c/Collapse

In its quest for security, the United States spends more on the military than any other country in the world, certainly much more than the combined military spending of its major rivals, Russia and China.

Authorized at over $700 billion in Fiscal Year 2019, and again over $700 billion requested for FY2020, the Department of Defense (DOD) budget comprises more than half of all federal discretionary spending each year. With an armed force of more than two million people, 11 nuclear aircraft carriers, and the most advanced military aircraft, the US is more than capable of projecting power anywhere in the globe, and with “Space Command,” into outer-space.

Further, the US has been continuously at war since late 2001, with the US military and State Department currently engaged in more than 80 countries in counterterror operations.

All this capacity for and use of military force requires a great deal of energy, most of it in the form of fossil fuel. As General David Petraeus said in 2011, “Energy is the lifeblood of our warfighting capabilities.”

Although the Pentagon has, in recent years, increasingly emphasized what it calls energy security — energy resilience and conservation — it is still a significant consumer of fossil fuel energy.

Submission Statement: Yellow LTL Shipping goes bankrupt, closes

This is societal collapse related in that Yellow is the last LTL (less than truckload) company. Shippers who used this service will be forced to use FedEx, UPS, and the other big companies who charge full load regardless of size. It will be more expensive and the costs will be passed to consumers. Owner/operator truck drivers are already under water often making less than what it costs to operate their vehicles.

This is a big deal with regards to transportation and distribution of goods. It’s a service we tend to take for granted. While it’s not the most environmentally friendly means of transport, it’s what we’ve got.

It’s definitely a story to watch and follow the future ramifications. There’s an interesting YouTube guy named MotherTrucker who talks about trucking, transportation, etc. He was featured on an NPR story today about this closure.

SS: This is related to collapse because Professor Box discusses how our warming climate is causing cascading feedbacks. Moisture in our atmosphere increases with temperature thus amplifying the atmospheric rivers that are then destroying the Greenland ice sheet. This in turn weakens the AMOC which itself is the 'mother of tipping points.' 2024 will be worse than 2023 because of the El Nino, overall warming, stalling jet stream and high sun spot activity.