Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version. SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE FEAR OF AGING An NPG Forum Paper by Lindsey Grant August 2005 For a decade or so, we have been besieged by stories about impending population decline in Europe and Japan, the prospect of a worsening dependency ratio and too few workers to support the aged. To this …
Continue ReadingA courageous look at the world’s dwindling energy resources. Contending that the energy debate has been cast in the wrong terms, the author suggests that the problem would not be solved by asking: “What energy sources will be available to replace fossil fuels?” but by questioning: “What populations can be supported at a decent standard by the energy sources that …
Continue ReadingSome major oil companies seem to be trying to persuade Washington that the energy transition is real and imminent and that it must be addressed. The tone of the academic debate is changing, and the imminence of the peak in oil production is now acknowledged by groups that have rejected the possibility in the past. However, most commentators don’t recognize …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version Dr. Diamond’s new study of “how societies choose to fail or succeed” has received considerable attention, and deservedly so. He describes eight threats to traditional societies and twelve among modern societies. He details the process by which various well-known collapses occurred in Easter Island, Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, the Anasazi, Mayan civilization, …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version  Part 1 addressed the period of decline of fossil fuels, lasting perhaps through much of this century,and concluded that the fossil fuel era has been a brief spike that generated an unsustainable growth in population and, in the industrial world, consumption. We are entering an age of overshoot. Humankind may have …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version This country and the world are in for profound change as the petroleum boom winds down. I find that even specialists in the fields that will be most affected have not seriously considered what that transition will be like or how they will handle it. This study is an effort to describe …
Continue ReadingThe New American Century An NPG Forum Paper by Lindsey Grant December 2023 Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version. In 1997, a small group of neo-conservatives organized the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and published a Statement of Principles. The organization’s name describes its state of mind. Its philosophy is perhaps most succinctly expressed in a …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version In 1992, Candidate Bill Clinton’s election campaign manager is said to have tacked a paper to the bulletin board with the slogan: “It’s the economy, stupid!” I will borrow that blunt but effective message for this paper. From coast to coast, crowding has become a central issue at the local level, but …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version The United Nations Population Division has put the highlights of its new population estimates and projections onto the Web1. Present world population is 6.3 billion. It is projected to rise to 8.9 billion by 2050, a number almost identical to the 1998 projection but 400 million below the 2000 version and slightly …
Continue ReadingMuch of human activity can be characterized as accidental experiments.
Continue Reading