Category Archives: Doomsday scenarios

How Policies Affect Beliefs and Preferences: The Example of Covid-19 Vaccination Willingness

Covid and other major political challenges show that devising policies isn’t the hard part: it’s getting the public to go along.

‘Megadrought’ Along Border Strains US-Mexico Water Relations

Conflicts over water are escalating. The US and Mexico are trying to mediate their claims over the Colorado River, but will that work?

Inflation Is Not What We Need to Worry About: the Risk of Major Collapse in the Private Sector Is What Should Be Troubling Us Right Now

Inflation may have you freaked out, but there are bigger threats on the horizon.

Biden Classifies Opposition to ‘Capitalism and Corporate Globalization’ As Extremism

The definition of what extremism amounts to becomes more, erm, inclusive as our elites feel more threatened. What are the possible end games?

NZ to Ban Some Single Use Plastics, Following a Familiar Distressing Pattern

NZ to ban some single-use plastics, in three stages, beginning from next year and through July 2025.

Covid Vaccine Whack-a-Mole?

Vaccine enthusiasm has blinded people who should know better to Covid downside risks. And as Taleb warned, tails are fat.

Andrew Bacevich: America on the Downhill Slope

Musing on how America wound up where it is.

Yellowstone is Losing its Snow as the Climate Warms, and That Means Widespread Problems for Water and Wildlife

A new assessment of climate change in Yellowstone and Grand Teton and surrounding forests and ranchland warns of the potential for significant changes as the region continues to heat up.

Blackout Risk And Electricity Prices Are Spiking In California

California energy tsuris are set to get worse.

Hamid Dabashi: U.S. Sanctions Strengthen Iranian Theocracy

Aggressive and hypocritical sanctions by the U.S. bolster the Iranian theocracy whose only mission is defense of their own power and state.

A Report from Sierra Leone: Covid-19 Has Helped People Understand the Vital Connection Between Energy and Health

Sierra Leone so far has had some Covid success despite low vaccination rates, and it illustrates the challenges poor countries face.

How Energy Transition Models Go Wrong

Gail Tvergberg explains why oil prices are likely to remain be lower than full costs, and how that undermines the move to cleaner energy.

The Pandemic Is Us (But Now Mostly Them)

The pandemic is largely to be over in the Global North, at least among the vaccinated…or so it seems.