This essay updates my earlier effort to tally and describe self-reinforcing feedback loops with respect to climate change. At that time, seven months ago, we had strong evidence of nine such catastrophic phenomena. The nineteen I currently know about are described below. Only the final one is reversible over a temporal span relevant to humanity. Methane hydrates are … [Read more...]
Five bummer problems that make societies collapse
"If anyone tells you that there's a single-factor explanation for societal collapse," says collapse guru Jared Diamond, "you know right away that they're an idiot. This is a complex subject." So, forget about peak debt, peak oil, peak climate, peak Harry Potter or even peak everything as the single most important problem that could bring today's whole pulsing, beaming and … [Read more...]