Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CXVI
Another Nice Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into
April 4, 2023 (original posting date)
Another Nice Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into
My comment on The Honest Sorcerer’s latest writing that looks at why nuclear energy will not and cannot address our energy needs/wants.
Another great piece of writing that outlines yet again the difficulties that lay before us.
I am reminded of the Laurel and Hardy often-used quote “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into”
We keep jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire in our attempts to solve intractable ‘problems’, never understanding that our ‘solutions’ are creating ever more complex and difficult — if not impossible — to address problems.
That we continue to deny reality, bargain with our future, and rationalise away anxiety-provoking thoughts is not at all surprising given human cognitive and psychological proclivities.
And it’s also not very surprising, given the way complex societies with their power and wealth structures are organised, that the dominant story-telling apes amongst us are pushing the propaganda that industrial-based technologies are the preferred ‘solution’ to our ecological overshoot predicament — although they’re framing the situation as a ‘solvable’ carbon-based fuel problem that avoids some inconvenient and counter-factual realities, especially that all these ‘solutions’ depend upon LOTS of fossil fuels and ecologically-destructive processes. For it is our ruling caste that owns/controls the production industries necessary to create all these technologies, as well as the financial institutions required to fund it all.
It all seems part of another grand narrative that serves to sustain their revenue streams while, secondarily, helping to maintain societal control via the carrot of ‘hope’ lest the plebeians come to understand better their plight and all hell breaks loose — at least for a little while longer while the elite extend and consolidate their wealth and very likely prepare for the inevitable ‘collapse’ on the horizon.
I too have advocated for the sensible ‘dismantling’ of our various ‘problematic’ complexities such as nuclear power plants and their waste products, biosafety labs and their dangerous pathogens, chemical production and storage facilities and their highly-toxic materials, etc., especially given the quickly diminishing resources available to do this — especially energy.
I am, however, quickly losing any remaining belief that this is remotely achievable given we seem to be doing the exact opposite by chasing the perpetual growth chalice evermore desperately as diminishing returns on our investments in complexity quicken in their Seneca cliff-type way.
If you’ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).
Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running).
If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing.
Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99
Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps…
https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US
If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.
You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially Catton’s Overshoot and Tainter’s Collapse: see here.
It Bears Repeating: Best Of…Volume 1
A compilation of writers focused on the nexus of limits to growth, energy, and ecological overshoot.
With a Foreword and Afterword by Michael Dowd, authors include: Max Wilbert; Tim Watkins; Mike Stasse; Dr. Bill Rees; Dr. Tim Morgan; Rob Mielcarski; Dr. Simon Michaux; Erik Michaels; Just Collapse’s Tristan Sykes & Dr. Kate Booth; Kevin Hester; Alice Friedemann; David Casey; and, Steve Bull.
The document is not a guided narrative towards a singular or overarching message; except, perhaps, that we are in a predicament of our own making with a far more chaotic future ahead of us than most imagine–and most certainly than what mainstream media/politics would have us believe.
Click here to access the document as a PDF file, free to download.