JHK’s Three-Act Play
KunstlerCast 253 – Yakking with Alice Friedemann of EnergySkeptic.com
Alice Friedemann insists she is not an academic, but publishes on a wide variety of contemporary scientific issues bearing on the fate of industrial civilization. She subscribes to a scenario that she calls the “fast crash.” She worked for 25 years as a systems architect and engineer in the corporate world, or “Dilbert-Land” as she calls it, before dropping out to write full time. Her science and economic essays can be found at her website: Energyskeptic.com. Alice is also a cookbook writer and blogger at the website Wholegrainalice.com She lives in Berkeley, California.
Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/kunstlercast/KunstlerCast_253.mp3
Please send questions and comments to letters@kunstler.com.
Thanks Jim,
Excellent interview with Alice Friedmann. Very well researched discussion. I have already bookmarked Energyskeptic.
Looks like an excellent resource for info.
academics sound as nutty as everybody else, letters do not impress me.
the whole protein allele thing was nutty. we need protein because that is what makes up meat, we are made of meat. quinoa is great replacement for meat on occasion. during world war the zoos in england had no meat to feed the lions so they were fed grains. they became more docile however i still would not feel safe around them.
dogs, like cats, were bred for certain dominant genes. the interesting thing about breeding genetics is that you are never sure what you will get, what will be expressed and what will stay hidden. it is an art.
a lot of stuff we do disappears seemingly overnight and most of us do not miss it. i will not miss driving four hours on highways. i will miss electricity. solar cells do not require full sun to make electricity. i am not really concerned about massive amounts of people dying because of ignorance and dependence on the state. i will not miss them. they usually are very unreasonable and defend the state right or wrong. the people who become violent are trying to sustain that which is unsustainable.
Good stuff. This is the first of the KunstlerCasts that I’ve listened to. I look forward to time traveling through the older ones.
That was a good one.
Would’ve listened all night if you two kept going.
Seems many females have much more common sense
than males, especially those in leadership positions.
Any chance of getting Lester Brown ?
She mentioned “peak sand”.
Where I live, sand is abundant at any gravel pit, and quite a few road cuts. There are huge seams of it in the ground. I don’t know about applications for semi-conductors, etc., but she is wrong about construction sand coming from the beach.
And sand is not necessary for most road construction. She is confusing it with the “fines” portion of a bituminous mix. You get the needed fines any time rock is crushed to make the gravel.
Just need the energy to keep all them machines going………
http://energyskeptic.com/2014/peak-sand/
Sand Primer:
Without sand, there would be no concrete, ceramics, computer chips, glass, plastics, abrasives, paint and so on
We can’t use desert sand because it’s too round, polished by the wind, and doesn’t stick together. You need rough edges, so desert sand is worthless
Good sand is getting so rare there’s an enormous amount of illegal mining in over 70 countries. In India the Sand Mafia is one of the most powerful, will kill for sand. It’s easy to steal sand and sell there.
This has led to between 75%-90% of beaches in the world receding and a huge amount of environmental damage.
By 2100 all beaches will be gone
Australia is selling sand to nations that don’t have any more (like the United Arab Emirates, who used all of their ocean sand to make artificial islands)
Sand is a big business, sales are $70 Billion a year
How Much Sand is needed?
200 tons Average house
3,000 tons Hospital or other large building
30,000 tons per kilometer of highway
12,000,000 tons Nuclear Power Plant (that’s equal to nearly 250 miles of highway)
Half of all sand is trapped behind the 845,000 dams in the world.
Gillis, J.R. November 4, 2014. Why Sand Is Disappearing. New York Times.
Go to NYT or above link to see the rest of this post
http://www.chem.shef.ac.uk/chm131-2003/cha03djh/where_silicon.html
2150 Celsius (°C)
=
72670 Fahrenheit (°F)
i believe only electrical furnaces can get that hot.
Geesh, that was bleak! But I guess that’s why I’ve been tuning into the Kunstler cast for the last half dozen years or so – to get a dose of apocalypse. The problem is that it hasn’t come to pass these long years that Jim has been forecasting it and lining up guests to support “his” world view.
Jim might be startled to realize that he, (and his latest guest), really have so much in common with Christian evangelicals describing how sinful, depraved and “fallen” the world really is, but in the case of Alice, in scientific detail. To live on this earth is to consume and produce waste – then we die and go to an ecological paradise.
I can’t help but think of Jim (and most of his guests) as being “counter-culture” and “anti-establishment”, i.e. a legacy and product of the 60’s and the age of being contrarian (for many good reasons), but it seems to persist as a way of life for many. “No, can’t shop at Walmart, because it’s run by “the man””. “Only old-tech is OK, because new-tech is run by “the man” who is lying to us”.
In the 70’s my dad had a few bins of whole grain wheat in the basement along with a grinder – waiting for the collapse… which hasn’t come. I’m not sayin’ that it will never come, but in the meantime a lot of cool things have come to pass.
But I do “enjoy” the perspective. Regards
“To live on this earth is to consume and produce waste”
Waste is a human product only, non-existent in the natural world.
Many say Malthus and Paul Erlich were wrong b/c their forecasts did not happened when they predicted (collapse of our species from overpopulation). It is far, far more difficult to predict then “when” than the “what”. Their only mistake was putting a time frame on their predictions.
You nailed that chipshot !
Matthew 25:13 – Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
… and one day the sun will flicker out and that will be the end. In the meantime…
The day humans started making tools and technology is the day the natural world started to be conquered. Believe me, you do not want to return to a ‘natural world’. For starters you’d have to get ride of the computer you’re reading this on… then your house, your heat/AC, your hospitals, your car, your literacy, your recreation, your job. Essentially, the ‘natural world’ does not include you, me and 7 billion of our closest friends.
Hi RickH ! We will not know the hour or day……but it will hit us like a ton of bricks. Keep looking for the good things in life but remember to duck. History packs a punch. Enjoy life friend.
I think Alice is a hoot ! Please have her on again. I am in the fast crash camp also. Mostly because I got on board with the energy crash crowd back in the late 60’s. Geology, not purple microdot folks !! The guy cleaning my car was building subdivisions back in 2006. Guy across the street is an under employed petrol geologist chew on that. Think he needs to attended online “U” & get a degree in massage therapy to get a job ? ” Mow your lawn Lady! ” will be everyone’s song soon. I have many friends dumping toys and such in 2014. Too many to think this is just a “Normal” year. Large ships turn slow. We had the largest ship of all. It will only feel fast. Fact is it has been going on for 40+ years. You can start your “Crash Calender” from the date we stopped exporting crude. 401K’s and the rest are just tricks to prop up a slow turning,slow sinking ship. QE infinity anyone?
Router, you may be confusing the waning fortunes of your area and perhaps the USA with that of the rest of the world. Much of what used to be call “the Third World” is experiencing rising standards of living, increased health & longevity and material prosperity like never before. That’s a good news story!
Alice’s websites:
http://energyskeptic.com/
http://wholegrainalice.com
Alice’s book:
http://www.amazon.com/Crunch-Whole-Grain-Artisan-Crackers/dp/148192267X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421254723&sr=1-1&keywords=crunch+friedemann
article mentioned:
“Old Sunlight vs Ancient Sunlight -An Analysis of Home Heating and Wood” Nate Hagens
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2683