Fossil Fuel based growth has ended: This is the best place to learn about the future. In which localism prevails and power moves from the top-down to the grass-roots. Prosperity will decline and life will again be worth living.
Energy expert Art Berman’s latest blog post, “This is How Oil Ends,” provides a sobering analysis of the future of the oil industry, arguing that the end of oil as we know it is not a matter of if, but when. Berman, a renowned petroleum geologist, discusses the multiple factors converging to signal the decline …
Productivity growth in the U.K. has flatlined since the Global Financial Crisis and has now been reset to levels of growth not seen since the 1850s, a new report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Citi highlighted. I invited ChatGPT to imagine a future based on how things were in 1750. As …
In a world where the once-reliable rhythms of nature—spring rains, summer heat, autumn harvests—have been thrown into disarray, humanity will face an unprecedented challenge: learning to grow food without the guidance of seasons. The collapse of these natural cycles will disrupt farming and force a radical rethinking of how humans interact with the earth. In …
The UK is grappling with a deepening housing crisis driven by declining prosperity, increasing immigration, the effects of climate change, and an ageing population. The convergence of these factors puts immense pressure on housing supply and demand, making it harder to afford homes while existing properties fall into disrepair. To tackle this challenge, future housing …
I asked ChatGPT to update Thomas Hardy’s view of woodland life. This could be seen as the imagination of a stage in the transition into the post-grown future—or maybe where it ends. In Thomas Hardy’s The Woodlanders (1887), the rural landscape of Little Hintock is a world bound by nature and the rhythms of agricultural …
I have written this piece in anticipation of the UK’s possible collapse of financial and public service systems due to the current turmoil. ChatGPT has provided evidence of what is happening outside the UK. It should be seen as a prompt for discussion based on what is happening worldwide. When cities experience a shift from …
The UK is facing challenging times. The cost of living is rising, with higher energy bills, expensive food, and wages that aren’t keeping pace. What used to be everyday activities—like eating out or signing up for a new class—are becoming luxuries for many. As the formal economy, dependent on endless growth, shows signs of strain, …
ROAD PRICING: The Economic and Technical PossibilitiesReport of a Panel set up by theMinistry of TransportLONDON1964 FOREWORD by Dr. R. J. Smeed, Road Research Laboratory Economists have claimed that considerable net benefits could accrue to the nation if vehicle owners had to pay higher charges or taxes when they used congested roads than when they …
Focusing on Quality Over Quantity Will Change Our Lives In today’s world, it often feels like we’re all running a never-ending race. We’re told to work harder, earn more money, buy more stuff, and always be on the lookout for the next big thing. This is what most of us know as “materialism”—the idea that …
By Richard HeinbergWith his permission Download printable PDF version Humanity’s transition from relying overwhelmingly on fossil fuels to instead using alternative low-carbon energy sources is sometimes said to be unstoppable and exponential. A boosterish attitude on the part of many renewable energy advocates is understandable: overcoming people’s climate despair and sowing confidence could help muster …
Hideaway, a contributor to Tim Morgan’s blog points out that: We can’t mine, nor farm, nor gather fossil fuels the way we did 60 years ago, we already used up all those easy to get resources, we need the complex technology of 2024 to gather the much harder to obtain resources, all in a world …
MuseLetter #376 / July 2024 by Richard Heinberg Climate change is a huge, complicated problem. Therefore, many people have an understandable tendency to mentally simplify it by focusing on just one cause (carbon emissions) and just one solution (alternative energy). Sustainability scholar Jan Konietzko has called this “carbon tunnel vision.” Oversimplifying the problem this way …
Hosted by:The Club of RomeThe Council for the Human Future Roundtable on the Human FutureOnline, July 2024 Link to the Report Summary1.1 The Human Predicament Humanity is facing its greatest emergency, a crisis consisting of many, interlinked, catastrophic risks.The crisis is already here, and will get worse. Its combined scale and impact are so great …
All economic output (other than the supply of energy itself) is the product of surplus energy – whenever energy is accessed, some energy is always consumed in the access process, and surplus energy is what remains after the energy cost of energy (ECoE) has been deducted from the total (or ‘gross’) amount that is accessed.Tim …
21st June 2024 is World Localization Day. This film is being released to celebrate the day.