MuseLetter #367 / October 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version The World’s Top Industrial Countries Are in Treacherous Waters The following essay was written prior to the Hamas attack on Israel, and the commencement of Israeli retaliation. These developments will likely accelerate the overall trend of US imperial decline discussed in the article, […]

MuseLetter #366 / September 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Why 2% Is the Most Dangerous Number No One Is Talking About We’ve had a summer from hell, with July 2023 temporarily claiming the title of hottest month on record. But while the klaxons of Earth’s climate system have riveted nearly everyone’s attention, […]

MuseLetter #365 / August 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version You May Think You’re Immune to Cult Thinking, but We’re All Susceptible Times of societal upheaval or rapid social change tend to generate new religious movements, and what are often called cults. The English Civil War in the 17th century roughly coincided with […]

MuseLetter #364 / July 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Are these the end times? Peter Turchin’s latest book, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, is receiving glowing reviews. Its message is highly relevant to our collective understanding of the emerging global polycrisis and what needs to be done […]

MuseLetter #363 / June 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version This month’s Museletter is about crisis and acceleration. The first essay, “Polycrisis, Unraveling, Simplification, or Collapse: Coming Soon to a Planet Near You?,” introduces a new report from Post Carbon Institute on the roots of the polycrisis and why we should be thinking […]

MuseLetter #362 / May 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Human activity—mostly the burning of fossil fuels—has raised Earth’s atmospheric carbon content by 50 percent, from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 420 ppm. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, we’ve released approximately 950 billion metric tons of carbon into the air. Every year, humans emit more than […]

MuseLetter #360 / March 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Why We Can’t Just Do It This month’s Museletter kicks off with a short response to the latest IPCC report and why we’re failing to curb carbon emissions despite the dire warnings. The second article looks at recent data from China on declining […]

MuseLetter #359 / February 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version This month’s Museletter leads with an article looking at various debt timebombs threatening us all. It also includes the concluding part of my trilogy written for Independent Media Institute on the renewable energy transition (parts 1 and 2 were included in Museletter #356, […]

MuseLetter #358 / January 2023 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version Recent news articles about a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research heralded the potential for “limitless” energy. Whenever I read that word limitless I wince, because I’ve learned to view it as a subtle instruction to readers to “please stop thinking now.” After decades of false promises […]

MuseLetter #354 / September 2022 by Richard Heinberg Download printable PDF version In May I wrote about the emerging energy and food crisis gripping the world due largely to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The crisis continues to unfold. However, most people are aware of it only via high prices—for gasoline, electricity, natural gas, and food—and through […]