A good summary of that which we face.
Goodchild, peter. Systemic Collapse: The Basics. Countercurrents.org 2009
Goodchild, peter. Systemic Collapse: The Basics. Countercurrents.org 2009
Systemic Collapse: The Basics
- Thread starter Falcon
- Start date
FROM THE CAVES, TO THE MOON, TO THE CAVES
link
ETA:
The Massive Movement to Marginalize the Modern Malthusian Message
The Essential Exponential
Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment
It is over 35 years since Limits to Growth was published. Population and resource consumption have continued to increase exponentially since then. This trajectory was always obviously unsustainable, but the distractions and blah-blah peddled by capitalists and politicians pretended that we could have sustainable growth and the future was always going to be better.
Now that we have reached and exceeded those limits, the illusion is crumbling. Realisation is dawning that sustainable growth is an oxymoron, and that politicians and capitalists are morons.
Welcome to the e^pocalypse...
Maidmarian
Stubborn Socialist
I remember reading LTG when it first came out.
I see that Jim Kunstler has noticed the similarity between humans and yeast: The Fate of the Yeast People
His post reminds me of this thread, which started seriously but ended up being rather silly.
His post reminds me of this thread, which started seriously but ended up being rather silly.
Chris P Duck
Well-Known Member
I've just starting to realise everything is falling into place....
I'm fully aware of peak oil/water/food, population overshoot etc and I have a belief that the days of the US being a world force are coming to an end and that whole nation will end up going rouge.
Going rouge ... that's it ... perhaps she IS the chosen one ... with the imminent collapse of civilisation stateside, what that once great nation will need to lead them thru troubles times is not some city slicker law school graduate, they will need some one to lead them who knows how to hunt, shoot n fish.
Dark difficult times ahead people ... thats why I say Sarah 2012.
I'm fully aware of peak oil/water/food, population overshoot etc and I have a belief that the days of the US being a world force are coming to an end and that whole nation will end up going rouge.
Going rouge ... that's it ... perhaps she IS the chosen one ... with the imminent collapse of civilisation stateside, what that once great nation will need to lead them thru troubles times is not some city slicker law school graduate, they will need some one to lead them who knows how to hunt, shoot n fish.
Dark difficult times ahead people ... thats why I say Sarah 2012.
el-ahrairah
forward communism, forward gerbils!
lolwut?
not-bono-ever
meh
a US mate is a quite well know Journo in Enviromento circles - publishes alot of work on fish stocks and the like
Got a mail from him this week and Ive never heard him so down - Hes got to the point where he now beleives the world is fucked and with the best will in the world, its downhill from now on. He has finally decided not to have any kids after mulling over it for years due to what hes been researching. Hes advised that we had better get some chickens and bgein to teach the kids basic agricultral skills to prepare for the future.
No - hes not a gun nut or a RW survivalist either
FWIW, I have a bit more optimism
Got a mail from him this week and Ive never heard him so down - Hes got to the point where he now beleives the world is fucked and with the best will in the world, its downhill from now on. He has finally decided not to have any kids after mulling over it for years due to what hes been researching. Hes advised that we had better get some chickens and bgein to teach the kids basic agricultral skills to prepare for the future.
No - hes not a gun nut or a RW survivalist either
FWIW, I have a bit more optimism
Chris P Duck
Well-Known Member
The books #1 with a bullet ... the campaign has started ... and there are enough crazies stateside to elect her next time.
Systemic collapse coming to a super power near you soon.
not-bono-ever
meh
Why did I have kids
all you can do is to get them proficient at stripping an AK47 blindfold and garotting, then they have a decent chance of surviving.
all you can do is to get them proficient at stripping an AK47 blindfold and garotting, then they have a decent chance of surviving.
You assume that they'd actually want to survive. My guess is that it's going to get so unbelievably shite that life becomes utterly pointless. Only the insane will want to survive.
Evidence.
Of?
Chickens are good. During WWII and 'Dig for Victory' etc, everyone kept them in their back gardens. Makes no sense to spend masses of diminishing fossil fuels, keeping chickens warm in a big shed and transporting eggs in trucks all over the country, when you can just have them in the back garden. They are quite happy on the same scraps of food that pigeons eat. Perhaps a good business idea for someone or a visionary country farmer, selling chickens for urban back gardens?
Just spotted An Invitation To Anarchy by the same author, who notes that:
It is tragic that the issue of population - the root cause of peak everything - has been deliberately avoided by governments, who have left this problem to the whims of unregulated corporate smash-n-grab, aka "the free market". After all, more people = more punters in the casino of crapitalism.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I'm not going rouge. I'll stick with my sensible foundation and neutral lipstick.
bi0boy
Power User
FROM THE CAVES, TO THE MOON, TO THE CAVES
Fuck it, at least we get a bow and a better spear for our troubles.
rekil
to menny cranks
Ok Guys you've TOTALLY convinced us all with that incontrovertible DIAGRAM , over 3 million fucking years and all we got out of it was the invention of the bow and arrow - and its not even one of those really, really, cool Mongol horsemen bone and sinew mega powerful ones either. Shit... what a bummer. Let's all help the planet by ending it all......YOU FIRST !
fractionMan
Custom Title
that diagram is awesome
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
Just spotted An Invitation To Anarchy by the same author, who notes that:
It is tragic that the issue of population - the root cause of peak everything - has been deliberately avoided by governments, who have left this problem to the whims of unregulated corporate smash-n-grab, aka "the free market". After all, more people = more punters in the casino of crapitalism.
I think I can spot a problem with this argument - you're ascribing causal primacy to population expansion, whilst admitting that this is desirable for capitalists. The reality, it seems to me, is that the root cause isn't overpopulation - that's just another symptom (ignoring for now the debate there is to be had over whether we're overpopulated or resources are mismanaged) of the real problem - the way in which we allocate, and decide upon the use of, these scarce resources, namely capitalism itself. As a rough guide, standard of living is inversely proportional to population growth.Give poorer people a better standard of living and they won't reproduce as much. So capitalists have a dual incentive to keep the trend going - expanded markets (both labour and consumer) and to address it would mean redistributing their own power and wealth.
So no, despite your hatred of people and love for Malthus, the root problem isn't overpopulation. The root problem is the thing that causes overpopulation (that's why they call it a root problem).
And so to address this, assuming it's possible and we're not too far gone, we need to address the real, rather than the neo-Malthusian, root cause.
8ball
Maximum Facepalm
And an ice cream cone from the looks of things.
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
Plus, Mad Max 3 (the one with Tina Turner in it) is one of my favourite films. In the post-collapse world I can pretend to be Max 
Bring on the pigshit fuel
Bring on the pigshit fuel
All this doommongering neo-Malthusian bollocks is excellent for a laugh.. I just LOVE that diagram too ! I don't know how widespread this ideology is - away from the blogosphere... but it strikes me as a pathological belief system feeding off growing petty bourgeois craziness at the capitalist crisis - similar to the "overpopulation and Eugenics" ideology madness of the 20's and 30's. Remember... when the petty bourgeoisie go bonkers and start railing against "capitalism", its usually a prelude to them feeling the need for "big boots and crazy flags".
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