One Finite Planet

Ukraine: Putin and China, method or madness?

June 16, 2022

What if Russia and China both intended that the invasion of Ukraine would trigger global inflation and food shortages, and a potentially new financial crisis?

That Putin sees himself in the image of Peter the Great and restoring the Russian empire is no secret, and is generally portrayed as evidence that Putin has completely lost the plot. But what is there is a bigger plan involving Russia and China and triggering a financial crisis?

Ghost cities and ghost homes: housing finance crisis?

June 15, 2022

“Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist.”

Attributed to Kenneth Boulding in: United States. Congress. House (1973)

This applies to not just to population growth, but just maybe also to the growth in value of housing.

This page is a look at ‘ghost cities’ and ‘ghost homes’, and the window they provide into how distorted investment can become in the pursuit of growth.

The end result of the distortions can be overvalued assets funded by highly leveraged ordinary citizens. If that is the case, not just with ghost cities but beyond, the correction will clearly present a financial crisis.

The EV climate change lag problem: Don’t buy an EV just to save the planet.

June 9, 2022

The bad news is EVs won’t help in time to keep global warming below +2.0^oC, or reduce emissions in the critical years up to 2040. The EV transition means things still get worse before they get better, until late as 2050. The problem is not the ‘long tailpipe argument‘, but the challenge of the transition to EVs. EVs do, over their lifetime, result in a reduction in emissions, but the whole process can take decades, does not alone solve immediate climate problem. Emissions can even be worse if too many people buy EVs too soon.

Big Oil, AKA Big Fossil: How real, and what about ‘big climate’?

June 7, 2022

It is clear that significant funding is directed to promoting the continued use of fossil fuel.

Time after time I find the need to make this claim, and as I do not make claims without supporting evidence, so each time it triggers a search for supporting evidence.

I have now decided to create a page with links to supporting evidence, as an improving over multiple pages each linking directly to one or two pieces of the puzzle.

For balance, I examine the idea of ‘big climate’ or ‘big science’, being a source of funding bias data applied against the arguments of ‘big oil’.

Can Peter Dutton repair the democracy ‘loyal opposition’.

June 6, 2022

Democracy is under threat, and a significant part of the problem stems for the distortion of the current model of ‘opposition’. While the politics of division and polarisation of the USA Trump republicans vs Biden democrats attracts most attention on the world stage right now, what happens in Australia following the recent election which saw democracy strike back (page coming soon), has the potential to provide the world with an alternate blueprint for the role of the opposition party, which could reinvigorate democracy and spread to the US and elsewhere.

Is there an alternative to the current Republicans vs Democrats style, where ‘opposition’ is about each party demonising the other?

Solar Electric Vehicles: What you can, and can’t do with solar power.

May 29, 2022

There are solar boats and even a plane already, yet the EVs we are most familiar with are cars, and despite all the models on sale, none so far is solar powered.

However, that is set to set to change with at least 3 solar powered cars nearing production, and of course the solar does not have to built into the car to enable solar powered travel. I decided to publish a page as a place where I can continue to add updates as progress occurs.

the surprises hiding in life expectancy numbers.

May 17, 2022

The main surprise is that life expectancy reveals very little about how long people typically live. From the 1500s till around 1800, life expectancy throughout Europe hovered between 30 and 40 years of age, and it was only as recent as the 20th century, that life expectancy rose from 49.2 to 80.3 years. Yet famous historical figures from 2,000 years ago, typically lived to around 70 or longer.

Looking far back as we can know, a full lifespan has always been around 70 years or longer. The biggest change has not the length of a human lifespan, but instead, the dramatic increase in percentage of people who get to enjoy that lifespan. How ancient people lived was nothing like life expectancy suggests, and we have not yet extended lifespans to the extent you may think.

News & Updates.

May 11, 2022

News and updates for early May 2022. Climate at +1.5 within 5 years confirmed as realistic threat.

News In Brief.

April 26, 2022

It is now war until the end for Putin. If Putin is to win in Ukraine, he would simply have to start a new war elsewhere, as relations with Russia could never again return to ‘normal’ without charges of war crimes being held.

BYD Atto 3 / Yuan Plus: Affordable EV, not just a rich man’s toy.

April 23, 2022

Just as BYD outsold Tesla within China in in 2021, BYD exports have the potential to start outselling Tesla around the globe. The race between

Battle for No1 Carmaker: Tracking Tesla and BYD.

April 20, 2022

I have already have a page tracking the fall of current leaders Toyota, VW etc, and this page tracks the rise of the new contenders for the worlds number 1 carmaker: Tesla and BYD.

These two are the current EV market leaders, and as EVs gain market share, these two are on trajectories to become no #1 and no #2 car carmakers world wide. But will either of them ever reach true #1?

I have excluded Tesla and BYD from the ‘new kids on the block’, page tracking the rise of new EV companies as the race between these EV heavyweights warrants its own page.