Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

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

  Seven Pillars Nature Preserve

  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 . 

The beach at Glimmerglass State Park in New York

Recently I have seen a string of articles and videos that repeat the same basic theme - that within the next 5 years we face umpteen different symptoms of collapse . I don't like attempting to attach timelines to any of this, and so I am simply repeating the theme that I see in all of these articles - none of this is my own assessment. I will say that I agree with the assessments. We're running out of road, folks. As for whether anyone is ready or not, I think very few if any truly are. We've been discussing this for decades, now the time is drawing near for issues to develop that will be extremely difficult for society to deny (although people still will because that is what we do). I mentioned most of all this in my recent article about our actual reality . Still, the warning bells are getting louder. This article from Alice Friedemann mirrors my own feelings about the situation, quote: " The only way I can see this being prevented or the end of oil delayed a few ye...

  Delt Church Park trail Before I get started on today's article, I'd like to take a moment to thank all those who posted comments recently; especially the supportive ones. I think that being more supportive in today's atmosphere of eroding trust and increasing violence is one way to thwart those trajectories. Not only do I appreciate these comments, but I am certain that others are benefitting from them too! One item I considered putting into my recent article about suicide I decided to put into a future article instead to keep the first article more compact. This explains the inspiration for this article which has been similar to suicide in my line of articles - it has been put on the back burner too long and needs to be brought into the light. I don't take these articles lightly, but at the same time I likewise do not think they are more than they are. Ever since I discovered the psychological roots as to why  and how we got ourselves into this mess of inescapabl...

The walkway down to Otsego Lake at Fairy Springs Park outside of Cooperstown, New York

  Top picture: Civilization; Pikeville, Kentucky Bottom picture: Nature; Birch Knob, Virginia 

  Lake Powhatan Swimming Beach, North Carolina

  Whiteface Mountain, New York

  Two pictures from Cairo, Illinois

Welcome to my new blog - titled Problems, Predicaments, and Technology -  because that is the title to a short article I wrote over a year ago to point out the difference between problems and predicaments (often called dilemmas ) and explain the role technology use (and the culture surrounding it) has had in creating most of the predicaments we face today. While this blog is mainly focused on Ecological Overshoot, Abrupt Climate Disruption ( ACD ) and Energy and Resource Decline (generally associated with peak oil and collapse), there are a myriad of other predicaments closely associated with these three that will also be covered. Many scientists focus a large amount of their lives trying to figure out how to solve these predicaments as if they are problems in the hopes of coming up with a way to at least mitigate some of the harm society is doing to life on this planet. My efforts here are to point out that in a very real sense, this has been rooted in denial of reality ...

  Backbone Rock in northern Tennessee

  Falling Spring Falls, Falling Spring, Virginia

Manistee North Pier Lighthouse

Gazebo in Jonesboro, Illinois

  Recently, I saw a comment from John Robin Strohl that really struck home, quote: " We are here for conversation, not conversion. " I see it the same way; that most everyone wants change, but nobody wants TO change. People are consistently looking for external change but don't seem to realize that external change can only come about from internal change. Another set of facts about change is equally important: Here's the thing...changing behavior isn't really as difficult as it may seem, but it does require a desire to change and the commitment to follow through. Most people really just don't want to convert (change), thinking that, "Why should I do it if I don't have to?" Most of my regular readers will understand that in reality, it isn't optional. If society doesn't change our collective behavior, then nature will force behavior change upon us and those who don't comply will perish. Of course, people are going to perish regardle...