Show threadDoomsdaysCW4d ago

Non-Fiction Trilogy of sorts - "#TheLimitsToGrowth; #PowerLimitsAndProspectsForHumanSurvival; and #EarthForAllASurvivalGuideForHumanity.

So, my copy of "The Limits To Growth" is a first edition from 1972, which I bought in a used book store in 1980. Whoever owned it before ("Denison") highlighted a bunch of stuff (the old school highlighters that don't fade), and put zig-zag lines around this paragraph: "In any finite system there must be constraints that can act to stop exponential growth. These constraints are negative feedback loops. The negative loops become stronger and stronger as growth approches the ultimate limit, or carrying capacity, of the system's environment. Finally, the negative loops balance or dominate the positive ones, and growth comes to an end. In the world system the negative feedback loops involve such processes as pollution of the environment, depletion of nonrenewable resources, and famine."

Fast forward to 2021, where one of the Limits To Growth authors, #DennisMeadows, describes #RichardHeinberg's "Power - Limits And Prospects for Human Survival" as "a powerful new way of understanding the historic rise and probable fall of our species. It is an impressive, sweeping, and thought-provoking narrative." Heinberg talks about how we got to where we are today (lots of history), but also offers solutions (like #Agroecology and #Degrowth).

Finally, "#EarthForAll - A Survival Guide For Humanity" -- which was a report to the #ClubOfRome, and a 50 year follow-up to Limits To Growth. This book is where I learned about the #GiantLeapScenario that we so need to survive as a species on a viable planet.

Limits To Growth influenced my thinking at a young age. "Power" explains how we went wrong, and "Earth For All" gives me hope for the future.

#Bookstodon #AmReading #History #DeGrowth #PowerStructures #ABetterWorldIsPossible #SolarPunkSunday #Earth4All #GiantLeap

DoomsdaysCWSep 21, 2025

Since we started #SolarPunkSunday early (yesterday), I'm going to re-post some of those toots, and then call it a day... Join us again next weekend!

Leaving you all with this piece from
#RichardHeinberg's Power and Prospects for Human Survival, 2021.

"Advice to Young People in the 21st Century

- Learn to grow food. Study permaculture.
- Learn to read people. You're going to need to know whether people in your vicinity are trustworthy.
- Be trustworthy. Otherwise smart and trustworthy people won't associate with you.
- Learn to express yourself clearly and persuasively.
- It is okay not to reproduce. There are already plenty of people in the world.
- Learn to make decisions by consensus and to work collaboratively. Be a person with whom others enjoy working.
- Lear to repair and use relatively simple technologies.
- Studying to be a computer programmer or hacker could pay off in the short run, but ove the longer term you'll benefit more from learning to fix farming and construction tools and small engines. Learn to make spare parts from junk.
- Learn how energy works. be able to identify sources of energy in your environment and find ways to harness that energy to do useful work.
- Learn to defend yourself. Sadly, for the remainder of this century the world is likely to be a more violent place. Even if that turns out not to be the case, martial arts can still be useful paths of self-discipline.
- Learn to heal the human body via nutrition, herbs and basic emergency care.
- Learn to recognize the subjective effects f sex hormones, dopamine, and other brain chemicals, and find ways to override those effects when they threated to push you off course. Instead, channel their effects to help achieve goals.
- Learn about nature. memorize the names of local plants, birds and insects, and observe their habits. Learn to be more comfortable in the wild.
- Learn how to produce beauty via art, music, or movement, and how to engage others in creative, celebratory activities.
- Learn to emotionally process trauma and grief, and to help others do so. Learn when and how to use humor to release tension.
No one can do it all, but do your best."

#SolarPunkSunday #LoTech #GrowYourOwn #BuildingCommunity #DIY #Permaculture #RightToRepair

DoomsdaysCWSep 17, 2025

So, I've been reading "Power - Limits and Prospects for Human Survival" by Richard Heinberg (a recommendation from someone here). Wow! I found some great quotes to share in the near future. TY to whoever recommended it!

#LimitsToGrowth #RichardHeinberg #AmReading #Bookstodon #SolarPunkSunday #History #Futurism

Steady State ManchesterAug 27, 2025

A typically cogent piece from Richard Heinberg.
Good to see this emphasis on the #bioregion as the appropriate scale to think about the (post #collapse) future. We've always emphasised this too, see thread to follow.

Bioregioning Is Our Future - resilience https://www.resilience.org/stories/2025-08-27/bioregioning-is-our-future/
#Resilience #RichardHeinberg #permaculture #SimplerWay

Bioregioning Is Our Future

Humanity soon will be returning to low-power ways of organizing itself. And in our new age of tariff wars, the tide is already turning from global to regional in trade, investment, and politics. What has seemed impossible may soon become obviously necessary to larger numbers of people.

resilience
Show threadStrypeyJun 6, 2025

"Mostly, people in government, and people in say, the banking sector and in the financial industries, are completely clouded in their view by the apparent necessity of maintaining economic growth. They simply cannot imagine a future in which economic growth does not continue, and I think that really is an extraordinary hindrance to their being able to really engage honestly with these kinds of issues."

#RichardHeinberg, 2017

https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/greening-the-apocalypse/episodes/2430-greening-the-apocalypse-6-june-2017

#growth #EconomicGrowth

Podcasts: Greening the Apocalypse - 6 June 2017, Greening the Apocalypse — Triple R 102.7FM, Melbourne Independent Radio

This is the second and final part of our conversation with Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow with the Post Carbon Institute and regarded as one of the world's foremost advocates for a shift away…

StrypeyJun 6, 2025

"So, if we want to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, it's going to require our manufacturing an enormous number of PV panels and wind turbines. We're going to have to make that transition something like 10 times the current rate at which we're introducing renewable energy infrastructure."

#RichardHeinberg, 2017

https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/greening-the-apocalypse/episodes/2430-greening-the-apocalypse-6-june-2017

#podcasts #RRR #GreeningTheApocalypse #RenewableEnergy #PealOil #FossilFuels

Podcasts: Greening the Apocalypse - 6 June 2017, Greening the Apocalypse — Triple R 102.7FM, Melbourne Independent Radio

This is the second and final part of our conversation with Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow with the Post Carbon Institute and regarded as one of the world's foremost advocates for a shift away…

Shaun ChamberlinAug 23, 2024
An outstanding piece by #RichardHeinberg on what a sane response to our energy/climate realities would look like:
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-08-22/what-would-a-real-renewable-energy-transition-look-like/
What Would a Real Renewable Energy Transition Look Like?

But we all need to understand: this is a fight for survival in which cooperation and sacrifice are required, just as in total war. Until we feel that level of shared urgency, there will be no real energy transition, and little prospect for a desirable human future.

resilience
Show threadMark BurtonAug 22, 2024
@degrowthuk It's a really good clear article. Much of it is similar to analyses by Antonio Turiel and Jorge Riechmann but it's less dense, more punchy.
Hard truths on the #EnergyTransition.
As I write, a mix of wood and petrochemical products are being added to our attic to improve insulation. A microcosm of the  materials investment needed to make the transition. What we could call the #DecarbonisationParadox
#RichardHeinberg
Mark BurtonAug 22, 2024
@degrowthuk It's a really good clear article. Much of it is similar to analyses by Antonio Turiel and Jorge Riechmann but it's less dense, more punchy.
Hard truths on the #EnergyTransition.
As I write, a mix of wood and petrochemical products are being added to our attic to improve insulation. A microcosm of the materials investment needed to make the transition. What we could call the #DecarbonisationParadox
#RichardHeinberg
molosovsky 🐿✊💗Aug 5, 2023

Ich mag #RichardHeinberg|s (Post Carbon Institute) vier Wege des Untergangs:

1—Auf Wundermittel warten: Wunschdenken, trügerische Hoffnungen, Verdrängung.

2—Letzte auf den Beinen: Gerangel um die verbleibenden Ressourcen.

3—Runterfahren: Zusammenarbeit, Bewahrung und Teilen.

4—Rettungsboote bauen: Gemeinschaft, Solidarität und Erhaltung.

Entdeckt in »I Want A #BetterCatastrophe« von #AndrewBoyd.