slowlyfadingaway: Life at the end of civilization?

Peak Oil Goes Mainstream(ish)

admin — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:40:40 +0000

James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency and World Made by Hand appears on

The Colbert Report (funny, must-see)
The Glenn Beck Show (luckily Glenn interviewed him before finding out Kunstler had called him an idiot-maniac just days before, thus allowing thousands of people to be exposed to the idea of Peak Oil, perhaps for the first time.)

Also, CNN says We Were Warned. Thanks, CNN, you warned us when the train was a foot away.

Redneck Sustainability

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:51:50 +0000

When all hades breaks loose, it helps to have a man cave!

Twittering While Rome Burns

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:43:38 +0000

Lost cities of the future — It’s sad how close they are to us. And how close we are to the future.

What Rome can teach us about the decline of civilizations — In some ways we have tougher challenges than Rome. We have one key advantage — we can talk about our predicament. Or Twitter about it if you prefer.

The New Energy Order — We have entered a new era in which traditional super powers now face energy super powers. Nothing less than our food and livelihood is at stake.

When the Prime (”Good”) borrowers start handing in their keys

Monetary failure is rewarded only at the highest levels

World Ending 2.0

admin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:51:07 +0000

IMF Warns of Great Crisis — We keep seeing the “Depression” word come up more and more in the mainstream. The mainstream media wasn’t even worried about a recession this year. And who is the IMF? Read more here, and be sure to check out the criticisms.
The Black Death of Financial Collapse — Relentlessly dire view of the global economic situation.
Financial Collapse Information Foraging and “Uglier than you thought”
Major banks about to go bye bye? What will happen to all those “subprime” mortgages nobody could really pay off, and as a result, all the more legitimate mortgages nobody will be able to pay off either? Free houses?
The UN warns of global food fights. — Now might be a good time to stock up on food.
Shell finally sponsors Peak Oil (PDF) — I wonder if Shell read this part: “The bad news is that no combination of technologies can plug the energy gap if the peakists are correct. There will be a third, and last, global energy crisis. It will dwarf previous crises. Profound economic dislocation will result. The challenge for human civilization will be how we rebuild post-peak.”

Survivalism is the New Black

admin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:18:10 +0000

The New Survivalism — Dear lord, this is the stuff being found in the NY Times Fashion & Style section. Britney Spears move over.
The US Oil Supply — a dire prognosis getting worse by the day.

When the Economic Levees Break

admin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:06:37 +0000

The Federal Express plows forward aiming for your loot. Don’t get on the boxcar.
Slate tells us why Fed reform won’t work. Duh.
When the end is so very nigh, which straw breaks the camel’s back?
When trouble strikes, you’re on your own.
The Collapse Party becoming the most honest party in government. Doubt anybody would vote for it.

A Growing Consensus

admin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:03:52 +0000

Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, says we’re in big trouble.
Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute and energy expert says the Global Depression is here…we just don’t know it yet.
Sobering case study of Peak Oil affecting a pump near you very soon. The Canterell oil field has gone into decline recently. Mexico is our third leading source of oil exports, and Canterell is the world’s second largest field. Life gets depressing when you find yourself tracking oil fields in other countries more than you do the NCAA tournament results.

Feeling happy at the end of the world

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:30:50 +0000

The conning of America, says Guardian. That’s why it’s called the eCONomy, stoopid!
This article asks, why does Bush seem happy? Today, by the Smashing Pumpkins, is also happy.
I’m clearly learning about our impending depression from non-American media outlets today.

Another oddly cheerful rumination of everything coming to the end. You might have heard this one as the soundtrack to CNN’s Primaries coverage recently.

The Coming North American Union Requires Gas

admin — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:21:35 +0000

One issue that seems to get conservatives understandably concerned is any threat to America’s economic or political sovereignty. As the dollar weakens, gas prices soar, immigration rages, and concern for our future continues to rise, the ideas of a NAFTA Superhighway, a North American Union, and a replacement currency called the Amero (think the Euro) enter as challenges to what it means to live within the world’s strongest economy and nation and to see that replaced by….something else. One has to wonder, though, how the project of globalization that results in the further centralization of political systems and currencies and governmental oversight can continue while that particular system — pardon the pun — runs out of gas.

The following video from CNN gives you a taste of political battles to come this election season. Whether these battles are televised is another story.

All Quiet on the Western Front?

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:33:23 +0000

Stocks make a rebound — Enough articles like this, and one almost believes all is OK in the world. It’s not.
Are you on a terrorist watch list? — Apparently 1 out of 300 Americans are. Which I guess I can believe, given that 1 out of 100 of us is in jail. Glad someone is keeping track.
Army Goes Green! Although I’m wondering if climate change will really be a concern to anybody when fuel shortages hit.
Is Iran imminent? Political Hell Mary?

Finally, creepiest MTV video ever.