I’ll be taking a short break for Christmas but will be back for Saturday’s climate thread. Happy Holidays to all in the meantime, and thank you so much to the subscribers and donors who make this site possible. 🎄
Huge thanks to this month’s donor, who wishes to remain anonymous but has asked me to post a link to this poem by their friend, Arthur L Wood. I’m no great shakes when it comes to literary criticism but I was moved by its tenderness and honesty, and heartily recommend giving it a listen.
“‘Borrowed time’: crop pests and food losses supercharged by climate crisis…
“Researchers said the world was lucky to have so far avoided a major shock and was living on borrowed time, with action needed to diversify crops and boost natural predators of pests… Global heating is helping insects such as aphids, planthoppers, stem borers, caterpillars and locusts thrive.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/20/crop-pests-food-losses-climate-crisis
“Based on the 11-year running mean (and on Earth’s Energy Imbalance), the near-term rate of warming could turn out much higher than the linear 2010-2025 extrapolation.
“The next El Niño peak will be very informative… Based on [Jim Hansen’s latest] extrapolation we are now at +1.5°C and the world will reach +2.0°C of global warming around 2035. [Leon Simons]
https://x.com/LeonSimons8/status/2002750698447131062
“Monday ice update – Arctic sea ice extent is currently the *lowest* on record (JAXA data):
• about 640,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,220,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 1,780,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,140,000 km² below the 1980s mean” [Zack Labe]
https://bsky.app/profile/zacklabe.com/post/3malgwqesm22e
“The Arctic Is Chemically Transforming, and It’s Speeding Up Climate Change.
“…the researchers identified three major findings. They determined that gaps in sea ice, known as leads, play a major role in shaping atmospheric chemistry and cloud development. They also found that emissions from oil extraction significantly change the chemical makeup of the surrounding air. Together, these influences create feedback processes…”
https://scitechdaily.com/the-arctic-is-chemically-transforming-and-its-speeding-up-climate-change/
“This year is on course to be the UK’s hottest since records began, according to the Met Office, as climate change continues to drive temperatures to new heights.
“With just over a week still to go, the average UK air temperature across 2025 is on track to end up at about 10.05C.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgjzpglw4yo
“‘Year of octopus’ declared after warmer seas lead to record UK numbers…
“Warmer winters, which are linked to climate change, are thought to be responsible for the population spike, which is known as a “bloom”. The charity’s findings are backed up by official figures which show that more than 1,200 tonnes of octopus was caught by fishermen in UK waters in the summer of 2025.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c709gz3k9k9o
“Snow at mid elevation will no longer be a thing of the 21st century!
“Andermatt (UR, central Swiss Alps, 1500 m above sea level) 22 Dec. 2025 …7 cm!” 😱 [Melaine Le Roy]
https://x.com/subfossilguy/status/2003190395820466310
“Spanish villagers devastated by forest fire win €468m in lottery prizes.
“When the village of La Bañeza in Castilla y León was engulfed in one of the worst forest fires in Spanish history, the rain came too late to save it. But now the Christmas lottery has showered its 10,000 inhabitants with hundreds of millions of euros.”
“Paphos [Cyprus] buried in hail as storms trigger Fire Service recall.
“Torrential rain and vicious hailstorms battered Paphos on Sunday afternoon, transforming coastal landscapes into white winter scenes. The deluge forced the Paphos Fire Station to recall off-duty personnel and establish emergency flood units to handle a surge in distress calls.”
https://in-cyprus.philenews.com/local/paphos-buried-in-hail-as-storms-trigger-fire-service-recall/
“Land, Climate, and Conflict: Unravelling the Nexus in Sudan, Syria, and Morocco.
“Droughts compounding with poor governance frameworks fuelled underlying ethnic grievances and horizontal inequalities to spark violence… climate change indirectly concocted a mindset of nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
“Record heat in Africa – minimums >27C [80.6F] in Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast. December record in Kumasi, Ghana with a Min 25.6C.
“Next week a historic heat wave will see maxes around 40C between Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2002718484506247473
“Western Cape firefighting resources under strain as wildfire season costs surpass R2.4m [South Africa].
“Firefighters resources across the Western Cape are under severe pressure as the province battles an unusually active wildfire season, with aerial firefighting deployments already exceeding R2.4 million this season.”
“Flash floods wreak havoc on KZN South Coast, disaster teams deployed.
“The intense rainfall, which began at around 16:30 pm on Sunday, December 21, 2025, caused widespread damage to roads, commercial properties, and shopping centres, including the Shelly Centre… However, significant damage has been recorded to both public and private infrastructure…”
“Over 100 families displaced as devastating hailstorm wreaks havoc in uMshwathi.
“A powerful hailstorm struck the uMshwathi Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Sunday, leaving a trail of damage and displacing more than 100 people. The storm affected large parts of the municipality…”
“Warming may make tropical cyclone ‘seeds’ riskier for Africa.
“An existing body of research indicates that climate change is making tropical cyclones wetter and more powerful. Now, a new study is indicating the same thing may be happening to the precursors of these storms: the wet weather systems that sometimes give rise to destructive hurricanes and often cause hazardous rain and flooding.”
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-tropical-cyclone-seeds-riskier-africa.html
“Record heat in KENYA:
“Scorching hot night on the coast with Minimums up to 27.2C [81F] at Malindi (well known tourist resort town): hottest December night in history. Every single tropical country has been breaking hot nights records.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2002324456392552478
“Drought threatens Babylon’s fig trees: A tree for people, bees, and bulbul songbirds.
“The fig harvest season usually begins in mid-June and runs through the end of October. This year, however, production has fallen dramatically compared to previous seasons. Many orchards have dried out entirely, and surface irrigation has largely disappeared, leaving farmers dependent on groundwater alone.”
“Urmia: From a Permanent Lake to a Seasonal Basin [Iran]…
“…field surveys indicate that Lake Urmia has lost its status as a permanent lake. It has effectively become a seasonal water body, appearing during limited rainy months and returning to near-complete dryness by summer.”
https://jinhaagency.com/en/ecology/urmia-from-a-permanent-lake-to-a-seasonal-basin-38201
“Himachal records driest December ever, zero rainfall raises concern for crops and tourism.
“The extended dry weather, coupled with a rise in minimum temperatures, has begun to affect agricultural activity. Sowing of Rabi crops such as wheat, barley, mustard, peas and gram has been delayed. Observers also point out that warmer nights could reduce the chilling hours required for a healthy apple crop.”
“Who controls the Himalayas’ water?
“China has started construction of what will become the world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibetan territory… The Motuo Hydropower Station is located in The Himalayan plateau – often described as the world’s “third pole”. It stores immense quantities of ice and snow that feed hundreds of rivers downstream in countries like India and Pakistan.”
https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/who-controls-the-himalayas-water
“Water crisis threatens food security in Barind region [Bangladesh].
“Food security is under threat in the Barind region as water scarcity continues to worsen in Rajshahi, Naogaon, and Chapainawabganj, turning vast areas increasingly arid. Declining rainfall, rising temperatures, and a sharp fall in groundwater levels have created a critical situation…”
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/399278/water-crisis-threatens-food-security-in-barind
“HISTORIC HEAT WAVE IN EAST ASIA – never happened anything like this, this time of the year:
“31C [87.8F] in CHINA; 22.5C Seogwipo SOUTH KOREA – record December heat; minimums up to 18C in Korean Peninsula; In NORTH KOREA Records December warmest night pulverized everywhere… Oma JAPAN tied its high max. December record in the middle on the night and on the 21st: crazy.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2002363359522664625
“Winter could disappear, heat waves may triple if we don’t mend our ways, Korea’s climate agency data suggests.
“…winter’s duration is expected to shrink from 107 days to just 40 days by the late 21st century — less than half of its current length nationwide. In Seoul alone, the number of winter days is forecast to contract even more sharply, from 102 days to only 12.”
“Flash floods cause widespread damage in Indonesia’s Guci hot spring tourist area…
“The flash flood had damaged several supporting infrastructures in the tourist area, said Abdul Muhari, the Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center, in a statement on Monday, December 22.”
“Southeast Asian floods set to threaten more wildlife due to climate change.
“As climate change fuels more frequent floods and storms across Southeast Asia, forests and wildlife are being pushed to their breaking point, with conservationists and scientists warning of a worsening impact on ecosystems due to a lack of oversight and countermeasures.”
“Flash flooding fears as severe storms hammer Queensland.
“Severe thunderstorms, flash flooding and heatwave conditions are bearing down on parts of southern Queensland today, while a monsoon trough threatens to unleash a deluge in the state’s north.”
“Exceptional warmth in AUSTRALIA; High Minimums records broken with up to 3C margin
“28.8 [83.8F] Tocal all time record; 26.7 Cessnock; 25.7 Williamtown; 25.2 Coorangbong; 25.1 Gosford; 24.1 Sydney Harbour; 23.7 Kembla; 23.2 Bellambi.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2002967337666781210
“Australia Poised for Desalination Boom as Water Shortages Loom…
“The world’s driest inhabited continent is projected to build or expand 11 desalination plants worth more than A$23 billion ($15 billion) over the next 10 years, according to a research report by Dominic McNally at Oxford Economics.”
“While December started with record heat and up to 34C, cold has returned in NEW ZEALAND in the past few days.
“In the South Island temperatures dropped close to freezing at low elevations: 0.6C [33.1F] Lauder; 1.2C Tara Hills; 2.3C Timaru etc. Just a couple of degrees from cold records.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2002777371179635043
“West Antarctica’s history of rapid melting foretells sudden shifts in continent’s ‘catastrophic’ geology….
“The biggest changes happened along the coast. The model simulations show a rapid increase in iceberg production and a dramatic retreat of the edge of the ice sheet toward the Ellsworth Mountains. The Amundsen Sea became choked with icebergs produced from all directions.”
“Argentina Glaciers Protest.
“Activists hold up a banner that reads in Spanish, “Without glaciers, there’s no water” during a protest against a bill proposed by President Javier Milei to reform the country’s glacier protection law and ease restrictions on resource exploitation in front of Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025.”
“Rainfall of up to 100mm [4 inches] in less than 30 minutes floods city in Rio Grande do Sul [Brazil].
“On the afternoon of this Monday (22), several points in the municipality of Frederico Westphalen, in Rio Grande do Sul, were flooded after intense rain occurred in the region. The precipitation started at 4 pm and accumulated up to 100 millimeters in just 30 minutes in some places.”
“The Amazon enters 2026 carrying the bitter taste of compromise.
“…in 2025, the true battle for the rainforest was fought far from the Blue Zone. In the quiet shadows, powerful political forces moved to roll back environmental protections in Brazil (which holds 64% of the rainforest), successfully passing the anti-conservation bills and green-lighting critical infrastructure projects.”
“It’s hard to conceive a more extreme North America than this: abnormal warmth in most of USA/Mexico and Greenland and persistent harsh cold in most of Canada squeezed in between.
“20 stations above freezing in GREENLAND; Mexico >97F/36C in the North, South, East and West.” [Extreme Temps]
“To help illustrate the insane gradient in North America Monday I added a couple of numbers:
“76 in Denver wasn’t even the national high. That was 90 in Hidalgo TX. Braeburn was indeed the NA low. (These are actual temps, not feels like). The -68F in Braeburn was Canada’s coldest temp since 1999.” [Jeff Berardelli]
https://x.com/WeatherProf/status/2003339084748701704
“EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN THE US:
“Dozens of December records pulverized in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas etc. Some examples: TX: 85 Lubbock, 83 Amarillo, CO: 83 Springfield, 79 Wray, 79 Yuma… In Colorado records were broken locally by 4/5F… Historic heat also in NEBRASKA; Dozens of records for December including 80F Thedford.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2003285365688598677
“Salt Lake City is on pace for its warmest December since at least the late 1800s, when tracking began, said Monica Traphagan, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Salt Lake City office.
““We’re on track to shatter the record,” Traphagan said, adding that average temperatures this December are about 2 degrees higher than the previous record, set in 1917 at an average of about 42 degrees.”
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/12/22/slc-track-warmest-december-record/
“Evacuation orders issued in Colorado due to wildfire.
“Boulder County Sheriff’s Office posted an alert on their Facebook telling all residents that live near Four Mile Canyon to evacuate the area as soon as possible. First responders responded to the 700 block of Wild Turkey Lane.”
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/evacuation-orders-were-issued-boulder-county-amid-wildfire
“The Colorado River is on the verge of crisis. No one has a solution…
“If the states fail to reach an agreement, the dispute could devolve into lawsuits that many consider a dire scenario, leaving farmers and cities with little certainty about how much water they may receive year to year.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/12/22/colorado-river-water-crisis/
“Massive rainfall totals are really starting to pile up in Northern California, with up to 21 inches falling in the Northern Sierra Nevada over the past 72 hours.
“Lake Oroville has risen nearly 20 feet since the rain began just a few days ago.” [Colin McCarthy].”
https://x.com/US_Stormwatch/status/2003159646803230986
“One dead in California floods as state braces for brutal week of Christmas storms…
““[The] city of Redding is very concerned about rain Tuesday to Friday having bigger impacts [than] what we experienced last night … Today is a good day to prepare, as we know more rain is coming,” Littau wrote on Facebook.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/22/california-storms-flooding-atmospheric-river
“Washington officials issue frightening alert about toilet rats after historic floods…
“Seattle and King County public health officials… suggest if a homeowner does have a run-in with a rat, to stay calm, shut the toilet and try to flush the rodent. If that does not work, squirt dish soap into the toilet. The soap will help slide the rat down the septic system when flushed. It may take a few times before the creature is gone.”
“An ecosystem never forgets: Extreme heat and drought responses linked to hydrological memory…
“Southwestern China’s highlands system offered scientists a chance to study the ways a sensitive ecosystem reacted to both a once-in-a-century drought and an exceptional heat wave… They discovered a distinct “personality switch” in the way the ecosystem responded to the second event versus the first.”
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ecosystem-extreme-drought-responses-linked.html
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You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back on 27th December with another “Climate” thread.
My local library recently got in three collapse related books, one possibly at my suggestion but they might have been planning on buying it anyway: “Goliath’s Curse” by Luke Kemp – long but an easy read, better than Harari’s book that covered similar grounds, “The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire” by Henry Gee – short but excellent until the final hopium chapter, and “How the World Ran Out of Everything” by Peter Goodman – an economist so lots of human exceptionalism among the good bits.
Unless there is a upbeat ending to a collapse related book it seems it probably won’t get published. That was almost explicitly stated in the acknowledgements page for Henry Gee’s book. After carefully describing all the ways civilisation and humanity itself aren’t going to last much longer he added, at the “suggestion” of his agent or publisher, a Hollywood ending chapter, which reads almost like satire, on how we are all going to move to space colonies and thrive for evermore.
The last third of Kemp’s book is about our current predicament and imminent collapse. The first two thirds are histories of past collapses (and easily the best parts). His central theme is how collapses are accelerated by hierarchies and wealth inequalities, and these are concentrated in urban societies which therefore are most susceptible to, and fare much worse in, a collapse. We are about as urbanised as has ever been seen, highly hierarchical and with large and growing inequalities everywhere, and there are any number of immediate collapse drivers. Optimism would be a bit delusional after that conclusion. (It’s also fair to say that even in rural and wilderness areas collapse is still horrendous, even if shorter lived.)
There is less hopium than I expected, although his epilogue consists of a series of “all we need to do is …” imperatives with no suggestions of how to achieve them, except that they are, apparently, easy and no recognition that we are currently doing the exact opposite in every case.
p.s. I’m only part way through the third book (heavier going so far).
“Optimism would be a bit delusional after that conclusion.”
George, Nate Hagens interviewed Luke Kemp quite recently. I think Luke knows exactly where all this is headed, but he wants to make a moral crusade of it, stick it to the evil oil company execs etc.
I have so many half-read books scattered about my bedroom. Really must try to be more disciplined with the reading in 2026.
“I am not sure how much longer anything will work.”
– Heather B
Heather was talking about flooding but it applies to everything. It’s mind-boggling.
Pano, thanks for all your work, I hope you and all our C&E crew have a great holiday break. I bought you a coffee this morning, I wish I could do more.
Yeah agreed
Thank you Pan
You are welcome. And thank you for the coffee, Flippr. Much appreciated. ☕
“Climate causes war.” It is an appealing, tidy explanation. Too tidy. A closer look shows that conflicts rarely begin with rain or drought, but with paperwork: laws, permits, dam projects, and maps on which centuries-old rights are quietly erased.
The interesting essay on Sudan, Syria, and Morocco makes this uncomfortably clear. Its core argument is deceptively simple: climate change is not a direct cause of conflict, but a multiplier. Whether drought actually turns into violence depends on something far more mundane: how land and water are governed — or, more precisely, misgoverned.
Sudan and Syria are often cited as textbook cases of the climate–conflict nexus. In Darfur, the advancing desert was blamed. In Syria, an exceptional drought was said to have lit the fuse. But beneath both narratives lies the same structural rupture. Traditional land and water regimes, which for centuries mitigated conflict through local agreements between farmers and herders, were replaced by centralized state legislation. Land became state property; water a technical management issue. Local mediation vanished just as ecological pressure intensified. Only then did drought push these hollowed-out systems into violent collapse.
Morocco offers a revealing counterexample. Droughts are frequent there too, and water scarcity is severe. Yet civil war did not follow. Not because the climate is kinder, but because land and water governance remained comparatively robust. Investments in irrigation, clear tenure rules, and adaptive agricultural policies acted as shock absorbers. Climate stress was managed before it became politically explosive.
Once this pattern is visible, it appears everywhere. In Iran around the shrinking Lake Urmia. In Central Asia around the Aral Sea. The script is strikingly consistent: megadams, massive irrigation schemes, and state planning that treats fossil groundwater as if it were renewable. Ancient qanat systems, local canals, and communal water rights are ignored or dismantled. Rivers are diverted, lakes vanish, soils turn saline. Migration, poverty, and protest follow — only to be reframed as security problems.
The real fault line is not between wet and dry, but between adaptive local governance and technocratic hubris. Megadams are rarely neutral infrastructure. They are instruments of power, redistributing water, land, and future prospects — typically away from rural regions and peripheries, toward the state and the city.
Climate change does not ignite conflict; it stress-tests societies. Where land and water rights remain intact, communities endure drought. Where they have been dismantled, climate change becomes political dynamite. Anyone serious about preventing conflict would do well to speak less about temperature and more about ownership, law, and governance. Wars do not begin in the clouds, but in decisions about who controls the ground beneath our feet.
“Climate change does not ignite conflict; it stress-tests societies.”
This is beautifully put, Zip. Re Morocco, the recent, unfortunately lethal, rainfall has given them a small reprieve from their multi-year drought:
“Morocco’s Dams Reach 33.6% Capacity After Recent Rains. Regional imbalances, rising demand from cities and agriculture, and unpredictable rainfall patterns continue to test Morocco’s water security.”
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/12/272686/moroccos-dams-reach-33-6-capacity-after-recent-rains/
Trump playing schoolyard bully with Venezuelan oil tankers is theater, not a “regime shift in sanctions enforcement”
@onechancefreedm
When he does it to a Russian or Iranian tanker, give me call.
This is just Trump doing Housewives of Caracas.
https://x.com/aeberman12/status/2002947719313375554
He has no balls.
Regardless of Trump’s balls, US policy is shifting back to radical interventionism in what they consider to be “their” backyard. The post 90s “soft power” hegemony over supine Latin American regimes via NGOs and similar orgs is deteriorating and that will accelerate along with collapse itself.
A Furore with no balls building a ballroom with no funds.
But a depraved Commander-in-Chief with a hair up it’s Caracas who washes his hands of blame for the erratic DOW (dept of War, in this case) under his command is a very dangerous thing indeed.
The post yesterday about Russian flagged tankers does cut both ways. It does remove and “shadow” of its movement, however I don’t think the US has the balls to confiscate a Russian flagged tankers from Venezuela.
Art Berman never a man to mince words… It seems that Trump’s roving eye is once again fixed on Greenland:
“Trump doubles down on claim that US must take over Greenland for national security: ‘We’ll have to work it all out’… Over the weekend, Trump announced that Louisiana governor Jeff Landry will serve as a special envoy to the island territory.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-greenland-envoy-annex-national-security-b2889360.html
Orange man or Orangutan ? To be or not to be ?
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/us-shifts-additional-stealth-jets-troops-caribbean-gunboat-diplomacy-itensifie
https://x.com/aeberman12/status/2003817736833753550
Elmer Fudd is incharge .
https://x.com/aeberman12/status/2002232243918680389
Thanks for another year of collapse news Pan, and I wish you and everyone else here at C&E a very merry Christmas or whatever else you’re celebrating. And a happy new year. See you in 2026, which will almost certainly be worse than 2025 but Captain Panopticon will be here to steer us through the chaos and catastrophe ahead. Cheers!
Yes of course that slipped my mind:) Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas season. And my special thanks to Pan, who struggles every day through all the ‘misery’ and at the same time keeps us nicely informed and shows connections between continents, countries and events that I would otherwise never have seen, which is very valuable at the end of ‘an era’
Thank you, both, for the kind words and a very Happy Christmas to all readers and commenters.
I hope you’ll forgive me posting this rather schmaltzy Christmas track by Chris Rea, but I liked him and he passed away yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDt3u2Ev1cI&list=RDDDt3u2Ev1cI&start_radio=1
I think it is very fitting that Chris Rhea passed away at a time that many people are driving home for Christmas.
Listening to that led me to this, a little apt perhaps. Eeee those were the days: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qNM9rxXu-4g
I think rats 🐀 coming out of the toilet 🚽 is a very fitting metaphor for our current predicament.
It is suitably dystopian, Jpf. I guess snakes would also work. From Jan last year:
“People in Australia’s eastern states are spotting snakes in their toilets after heavy rains triggered flash flooding across large parts of the country… “The seasons now are incredibly crazy. We’ve got a lot of heat at the moment and flooding, so climate change is a real thing…””
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/australia-floods-toilet-snakes-rain-b2472507.html
Is this suitably dystopian? The 2026 Global Famine Forecast from the World Food Programme:
“The World Food Programme (WFP) forecasts that global food insecurity will remain at alarmingly high levels in 2026. The report indicates that 318 million people are currently facing acute food insecurity, more than double pre-pandemic levels. The WFP’s 2026 Global Outlook highlights that 41 million people are experiencing Emergency or worse levels of hunger, marking a 20 percent increase since late 2020. The report confirms that multiple famines are now unfolding simultaneously, with famine declared in Gaza and parts of Sudan. The WFP emphasizes that conflict remains the single largest driver of hunger, affecting 69 percent of acutely food-insecure individuals. The report also highlights the growing crisis of “hidden hunger,” caused by micronutrient deficiencies affecting billions worldwide. The WFP aims to assist 110 million people in 2026 with an operational requirement of US$13 billion, urging the international community to invest in proven solutions to stop the spread of hunger and get back on track towards a world with zero hunger.”
———————————————————
ME: Unfortunately, I believe Malthus, Prof. Paul Ehrlich, and Prof. William Rees are to be proven correct in the fullness of time. It will be terrible to witness famine on a global scale.
Warning: image of starving Sudanese girl and vulture below!
https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIP.zpn9vwhe2MGQBF-JxqkzpAHaEm?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain&o=7&rm=3
Our best chance to be ‘on track towards a world with zero hunger’ was back in the last century when Net Energy Surplus per Capita was highest, population was billions less, crop yields had risen dramatically from modern seeds, fertilizers, and plentiful tractors, and topsoil and aquifer quantities had not depleted so rapidly. Birth Control could have been free for all, too.
Bob Shaw Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
If you’d like to ruin an otherwise fine day then Googling images for Kevin Carter is a pretty good place to start.
Thanks, Bob. Keeping it real. 😱
Today’s links should be named; “Fools finding out.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_vM2ULT_k
“future homo sapiens”, go back to Cain & Able & tell me that more homo sapiens were needed in the future. Will no one say overpopulation is the cause for the finding out today? Miracles take a look at what we’ve done to the habitat & yell,”Uncle”.
This species is mentally blind & no one will take responsibility for anything. NTHE is the big penis of finding out. 😉
Have a good Christmas all of you, here is a cheering YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GI24t1KRXI4
Very interesting and well done interpretation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I think there’s a whole lot of truth in what he said. One thing he’s missing though is when he said:
“we don’t live in an age of scarcity but we do live in an age of stock piled abundance.”
As we hear know our era of material abundance is on its way out. Yes, the billionaires could do a great deal to reduce suffering. I am all in favor of some wealth redistribution, but the ship of industrial civ is going down with or without it.
Thanks again for the link.
👍❤️Santa approved 🎅…
Climate hot takes on 2025
https://www.climatecodered.org/2025/12/climate-hot-takes-on-2025.html?m=1
Merry Doomer Christmas
Merry Doomer Christmas to you, too, and all my fellow readers and commenters!
I hadn’t seen climate code red in ages!
“In 2025, it has been noticeable that the idea that we are heading towards 3°C or more – with a global food-and-water crisis triggering social conflict, state failure, large-scale displacement, war and systemic collapse – has become more mainstream.”
Yeah, when the MSM is talking doom, then doom is closer than ever.
“Running AMOC” – clever. Rob, take note.
Good Climate News to End the Year
This year brought major setbacks on climate action, but there were wins, too.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-24/good-climate-news-2025-investments-innovations-and-policy
And
Arctic sea ice melt slowdown since 2012 linked to atmospheric pattern shift
by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
scholars has discovered a significant slowdown in Arctic sea ice melting since 2012, with a decrease rate of 11.3% per decade to an insignificant downward trend of only −0.4% per decade.
36 Years ago snow was falling in Florida!
Cold front arrives Monday
It was Christmas eve, eve or Dec. 23rd. 1989 when we saw a very rare dusting of snow from Venice northward through Manatee County. A thin layer of snow accumulated on cars and lawns across the area. People were able to gather enough snow off of cars and lawns to make snowballs.
See….a cold front coming to Florida…. Yep Merry Christmas.. everyone
Ah, yes! The fully excite your senses & fears with Superfund Sites:
Collapse Eco-anxiety or the smaller symptom of just climate anxiety can be stressful on its own. But this study looks at the levels of mental despair from flooding events fully contaminated with Highly TOXIC residues such as from Superfund Chemical or Radiological sites.
Having your house flooded with the normal residues of Modernity [human & pet sewage, household chemicals & cleaners, plastics from bag size to micro & nano-particle size, battery acid & lubricants, plus gasoline & diesel from submerged vehicles, paint & caulking & stains from house coatings, dissolved pharmaceuticals, etc] can be upsetting to any homeowner as their senses fully uptake the sights & smells of rapid entropy.
But having your precious homestead and community flooded [or flooded repeatedly] with the Toxic residues of Murder-nity ratchets the blood pressure & stress & anxiety to even higher levels of heartbreak.
Forever Chemicals for Everyone–>”Breathe deep in the Gathering Gloom, watch lights fade in every Room…”{Moody Blues}
https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/toxic-fear-new-study-suggests-flood-driven-contamination-deepens-climate-anxiety
“In terms of climate anxiety, it seems it’s one thing to flood, but it is quite another thing for that flood to be toxic,” said Alex Priest, professor of environmental sociology at the University of Alberta. “When that happens, residents worry a lot more about their climate futures.”
Bob Shaw Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
“You can’t handle the truth!” Let me fix that.
You will deny the truth, even as global warming sends an invitation to NTHE to join in.
Go ahead shoot the messenger, at least he won’t have to deal with 8 billion destructive Clever Apes, anymore.
The greatest gift is learning to laugh at one’s self. 50 years ago an old codger said; Don’t take yourself seriously, I don’t.
My brilliance is overwhelming, to me 😉
Hello TR,
“You can’t handle the truth!” Let me fix that…
….because according to this study:
“New research provides evidence that men who are concerned about maintaining a traditional masculine image may be less likely to express concern about climate change. The findings suggest that acknowledging environmental problems is psychologically linked to traits such as warmth and compassion. These traits are stereotypically associated with femininity in many cultures. Consequently, men who feel pressure to prove their manhood may avoid environmentalist attitudes to protect their gender identity. The study was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.”
https://www.psypost.org/some-men-may-downplay-climate-change-risks-to-avoid-appearing-feminine/
Bob Shaw Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Petromasculinity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro-masculinity
Most right wing loser dudes these days are attempt to achieve meaning, purpose, and self-actualization through material possessions and external validation, an effort that is ultimately self-defeating and leads to dissatisfaction, anxiety, and an inauthentic sense of self.
You may have noticed that more dudes today are total losers than ever before and are quite prone to severe social dysfunction. Elon Musk appears to be their patron saint.
Hello Survivalist, great Wikilink! I never heard of Petro-masculinity before, Thxs!
Being a Snowbird: down here in the central Texas hill country we see lots of young men from cattle country & the Permian shale fields. Nearly all of them have the giant, heavy duty pickups with lift kits, extra-large wheel & tire combos, and modified, roaring exhausts. Truck nuts can still be found swinging beneath the rear bumpers [not forbidden yet but outlawed in some other states].
https://i.redd.it/u1ydodoomsq31.jpg
“Rolling coal” on helpless pedestrians and/or bicyclists therefore must be ‘petro-masturbation’ to further enhance their ‘petro-masculinity’.
Disgusting behavior.
Thanks for reply.
The references in the wiki article are good. One is a podcast.
https://drilled.media/podcasts/drilled/13/carbon-bros-1
If the Shale Bros™ didn’t have all that tight oil under their feet they’d be sitting on the back porch sucking apple through a straw. But as it is, they tend to think they’re geniuses.
Most dudes masculinity vibe is quite affected, that is to say putting on a false appearance and pretending to feel, have, or do Man Things. They’re Playing House with their Ego. And it’s all very destructive.
I wish I could think of it now, but someone I read was making an excellent point about how the extreme sides of the political spectrum get amplified, often to such an extent that people start thinking that’s how *most* of those who are more (liberal/conservative – pick one) are. It’s not true and divisive.
I have conservative friends and the males are not “right wing loser dudes” or petro-masculinist. I have male liberal friends who do not twist themselves in knots not to be males/men, calling themselves things like “gentle transfemme /nonbinary person.” (An actual description someone sent me. I met this MAN – very nice person, full beard, yes gentle, but it seemed like in his social circle being a regular man was considered toxic masculinity.)
The parallel to those petro-masculinist dudes are the liberal dudes who are latte-drinking techno-optimists, maybe taking estrogen so as not to be seen as toxic masculine.
I hate all of it.
Go check out a MAGA rally or a Qanon Rally or a Jordan Peterson show. Lots of “right wing loser dudes”. Objectively. 10 out of 10 shit for brains 1/2 wits.
That’s a good one Survivalist . In the meanwhile ” Santa runs on diesel ” . Oil is the blood and diesel the haemoglobin of Industrial civilisation .
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/why-christmas-most-stressful-week-diesel-market
Hey Ravi, great article. As diesel heads towards becoming Unobtainium, it is easy to foresee legislation eventually forbidding private ownership of diesel pickups. Diesel for farm tractors, the big transport trucks, industrial equipment only.
This will quickly end teenagers and young adults joy riding in their big diesel pickup bought by their wealthy parents.
This caught my eye .
“The U.S. has become Europe’s marginal diesel supplier, with distillate exports frequently running around 1.1 to 1.3 million barrels per day, according to EIA export flow data. Those barrels do not stop for Christmas. Any disruption along the export chain during this window, whether it’s fog in the Houston Ship Channel to Atlantic storms or congestion in Northwest European ports, happens when European buyers have the least flexibility and inventories are already drawn.
This is where “Santa runs on diesel” becomes very real. ”
Europe is skating on thin ice . Hand to mouth .
For any new C & E readers just discovering about Overshoot & Collapse and related symptoms of Climate Change, mass extinction, fossil fuel depletion, and exhaustion of mined minerals and groundwater:
A key concept to grasp is Energy Return on Energy Invested [ERoEI].
Imagine a young cheetah catching a gazelle. It may burn 1,000 calories but quickly harvests 10,000 calories: ERoEI 10,000/1,000 = 10.
This was like the early century of industrialization {1850-1950}. Coal was near the surface, and highly productive onshore oil wells were not very deep and held giant amounts of crude. Very high ERoEI. Think Saudi Arabia’s mega-giant oilfield of Ghawar, world’s largest, and still going after 75 years. That was a really fat gazelle!
Now imagine an old cheetah with cataracts and arthritis. It cannot chase gazelles anymore, but intermittently stumbles upon a snake, small rodent, or an abandoned carcass to scavenge. EROEI 500 calories/1,000 = 0.5, the cat’s days are numbered as starvation approaches.
This old cat metaphor is more like our present-day aging globalization and energy infrastructure. The Permian shale fields need unbelievable amounts of materials and energy for a vast number of oil wells that quickly reach peak production then rapidly decline in just a few years. Think small snake or rodent for a low ERoEI.
Consider this article on the Ten Biggest FPSOs:
“Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessels are invaluable for the offshore oil and gas industry, given their many advantages over traditional offshore oil platforms.
FPSOs are positioned close to an offshore oil field. Using FPSOs over pipelines means that the FPSO Vessel can be moved to another place when an oil field has been exhausted.”
https://www.marineinsight.com/know-more/biggest-fpsos-in-the-world/
These giant vessels are again like old cheetahs moving along in slow desperation trying to find the very last carcasses to scavenge as the one-time Carbon Pulse starts ending.
So, the next time you are filling up your vehicle: imagine yourself as an old & limping cheetah eating some rancid meat, but very grateful for that opportunity.
Bob Shaw Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?