What I've Been Reading, July 2017

Squirrel hanging upside down
while picking and eating mulberries in our backyard.

Links

These links appear in the order I read them, rather than any more refined sort of organization. You may find some of the best ones are near the bottom—it varies from month to month.

• "From Horrific To Catastrophic": Court Ruling Sends Illinois Into Financial Abyss, by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
  
• Museletter #296: The Peak Oil President?, by Richard Heinberg, Museletter
  
• 2016 Tight Oil Reality Check, by David Hughes, Post Carbon Institute
  
• Here's How NASA Thinks Society Will Collapse, by Alex Brown, The Atlantic
  Too much inequality and too few natural resources could leave the West vulnerable to a Roman Empire-style fall.
• Trump’s Coal Delusions, by Richard Heinberg, Resilience/Post Carbon Institute
  In all likelihood, our real future lies elsewhere—with distributed renewable energy and a planned substantial reduction in overall energy usage through efficiency measures and a redesign of the economy. The inevitable transition away from fossil fuels will constitute a big job, and it only gets bigger, harder, and more costly the longer we delay it. Claiming that it makes sense to return to coal at this late date is delusional for economic as well as environmental reasons.
• Scientists Sharply Rebut Influential Renewable-Energy Plan , by James Temple, MIT Technolgoy Review
  Nearly two dozen researchers critique a proposal for wind, solar, and water power gaining traction in policy circles.
  And of course we will eventually switch over to entirely renewable energy. But it will entail a significant decline in energy use, population and the level of technology we can support. Some of us call it collapse.
• How Renewable Energy Advocates are Hurting the Climate Cause , by Paul McDivitt, Resilience.
  Read the comments, too--some good material there.
• Yes Virginia, We Really Did Land On The Moon, by C. Stuart harwick.
  Debunking anti-science nonsense--love it!
• In praise of cash, by Brett Scott, Aeon.
  "Cash might be grungy, unfashionable and corruptible, but it is still a great public good, important for rich and poor alike." Especially for the poor, I'd say.
• Fear of radiation is more dangerous than radiation itself, by David Ropeik, Aeon.
  
• The Truth About Glyphosate and Wheat, by Sarah Shultz, Nurse Loves Farmer
  
• Good news: There is no honeybee crisis, by Margaret Wente, The Globe and mail.
• In defence of hierarchy,, by along list of authros, Aeon
  
• Minds, Machines and Evolution, Daniel Dennet, interviewed on Living on Earth.
  Only a brief mention, but apparently Daniel things there is a good chance of a technological crash.
• ‘The Planet Could Become Ungovernable’, James Hansen interviewed by David Wallace-Wells, New York Magazine.
  Climate Scientist James Hansen on Obama’s Environmental Record, Scientific Reticence, and His Climate Lawsuit Against the Federal Government
• "Canada Is In Serious Trouble" Again, And This Time It's For Real, by Tuler Durden, Zero Hedge
• The economics of enough, by Dan O'Neill at TEDxOxbridge.
  There aren't many TED talks that impress me. This one comes close. I suspect though, that the speaker's idea of "enough" would have his suggested steady state economy settle out at a considerable higher level that is actually possible.
• Brace for the Oil, Food and Financial Crash of 2018, by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, Insurge Intelligence
• Global Oil Fields in Decline (HSBC), by Kim Fustier and Gordon Gray, HSBC
  
• An Insider's View: The Dark Rigidity of Fundamentalist Rural America , by Forsetti's Justice, Alternet
  In deep-red white America, the white Christian God is king.
• Lark or night owl? Blame your ancestors, by Helen Briggs, BBC News
• Why Capitalism is Just Shitbag Science, by Holly Wood PhD, Medium
• What not to do in a disaster, by Zaria Gorvett, BBC
  This speaks to the first few seconds or minutes of a disaster. I am a little afraid it may perpetuate some of the standard disaster myths. For debunking of those, see the link below.
• Disaster Mythology and Fact: Hurricane Katrina and Social Attachment, by Binu Jacob, MPH, Anthony R. Mawson, MA, DrPH, Marinelle Payton, MD, PhD, MS, MPH, and John C. Guignard, MB, ChB [Edin], FErgSd, National Library of Medicine.
  Distaster myths debunked, note especially myths 4 and 5.
• Researchers have been underestimating the cost of wind and solar , by Gail Tverberg, Our Finite World
• Do More! What Amazon Teaches Us About AI and the “Jobless Future”, by Tim O'Reilly, WTF on Medium
  Some good points, but still misses the idea of dwindling surplus energy and economic contraction.
• Canada’s Secret to Resisting the West’s Populist Wave, by Amanda Taub, Thew Interpreter, The New York Times
• Why Canada Is Able to Do Things Better, by Jonathan Kay, The Atlantic.
  Most of the country understands that when it comes to government, you pay for what you get.
• How could we cope if capitalism failed? Ask 26 Greek factory workers, by Adita Chakrbortty.
• The Great Recovery of America’s Infrastructure: Cancelled , by Tom Lewis, The Daily Impact
• What Can India Teach Us About Abolishing High-Value Currency?, by Julie McCarthy, NPR Parallels
  
• Moral Foundations
  Moral Foundations Theory was created by a group of social and cultural psychologists to understand why morality varies so much across cultures yet still shows so many similarities and recurrent themes. In brief, the theory proposes that several innate and universally available psychological systems are the foundations of “intuitive ethics.” Each culture then constructs virtues, narratives, and institutions on top of these foundations, thereby creating the unique moralities we see around the world, and conflicting within nations too.

Books

Fiction

• A Meeting in Corvallis, by S.M.Stirling
  
• Planetfall, by Emma Newman
  I was a little disappointed by the ending.
• Bowl of Heaven, by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven
  The start of a two book series.
• Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer, Harper Collins
  Overall rating of 4 stars on Amazon.com and lucky to get it.
• Shipstar, by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven.
  The second and concluding book in this series.

Non-Fiction

• The Scoop on Poop, by Dan Chiras, New Society Publishers
  
• Sustainable Materials, without the hot air, by J. M. Allwood & J. M. Cullen
  Making buildings, vehicles and products efficiently and with less new material.
  Excellent book. And a few years ago I read the one below:
• Sustainable Energy without the hot air, by David J. C. MacKay
  The only complaint I have about this book is that, while the author is very solid technically, he seems to be unaware of the connection between surplus energy and the economy. As a result he makes some suggestions that appear to be technically feasible, but which would be disasters for the economy. Involving low EROEI energy sources, of course.