I’m a social critic, political/cultural commentator and artist. The modern industrial world is sleepwalking towards the cliff of economic and ecological ruin. Most are oblivious to the paradigm shift that is occurring, but some are starting to awaken to the false stories our culture has told itself. My objective is to highlight important news stories and essays to find the hidden truth behind what Joe Bageant called the American Hologram.
Collapse of Industrial Civilization 
i started a very complimentary site on fb … i will be re-posting some of your stories… very well done thx https://www.facebook.com/peakeverything2030
LikeLike
Glad to have found you Mike. Missed you over at CM.
LikeLike
G’day Mike….. DTM here, just found you on Guy’s site, the net sure makes the world a lot smaller….
Just about given up on CMdotcom….. they’re all losing the plot over there, worrying about their gold and surviving a nuclear holocaust!
LikeLike
Your blog has a footer banner that takes up too much screen space on the iPhone 3G. Could you disable it?
Some WordPress blogs have a banner/footer at the bottom of the page that eats up much of the iPhone 3G screen while browsing. Can this banner be disabled (preferably permanently) by the person browsing?
An example:
The URL for the blog is:
https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/
The footer banner has tha following content on the iPhone 3G:
Collapse of Industrial Civilization Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Customized Minileven.
The following URLs are linked to the banner items:
Collapse of In…
https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/
Blog at WordPress.com
http://wordpress.com/?ref=footer
Theme Customized Minileven
http://theme.wordpress.com/credits/collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/
LikeLike
I’ll find out.
LikeLike
Hi Mike. Thought you might like to know about my latest book. Very germane to your theme! http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319412696 Best wishes, Julian Cribb
LikeLike
macmanx
Happiness Engineer
Aug 15, 2012, 11:08 PM
There is no way to disable that at this time, but we are working on something like that for the future.
LikeLike
Ha, xraymike, I sent you link to my friend Tenney and she reposted it here: http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-reality-of-climate-change.html
LikeLike
Oh, Thanks Gail. It’s time to hug your children and enjoy the time remaining. The inertia of the system prevents anyone from changing our descent into the dark hole of oblivion.
LikeLike
Hello, is there a link to share this video on FB? Of course I would mention your website to, but my experience is that many people don’t open links … and I would like people to see this video … Thanks for your response, Tanja
LikeLike
I posted my video on Youtube earlier this year. Here is the Youtube link:
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFaGz8blpPI ]
LikeLike
The situation sure is serious! However, I believe there is hope. Gen3.5 nukes like the AP1000 can deliver enormous baseload quantities of electricity with which we can shut down coal and charge EV’s and even make some synfuels. Eco-city concepts and New Urbanism are becoming more popular. While people will always remain essentially pretty selfish, the systems within which we function can be changed. Exxon could even be reformed to collect garbage and plasma-burn it into useful building and petro-chemical products. Then, when GenIV nukes arrive, we’ll just burn all the nuclear waste. Indeed, once GE commercialises the known physics behind Gen4 nukes with their S-PRISM reactor, nuclear waste will no longer be the problem, it will be the solution! Treat your nation’s nuclear waste with pride: it could power your country for 500 years!
LikeLike
PS: And if things REALLY start to get bad on the climate front, there’s always White Skies. About as pleasant as chemotherapy, but useful if your home planet gets ‘cancer’.
http://eclipsenow.wordpress.com/white-skies/
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
Lovely site, Mike. I try not to be quite so apocalyptic but it gets harder to do as the evidence keeps mounting — especially the denial stuff. Thanks for linking to Ecological Headstand — that’s how I found you. I’ve added a link back to here.
LikeLike
Hey Mike,
Apparently, we are just following the natural order of things:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7146?src=longreads
LikeLike
My response here: Life in a Petri Dish
LikeLike
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
LikeLike
Methinks that these gold hoarders shall find none willing to trade useful goods & services for a liability, unless some fellow be a metal worker. One cannot hunt & forage with a load of gold on him, or outpace danger. They simply do not think of another paradigm, so die with the one that they are stuck in.
LikeLike
About begins “I’m a social critic…” but unless I missed it, no name. Who does “I” refer to?
LikeLike
How do I know this is the real David Cay Johnston?
It could be you since your I.P. address is from Rochester, N.Y.
Who are you working for now since you reportedly left Reuters?
LikeLike
Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich on his peer-reviewed paper in the journal of the Royal Society “Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?”
Radio Ecoshock (18 minutes)
[audio src="http://www.ecoshock.org/downloads/economy/ES_Ehrlich_Collapse_LoFi.mp3" /]
Full text of paper:
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1754/20122845.full
LikeLike
Work has destroyed environment
Education has destroyed environment
Urban Dwellers have destroyed environment
Work has turned into overwork, unnecessary work and destructive work after industrialization when man started working for thousands of consumer goods and services in addition to food, clothing and shelter…..What would happen to your home if 1000 people entered and started doing work continuously 24×7, 365 days of the year, breaking up things already lying in the house and making new things out of them…..A similar thing is happening to the planet, billions of people working continuously to destroy biodiversity and ecosystems moment by moment….Urban Work has destroyed environment.
“Education to all”…..”Education to all”….”Education for all”….”Education for all”.
Everyone is going insane with the slogan “Education to all”….”Education for all”.
Education has destroyed the planet….All Industrial Activity that is destroying environment is being run by education…..Scientific, Technological, Industrial, Business and Financial Education…..School and University education has destroyed environment.
All Industrial Activity that is destroying environment is being run and promoted by Urban Population of the world…..Almost the entire Urban Population is employed in the Industrial Sector [Production and Marketing of thousands of consumer goods and services].
Urban Dwellers are Eco Killers, Eco Murderers and Eco Terrorists.
This planet can only sustain a “Food Searching” or “Food Producing” society.
This planet can only sustain a Hunter_Gatherer or Agrarian Society, Not an Industrial Society.
There are only two options available for saving environment….Urban Dwellers have to either transform into full time food producers or they have to stop working.
.
http://www.envirolink.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2915
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
LikeLike
Just read ‘A Robot didn’t Steal Your Job‘.
I don’t think robots will replace us forever. Those before us cleverly eliminated scarce labor use by using resources with technology. This was a brilliant solution in a world that was short on labor and full of resources, but now we’re running out of resources and have plenty of eager workers. But use of capital to replace some labor pits employed against unemployed, bidding down wages, yielding greater profits. This inspires capital to continue eliminating labor. Yet it fills even the capitalist’s world with pollution, while draining it of resources. So eventually labor will win whatever’s left. The sooner labor wins, the more will be left, and the better off we all will be.
LikeLike
Very intresting site. You talking about the collapse of civilization and my site is about reaching out to become a Class I Civilization.
Check me out. http://www.moonstroller.com/wp
LikeLike
Hi Mike,
I couldn’t find any contact info, so I’m posting a quick note here. I’d like to send you a press release about my new book that you and your readers may find interesting. It’s a satirical novel about environmental destruction.
The Diary of Amy, the 14-Year-Old Girl Who Saved the Earth
If you’re interested in more information, let me know how I can get a press release to you.
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
LikeLike
Sounds interesting, but not at the moment. Perhaps in November I’ll contact you.
LikeLike
Hi – how do I follow this blog?? Is there a link somewhere I can’t find?
LikeLike
Ok don’t worry found it – thanks…
LikeLike
subrosa215
Submitted on 2013/09/18 at 1:25 pm
“Where can I reach you by email? I have a question that isn’t suited for the comment section here.
I’d appreciate it, Mike”
subrosa215,
Just ask me what you want right here and I’ll get the message. No one else will see it. I’ll try to answer you as best I can.
LikeLike
Umm… I can see it?
LikeLike
Not if I keep subsequent comments invisible. I have no idea what this person wants.
LikeLike
Hi,
I would like to send you a copy of Land and Freedom an open invitation by Seaweed. It was recently puclished by Black Powder Press. It is available from their website and also from the distributor “Little Black Cart” if you don’t want me to send you a copy.
LikeLike
Hello Admin,
Can you please get in touch. I would like to publish few relevant theme based content at your site “collapseofindustrialcivilization”.
Any specific guidelines you have?
Looking forward to hear from you.
—
Best Regards,
Miranda Owen
LikeLike
We would like to talk to you about GrowthBusters’ Buy Nothing Day campaign this year. What is the best way to go about that?
LikeLike
Thanks for the never dull musings on the fate of our industrial insanity. Asylum Earth is never without ammunition against the insane ramblings of our ‘business as usual’ spineless politicians and religious ‘leaders’. Looks like it truly is every man for himself (or woman).
In a dog eat dog world, I’ll be the cat.
LikeLike
hi MIKE I LOVE YR BLOG.. I GET MY KICKS DAILY!! ITS WONDERFULL!! PLS VISIT MY YOUTUBE BLOG… YOU MAY REALLY ENJOY IT.. http://www.youtube.com/user/LillyofParis
LikeLike
I’ve read your blog for some time and enjoy it very much. I’ve just self-published a collection of my own post-collapse short stories and would like to send you a gift copy. If interested please send a mailing address to randallellis@hotmail.com. Best wishes, Randall Ellis
LikeLike
I’ve been meaning to write and thank you for your efforts-a great blog! And your latest post-we’re on the same wavelength. As I watched the great new show last Sunday, I was amazed to hear McConnoughy’s character give voice to thoughts often read here, but never heard on TV! Glad you took notes!
LikeLike
Yeah the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I heard that. I love that character.
LikeLike
Hi, Mike. Great work on this site. I have some questions I’d like to ask you, if you don’t mind. Is there way to contact you via email?
LikeLike
Collapsitarians@gmail.com
LikeLike
Thanks. I emailed you.
LikeLike
This blog is *way* too funny. I know, it’s not supposed to be, but first, when I clicked on your link from Google, it said, “Waiting for collapseofindustrialcivilization”. Still waiting…Though I must admit that it took the Roman Empire hundreds of years to “collapse”.
Second, you’re writing about the collapse of industrial civilization on the most advanced and complex piece of industrially-produced artifact in the history of the planet (i.e. the world wide web)… the irony is just *delicious*.
Third, as long as we stay on this planet, we and the environment are doomed, because eventually the sun will go into it’s red phase, our atmosphere and oceans will be blown off, and then the rest of Earth will be enveloped by the Sun– unless an advanced industrial civilization moves the planet. You can bet that neither Mother Nature nor her worshipers will be involved in that project.
LikeLike
My response here:
LikeLike
Thanks for this website! I really appreciate the essays, comment sections, and especially the collections of art work (and their incorporation within the essays). I’m in Texas at the moment. Dallas to be specific. Moving from the SF bay area, there’s been a bit of a retrenchment on my part to local norms. I think coming across a few too many OKcupid profiles which answer that the value of science is only as “a post-facto explanation of God’s miracles” has galvanized me (I wonder where impending catastrophe fits into that view?). Plus the fancy temple of narcissism (gym) I attend has too many people absorbed in the vapid offerings on the banks of TVs or into their phones. Almost no one appears to read while doing cardio. Everything there seems to be about image: the pricey trainers, the valet parking, the pricey cars most people drive, and even a spa. The conversations I overhear inevitably revolve around money, sports, and celebrity.
So, I want to ask, is it alright to use some of the images of the artwork found on this website for personal t-shirts? I realize that printing and shipping t-shirts has it’s own environmental impact, but I’ve been dutifully wearing t-shirts I accumulated in college. I proudly display my class of 2000 (and give away my age), but these shirts are nearing retirement. Those college shirts have led to some conversations and even a friendship. I’m hopeful that environmentally minded t-shirts with arresting artwork might provoke similar conversations or at the very least get people to think differently.
LikeLike
As long as the art is not used for a mass production, for-profit business, then it should be OK.
LikeLike
Thanks for the links to my blog, Kevs Climate Column.
LikeLike
Pingback: Hypocrisy and Willful Ignorance Run Rampant Amongst the Financial Elite and Heads of State | Collapse of Industrial Civilization
Cool site, thx for following. Will check yours in more detail.
LikeLike
Sadly, it is not capitalism fault, it the heart of man. We christians believe unless man changes his heart and relies on Jesus, he will never be able to achieve a lasting civilation. Many forms of societies have come and gone. Tribalism, fuedalism, communism, now democracy and capitalism. Unless man changes his heart, he will always return his vomit. Hey, if you’re interested,
please go to this one guys blog spot. Now people would call me crazy, but try to read it with an open mind.
http://kingdomvision.co.za/Books.html
LikeLike
I really appreciate the content of your site but the use (and selection) of art work in relation to the posts is especially impressive. What do you do as an artist? Which pieces are yours?
LikeLike
Hello Parmis,
Most artwork here is not mine. Here are a few posts featuring cartoons I’ve done:
Would like to read less and concentrate more on my artwork.
LikeLike
powerful video
LikeLike
You might wish to visit this new website that is outside the Matrix of neo-liberalism: http://www.i-globals.org/overview.php. Thanks and best wishes for 2015.
LikeLike
I want to buy a print of the aliens laughing at our power plants…. Where do I go?
LikeLike
Sorry, but I have nothing for sell here.
LikeLike
Hi, glad I found your blog, looking forward to learning more truths, thank you.
LikeLike
Thanks for the follow, Mike! Your blog strikes something deep in my wounded Paleolithic heart, something that I’ve never heard expressed more truly than in (of all places!?) the Mel Gibson movie, Apocalypto:
Tribal Elder, speaking at the campfire:
“And a Man sat alone, drenched deep in sadness. And all the animals drew near to him and said, “We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it.” The Man said, “I want to have good sight.” The vulture replied, “You shall have mine.” The Man said, “I want to be strong.” The jaguar said, “You shall be strong like me.” Then the Man said, “I long to know the secrets of the earth.” The serpent replied, “I will show them to you.” And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals, “Now the Man knows much, he’ll be able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid.” The deer said, “The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop.” But the owl replied, “No. I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, ‘I am no more and I have nothing left to give.’”
I’ve tried to say this in my own voice too, here: http://zebraturnedtiger.com/2015/02/03/mitochondrial-eve/
Again, thanks for writing this blog, you’ve got one of the realest truest voices I’ve heard.
LikeLike
I’m skeptical about human extinction, but I do think that there will likely be a large cull of the human population within this century. (The most we can hope is that we’re not part of it!) If civilization does collapse, I can only imagine we will have to start over in the newly-thawed high Arctic. Very few would be able to survive, but given that humans survived an ice age that was -4C – -5.5C colder than the preindustrial average, I do think some will be able to survive such an extreme shift in temperature on the other end of the spectrum. ( A “hot age.”) It will be a horrible thing to live through, however. I don’t agree with Guy McPherson that 4C = human extinction. I do think, however, that it implies massive migration, starvation, and very likely disastrous wars.
LikeLike
Hi Mike,
I think you will be interested in a new campaign to save civilization called the Climate Mobilization. We are calling for a WWII-scale mobilization to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions 100% by 2025, and draw down CO2 from the atmosphere until a safe climate is restored. We developed our demands with the authors of “Climate Code Red” (2008), and we are holding our first national day of action on June 14.
Thanks for your work,
Ezra
LikeLike
Do you have a link?
LikeLike
Oh, silly me…
http://www.theclimatemobilization.org/
LikeLike
🙂 Send me an email if you are interested in getting involved. Your writing is very moving!
LikeLike
Yes that’s it – sorry I didn’t include a link!
LikeLike
Nice vid –
Found this site while looking up spelling of ‘clathrate’ …. 🙂 added to my sidebar ….
LikeLike
peace nice site. I have a question about one of the pieces of art you posted. Pls email me back at your earliest convenience thank you
LikeLike
Thanks
LikeLike
I highly recommend to you the book Adorno’s Practical Philosophy: Living Less Wrongly by Fabian Freyenhagen (Cambridge University Press 2013). Here’s an EPUB: http://bookzz.org/book/2376337/da9701
LikeLike
Aww! Mike, I love this blog. You used to follow mine too, when I was here…I followed you on Twitter but didn’t hear anything back. I’m totally new to the social media world (and apparently horrible at getting followers for my own writing 😦 Maybe you didn’t recognize me? At 2 followers, I don’t care much for quantity 😛 But, just a few quality minds like you to read my work again and exchange ideas could make my little social media experiment worthwhile! Hard to come across people who understand the situation we’re in.
LikeLike
The extinction level event that’s underway will come much sooner and will be far more violent than what the public is being told. Evidence for this forecast is found in hundreds of historic documents going back over 500 years which the geologists, seismologists, glaciologists and their chemists prefer to overlook – since the evidence in those hundreds and hundreds of historic documents means their * theories * are preposterous lunacy.
Hundreds of nuclear reactors and thousands of nuclear waste storage tanks are now installed along the coastal areas and inland river valleys, which means worldwide devastation is inevitable.
The primary driver of our abrupt climate change is the heat coming off the volcanic eruptions on the sea floor – many are located near ice shelves – the resulting rapid glacial melt, the resulting ocean temperature extremes due to the heat from the volcanic eruptions on the sea floor and from the massive volumes of glacial melt flowing in to the oceans, and then we add the rapid evaporation of the ocean waters due to the unusually warm ocean temperatures – from the heat pumped in from the sea floor and the resulting record-breaking rainfall, torrential downpours, soil saturation, landslides, sinkholes, record-breaking heatwaves, record-breaking wildfires, an alarming increase in the frequency and magnitude of the quakes and volcanic explosions, the record-breaking hurricane-force winds and the fact that warm ocean waters drilling river tunnels into the ice shelves – nearly 300 meters high – while glacial ponds on top of the ice shelves are drilling river tunnels downward. The ice shelves are looking more like Swiss cheese while glaciers – the size of Pennsylvania, weighing billions of tons – are precariously perched on top.
What happens when “Pennsylvania” crashes into the sea?
Imagine the ice cube in the linke below is hundreds of miles across and then you can begin to get an idea of the size of the displacement waves that are coming:
Antarctica has about 50 life-threatening glaciers.
Rather than do the research that’s vital to survival, the vast majority of the human population cling to the theories and climate forecasts from the “experts” whose IQ’s are barely above average.
Enough said.
Thank you for sharing your research. I already packed and left.
LikeLike
Some more grist for your mill, xraymike79: http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319412696
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would like to see more ideas about regenerating life on the planet after the sixth extinction. That’s our only hope at this point, and it would at least provide a way to end this on a positive note. I’m thinking in terms of cleaning up the nuclear plants and weapons so they wouldn’t have such a long term impact after we are gone. That’s our worst ecological legacy and one which needs to be addressed. Why are we still wasting our time talking about humans? Let’s talk about something positive we can do for future life on the planet. I don’t know if there is enough power left in the sun but hope springs eternal. It’s worth a shot. Let’s be positive for a change, and work for the future. Instead of all this Doom & Gloom, let’s work for Future Bloom.
LikeLike
Blog stll working?
LikeLike
See here:
LikeLike
greetings! i love your site and articles. i would like to pose a question:
are you vegan? and if not, why not? this question is clearly addressing the deleterious impact of animal agriculture on the planet and its creatures, humans included.
thanks and peace,
vi
LikeLike
Hi
Please let me know if you are interested in doing something like this
https://theidea.earth
Thanks
Steve
LikeLike
Dear Robert,
I’ve just finished reading your article on the Amazon and it’s tipping points. Very good indeed.
Im a little confused about what is going on. Surely, the leaders of the works know exactly what is going on otherwise they would act right ? If they’re not taking action, then perhaps it stands to reason that they know more than us otherwise it doesn’t make sense that they do nothing.
The other day Putin said it was not just about human induced warming but that possibly the angle of the earth has changed. I found that to be an interesting statement.
One gets the feeling that things are getting much worse out there and it’s happening fast.
I just wonder if we’ve left things far too late and we only have 10 years left before the sh*t really hits the fan.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on the matter.
LikeLike
Hi Mike,
I love your site! I am amazed at how resilient some people are in spite of everything and started writing climate fiction. If anyone wants to exchange ideas I find it a great stress reliever to write about strange new future civilizations. My email is pajmalmberg@icloud.com Thanks, Pete Malmberg
LikeLike
Sorry if this comment is a bit off-topic, but one of the links you posted leads to a misdirected url
Dieoff.org
Is an incorrect url
The correct url is :
Dieoff.com
LikeLike
It’s been a while since I’ve updated. Will look at it this weekend.
LikeLike
Could use a new post, always like to read what you write, with links. Have secondary progressive ms and was in hospital back in 2016 when I came upon your site, made me feel less worried about my plight, alas. Whatever that may mean to you, you haven’t posted in awhile and things haven’t much improved in the world. I read, https://climateandeconomy.com.
Anyhow, like I said, would just like to see a new one. Hope all’s well for you and yours.
LikeLike
This is also a very good website documenting the collapse of the planet’s biosphere by industrial civilization.
https://news.mongabay.com/
LikeLike
I just found your blog, via a google search of ‘Canfield ocean’ and I am happy to have found it. Are you still writing on here? I’m reading Under a Green Sky, which I found through Nate Hagans podcast. I’m right there with you on all this stuff, when do you think the societal collapse will happen? I’m trying to prepare (as best I can).
LikeLiked by 1 person