded development of an atmospheric lidar propagation model accounting for scattering, refraction, and object response. This technology enabled 3D mapping of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to locate and assess damage, expediting recovery efforts. As part of the disaster relief program, he made three trips to assist FEMA on-site with model implementation, and co-authored the paper  “To Expedite Roadway Identification and Damage Assessment in LiDAR 3D Imagery for Disaster Relief Public Assistance.”

  Cabwaylingo State Forest , West Virginia

  The view from Pretty Place Chapel , South Carolina

  PHOTO: Paul M. Walsh/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK

Gazebo in Jonesboro, Illinois

  Today, rather than just an article I wrote, I have an entire collection to share! For anyone who is interested in ecological overshoot, this has just been released: IT BEARS REPEATING: BEST OF…VOLUME 1 With a Foreword and Afterword by Michael Dowd, authors include: Max Wilbert; Tim Watkins; Mike Stasse; Dr. Bill Rees; Dr. Tim Morgan; Rob Mielcarski; Dr. Simon Michaux; Erik Michaels; Just Collapse’s Tristan Sykes & Dr. Kate Booth; Kevin Hester; Alice Friedemann; David Casey; and, Steve Bull. Follow the link in the title above to access the downloadable PDF. Enjoy!

Some selected images from Pike Lake State Park

On the  Big Four Bridge  in Louisville, Kentucky

  Two pictures from Cairo, Illinois

Mountains as seen from Tennessee Welcome Center

Green anole at Hoop Pole Creek Nature Trail, North Carolina  

    First picture: The massive slag pile at the former Anaconda Copper Company Smelter Second picture: The slag pile behind the old guard shack at the smelter entrance More info about this company Man-made disasters abound almost everywhere, but most of us cannot "see" them because we are "blind" to this destruction. Without a sense of reality regarding ecological overshoot, many people turn a blind eye to the destruction taking place daily in cities and towns (and plenty of rural or remote places as well) throughout the world. Joni Mitchell's famous song Big Yellow Taxi comes to mind. But seriously, how often does one happen to be driving somewhere and see what once were fields and forests being leveled for some new housing addition or shopping center or roads or other infrastructure?  It's also interesting as I began thinking about writing this article what disasters in particular came to mind. There are literally countless small towns which were once inh

The gift shop building at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Tennessee in 2021. The building was destroyed by fire in April 2022. I haven't been able to spend much time writing this summer, as I have been quite busy with a project which has taken far longer than I would have ever imagined. It might be autumn before I actually finish this article, come to think of it. This article combines some of my other articles in a slightly different manner and combines them with two videos and a website which explain the electrical grid. The reason I think it is necessary to explain precisely what the electrical grid is and how it is made up and the components which comprise it is because most people have no clue how complex and complicated this system of energy delivery really is. Furthermore, even fewer people realize what kinds of losses (see these articles here and here ) are incurred by this delivery system, which are extremely substantial. One thing I constantly see people who advocate EVs

Summit Overlook, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia

  This is the Guard Shack at the Washoe Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company as it looks today (this picture taken in 2020). More info can be found at the Wikipedia page  and the park's page . 

One of the most incongruent messages I constantly hear about climate change is talk of "solutions" and how "we can do it" which doesn't really agree with the science much at all (see  Agency - Do We Have Free Will?  and The Grand Illusion  for details) . I've been hearing these same messages for 40 years now, and I keep asking myself that if we can do it, why haven't we?   In fact, just the other day, I saw a claim that "if we don't change direction within three years that climate change will become irreversible." I almost laughed, since climate change is ALREADY irreversible on human timescales and has been for quite some time as pointed out in my article, Denial of Reality, quote:  " Most people think that climate change can be "fixed" or reversed, but current science shows that climate change is  irreversible  on human timescales. Another article shows that this is due to  ocean heat uptake  (OHU). Another  recent study  

  Poison Ivy growing prolifically on a hillside 

  White Sands National Park in New Mexico, a very unique gypsum sand desert

  I have written in here several times that no other form of energy can match fossil hydrocarbons in their energy density except for uranium, but uranium requires a nuclear reactor to be utilized; something that cannot be carried by hand (like a container of gasoline can). Oil is especially important not only because of its density, but also because of its portability and versatility. No other form of energy can be transported and utilized as easily as oil. Most of us are familiar with oil in the form of gasoline or diesel, but perhaps also in kerosene or fuel oil as well. Natural gas is actually higher in density, but requires slightly different storage and engines. This portability and versatility explains why so many power tools such as lawn mowers, chainsaws, spin trimmers, lawn edgers, and more are powered by gasoline. The same advantages are also why most cars, trucks, tractors, agricultural machines, mining equipment, and roadbuilding equipment all use gasoline or diesel as thei