often needlessly overcomplicated?  You are writing about the very symbol of the clinical insanity which dwarfs the "achievements" of western civilization.  The fragile topsoil which provides the nutrients which nourish all, including nuclear submarine designers, is at perilous risk.  the oceans are dying, which feed more than half the world.

I didn't create the world and I'm not saying I like it. I just try to live in it.

realist? realism sunk us to the depths we now find ourselves. What's real is the lack of vision, the lack of courage as a people, a nation to stand up and say enough.

"Realism" is a school of international relations. It needs not be the most realistic, ie the one which describes how the world works in the most correct way. Indeed, the scholars of the "liberal" and "constructivist" traditions would think otherwise. These schools in hand might not be the most liberal or constructive; those are just names.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.