Auteur: ronald rovers
While browsing through my father’s cabinet, I came across an old book—a Geographical Historical Dictionary from 1862. It described all the countries of the world and their histories, including every municipality in the Netherlands. Naturally, I looked up Maastricht, the city where I grew up. Among the information provided, I…
Recently, I read some interesting books again about developments in quantum physics and space relativity, essentially the micro and macro aspects of physics, and the attempts to unify the two. It’s not entirely my field, but incredibly fascinating. What I struggle with most in the formation the theory are the…
“The EU must invest more, to avoid falling behind”, economists warned this week. “Otherwise, in 50 years we will be the open-air museum for the rest of the world”. Well, if we do, invest more, society might end in a collapse, and in 50 years we will have to go…
Land is our capital; through the sunlight that falls on it, it captures the necessary annual energy and mass of resources. But closely related to this is water, which is essential for that land-sun system to function and is the most important source for humans after air/oxygen. It should be…
The Earth is a physical subsystem of the universe, and the physical processes within it are fairly well-known and describable. For example, concentrated reserves of raw materials are limited, and within such a finite system, infinite growth (organization of molecules) is not possible. This is bound by limits, just as…
It’s enough to drive you crazy while reading the newspapers, listen to interviewers on the radio, or hear news reporters: no one asks fundamental questions or wonders about the hidden effects of partial or optimisticaly presented solutions. Everything remains stuck in well-meaning supportive chatter. “Yes, circular economy, that’s it, we’ll…
After writing about “paying the fish,” it kept on nagging me. [1] Because it remains a search for the true essence of money, or in other words, the essence of compensating each other for labor and services without ruining everything. I’d like to share this here and am open to…
Everything that doesn’t last at least 50 years is a step backward. It signifies a decline in the physical-biological system potential. If that system—Earth—is already fully burdened, beyond regeneration capacity, or I other words: if we are living above our personal resource bubble (beyond our physical-biological means), it becomes extremely…
How to deal with CO2, causes quite a bit of confusion. (See also earlier [1]) No wonder, considering that focusing on an effect rather than a cause leads to such confusion, but more on that in a moment. I was once again triggered by the debate about Carbon Credits. For…
We are often called upon to change our behavior: stop buying bullshit, fly less, avoid fast fashion. Sometimes, it is even enforced by the government: buy an electric car, insulate your house, or install a mandatory heat pump, for example. A call for ‘flying less’ however doesn’t translate to flying…
