Internet website http://www.foundationwebsite.org, updated 29 March 2023. Books and articles on Planetary Management and other topics from Tucson, Arizona USA. Copyright © 1999-2023 Joseph George Caldwell. All rights reserved.
The name of this website derives from Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Observation. Earth is undergoing the sixth mass planetary species extinction (see Richard Leakey's and Roger Lewin's book, The Sixth Extinction). Unlike earlier mass species extinctions, the current mass species extinction is being caused entirely by human activity. The rate of planetary species extinction is directly proportional to the total amount of industrial production, which is directly proportional to the planetary human population times the average rate of production (or rate of consumption or standard of living) per person. All nations strive to increase industrial production (or consumption or standard of living) for their people. Many nations, such as the US, strive for increased population ("a large population is a king's glory"). Given the human propensity for industrial production (and, in general, "growth" in all things), the only way to reduce the rate of planetary species extinction is to reduce the global human population. The only known level of global human population that lived in harmony (balance, slowly changing equilibrium) with the biosphere was a few million people. Ergo: In order for the mass planetary species extinction to cease, it appears that the planetary human population must decline to a few million people.
Mission Statement. At the end of the Petroleum Age, the human population of Earth will fall to a few million -- the number sustainable by the current flux of solar energy. It appears quite possible that large-scale economic activity may soon destroy the ecological balance of the biosphere in which the human species evolved and on which it is dependent for its continued survival. The Foundation website is committed to trying to avert this human-caused destruction of a human-friendly biosphere and the consequent extinction of mankind.
Foundation Website Blog
NEW! Putin's Last Move. The thesis of this essay is that if Russian President Putin saw that he was to lose the war in Ukraine, then he would initiate global biological warfare.
NEW! How to Survive the Coming Collapse. An article that explores a way to survive collapse of global society as fossil fuels exhaust.
NEW!
The Shape of Things to Come.
A qualitative discussion of the fate of human society and the biosphere in
the near future, as global fossil-fuel reserves are depleted.
NEW!
The Planet Masters Book 1, Preparation.
A novel about the establishment of a long-term-sustainable planetary
management system to provide a high quality of life for human beings in a
species-rich biosphere.
NEW! A New World Order: The Coming Transition from Fossil Fuels and Capitalism to Nuclear Energy and Eco-Socialism. This article describes a plan for establishing a long-term-sustainable planetary management system on Earth. The proposed system will enable humankind to live with a high level of freedom and without poverty in harmony with an ecologically rich biosphere.
Planetary Management Principles, Rules and Regulations. Principles and guidelines for managing a planet in such a way as to achieve the goal of accomplishing a long-term-sustainable human population living in harmony with the rest of the biosphere. Guidelines for managing a "minimal regret" planetary management system, consisting of a single-nation industrial population of five million and a globally distributed hunter-gatherer population of five million. (9 September 2018)
World Population under Long-Term-Sustainable Planetary Management. The files below indicate the populations of the world's countries under a long-term-sustainable system of planetary management.
The population projections presented in the following files are based on methodology presented in the book, Can America Survive? and were constructed using the DESTINY demographic analysis system (both available from this website). A "minimal regret" planetary management system consists of a single-nation industrial population of five million and a globally distributed hunter-gatherer population of five million. The data presented in the below files can be used to estimate the size and distribution of human population surviving global nuclear war. If it is assumed, for example, that Russia prevails in global nuclear war, then the population of Russia would be between five million (the minimal-regret size) and 73 million (the number expected to survive a large-scale nuclear war), and the population of the rest of the world would be five million (the hunter-gatherer density). (Posted 3 September 2018; previously published in 2000, 2005.)
Population profile, all countries
Population analysis, all countries
TerraNova: A radio play about overpopulation and nuclear war.
Synopsis: This radio play addresses the issues of human overpopulation and global nuclear war. The play identifies reasons why global nuclear war is likely to happen and considers a scenario in which Russia prevails after the war. Scenes 1-3 describe a context in which Russia has motive, means and opportunity to initiate, wage and win a global nuclear war. Scene 4 discusses goals and objectives associated with global nuclear war and describes strategic considerations for such a war. Scenes 5 and 6 describe tactical operations in global nuclear war. Scene 7 describes planetary management operations two decades following the war and Scene 8 describes a typical domestic scene 500 years following the war. (Scenes 7 and 8 are the same as Scenes 11 and 12 of the radio play, The Planet Master.) (30 September 2018).
The Planet Master A radio play about overpopulation and nuclear war.
Synopsis. This radio play addresses the issues of human overpopulation and global nuclear war. The play describes the reasons why global nuclear war is likely to happen and considers a scenario in which Russia prevails after the war. Scene 1 describes the destruction to the biosphere that is being caused by large human numbers and industrial production. Scene 2 is a meeting with the Russian President, Prime Minister, and ministers of three portfolios – economic development, natural resources and environmental protection, and defense – in preparation for an annual presentation to Russia’s Duma. Scene 3 describes the state of Russia’s economy, and Scene 4 describes the state of its natural resources and environment. Scene 5 describes the nature and likelihood of nuclear war. Scene 6 describes goals, decision criteria, and strategy related to nuclear war. Scene 7 describes tactics for waging nuclear war. Scene 8 describes possibilities that might arise when access to important situational information is lost during nuclear war. Scene 9 describes implications of Russian goals and decision criteria, including discussion of how a small nuclear conflict could escalate to a large-scale one, and how Russia might prevail in such a war and establish a long-term-sustainable planetary management system. Scene 10 discusses long-term-sustainable population levels. Scene 11 discusses the state of the world twenty years after global nuclear war and Scene 12 describes an evening somewhere on the North American Great Plains, 500 years after the war. (29 July 2018).
Plan C 1.0: Mobilizing to Save the Biosphere Plan A is how the planet is being run at present: large human numbers and industrial activity – global industrialization. Under Plan A, the Earth’s biosphere is being destroyed – the sixth mass species extinction, the direct result of large human numbers and industrial activity, is well under way. Plan B is Lester Brown’s concept for an alternative future. Plans A and B are essentially the same, in terms of destructive impact on the biosphere. Plan C is an alternative to Plans A and B. The premise for Plan C is that the only feasible solutions for long-term-sustainability of the biosphere and humanity are those in which the human population is so low that it has a negligible impact on the planet’s environment. (15 November 2009, modified 4 December 2009)
The Late Great United States: The Decline and Fall of the United States of America An essay on the demise of the United States. (23 March 2008, revised 17 December 2008)
The Late Great United States: Appendices
A Plan for America. A sequel to The Late Great United States. A Possible Reprieve: The US Might Be Able to Last a Little Longer, if It Underwent a Profound Change
Can America Survive? The thesis of this book is that when fossil-fuel reserves deplete in a few years, the global human population of Earth will drop to about 500 million people or less -- a small fraction of the current six billion. The future is one of global ethnic war and the end of the modern industrialized world. The book examines a "minimal regret" population strategy that shows promise as a sustainable, environmentally sound basis for world population. This population consists of a single industrialized nation of five million people and a hunter-gatherer population of five million. (6 June 1999, minor updates 21 November 2002 (mainly repairing of broken hyperlinks).)
Thematic outline of Can America Survive?
Summary of Can America Survive?
Some observations on the state of the world's environment, and the prospects for the future.
Additional supplementary material.
On Human Population, Global Nuclear War and the Survival of Planet Earth Early musings on the issue of planetary management.
Notes on Immigration My view is that immigration policy should be guided by population policy, and that population policy should be designed to promote the long-term survival of the biosphere and the human race. Over the years, I have written a number of notes and articles on immigration. They are scattered throughout this website, and assembled here for convenience, now that the US immigration debate is "heating up." (22 April 2013).
The Omega Project ... to facilitate the establishment of an ecologically sustainable New World Order. (11 February 2002, updated 10 September 2002.)
The End of the World This article discusses the end of the industrial age on planet Earth. It describes why it will happen and how it is likely to happen. It identifies a better system of planetary management and ways for increasing the likelihood that it is implemented after the industrial age is over. (9 February 2003, updated 6 March 2003.)
The End of the World presentation slides (Microsoft PowerPoint).
Strategy for global domination and planetary management. Draft strategy for implementing a minimal-regret human population on Earth. (28 April 2002, updated 1 May 2002.)
A Brief Guide to Planetary Management. This document provides a high-level guide to planetary management for Earth. The vision for Earth is a planet with a “minimal-regret” human population of ten million people – a single-nation technologically advanced city-state of five million people, and a low-technology (hunter-gatherer) population of five million people distributed over the planet. (8 September 2002, updated 10 September 2002.)
On Prophecy, Catastrophe Theory, Globalization and The Omega Project. In my book, Can America Survive?, I predict the eventual demise of America, and that it will happen relatively soon. (25 November 2002, updated 5 December 2002.)
On Marxism, Synarchy, Plato's Republic, and The Omega Project. Synarchic or Platonic government of a small global population (on the order of ten million) will solve the species-extinction problem facing Earth. Marxism (capitalism / communism / socialism, or any other system founded on growth-based economics) will not. (13 January 2003, updated 14 January 2003.)
Alternative Paradigms for Planetary Management. A "feasible" human population is one that can exist for a very long time in a stable, luxuriant biosphere such as Earth possessed for millions of years. An example of a feasible human population is the "minimal regret" population consisting of a single-nation high-technology population of five million, and a globally distributed population of five million hunter-gatherers. (January 2003.)
Call for Action: Proposal to Establish a Planetary Science / Planetary Management Department at Major Universities (16 January 2003.)
Proposal to Establish a Planetary Management Institute (Research on Science, Religion and Politics, with Respect to Promoting the Quality of Human Life (29 December 2006.)
On Thom Hartmann and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. A summary of Hartmann's views, comparison to my own, and discussion of how Hartmann's desires for the planet can be realized by a synarchic government of a minimal-regret population. (29 April 2003, updated 6 May 2003.)
Handbook of Planetary Management The Foundation websites propose a synarchic government of a minimal-regret population of ten million as a feasible and desirable means of achieving a long-term-survivable human population and biosphere. (6 June 2003; updated 6 March 2010.)
On the Equity of a Synarchic Minimal-Regret Population. In the synarchic minimal-regret population, there is no global poverty and no global war. There is no global disease: the risk of a planetary epidemic is minimized, because the planetary hunter-gatherer population consists, as in the past, of independent and isolated tribes that intermingle to a very limited degree. There is no global famine. The scourges of civilization – plague, famine, and war – are eliminated. (7 July 2003.)
On Population Control of a Synarchic Minimal-Regret Population. It is my view (expressed in several articles) that global nuclear war or some other global catastrophe is very likely (since dynamic systems usually fail catastrophically), and I propose that a minimal-regret population be set up after such a catastrophe. (8 July 2003.)
On Synarchy (Synarchism, Sinarquismo, Synarquismo, Sinarchismo, Synarchismo, Sinarchie, Synarchie, Sinarchia, Synarchía, Sinarquia, Synarquia, Sinarkia, Synarkia; Global Synarchist Movement). This article, present some background information on the origin and original meaning of the term synarchy and its cognates and some references to its use since its introduction by Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre.(13 July 2003,updated 27 July 2003; title updated 15 April 2009.)
On Democracy as a Basis for Planetary Management. Democracy is not a good basis for planetary management in a technologically advanced world, if the objective is the long-term survival of mankind and the other species of the biosphere. This article discusses an alternative model. (14 July 2003, updated 16 July 2003.)
On Richard Heinberg and The Party's Over. A review of Heinberg's new book, including comments relating to The Omega Project. An excellent description of the energy situation on present-day Earth, recommended for anyone who want an up-to-date, comprehensive, and easy-to-read assessment. (3 August 2003.)
What Oil Can Do to Tiny States -- and Big Ones, Too! When the world runs out of oil, global human population will collapse and, unless a significant intervention occurs, the biosphere will have been destroyed by the petroleum age. (3 February 2003.)
The World Does Not Need More Fossil Fuel, or Alternative Energy Sources to Replace It As the petroleum age draws to a close, the large human population that has been made possible by oil will disappear, and human society will by and large return to a primitive lifestyle (that is, if it avoids extinction from a greenhouse-gas death of the biosphere, global war, plague, or some other catastrophe brought on by global industrialization). (5 February 2003.)
Hubris In my view, hubris – overbearing pride, arrogance, self-confidence – leads a person or nation to think that it can do anything that it wants and will not have to pay the consequences. And the greatest example of hubris in our era is the view that the industrial nations can continue to pollute the biosphere without end, and not suffer dire consequences. (5 February 2003.)
On a Remark by Mikhail Gorbachev on American Consumerism Massive consumption of energy is destroying the balance of nature of the biosphere, and that high total level of consumption must be reduced drastically if mankind and the biosphere in which it evolved are to continue to exist. (18 March 2003.)
Is America Fascist? Does it Matter?. It would appear to be quite consistent with the definition to refer to America as a fascist democracy – it is nationalistic and patriotic; it does embrace business (economic development, industrial activity) as the lynchpin of its society; and it supports a very powerful military-industrial complex, which it is not reluctant to use from time to time, especially to secure unfettered access to the oil on which its industrial system so crucially depends. (5 August 2003, updated 12 August 2003, 11 May 2008.)
It's the Oil, Stupid! (Hubbert's Curve and World War III). This article will summarize why the invasion of Iraq was considered essential to protecting American and British interests in continuing industrial activity at a high level in the US and Britain. (27 August 2003, updated 8 November 2003, graphics scale corrected 22 Feb 2004, Table 2 scale corrected 13 May 2004.)
Synarchy: The Battle for Planet Earth, Book 1. A novel by J G Caldwell A novel that considers alternative resolutions to the global environmental crisis (biospheric destriction caused by large human numbers and industrial activity). (28 January 2004, updated 22 February 2004.)
Alternative Futures graphic. Graphical depictions of alternative future paths for human society, to accompany the Synarchy novel.
Planetary Management Institute Statement of Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives Vision: A planet with an intact, stable biosphere, in which mankind lives in harmony with the other species of the planet. (13 December 2004.)
MX... the little book that helped destroy a giant missile system. MX... a spy novel that, although written in 1978, has much relevance today. I was convinced that the MX system had some serious drawbacks, but I was not really in a position to tell why. I possessed very high-level defense security clearances, and this severely restricted my ability to publicly say anything credible on the subject of missile defense. So what to do? (Posted 1 September 2002.)
A Winning Strategy for National Missile Defense (NMD). This open letter to the US President describes how a National Missile Defense system can work. Effective nuclear defense is virtually impossible to accomplish once the attacking missiles are in space on a ballistic trajectory toward their targets. A defense strategy that does work, however, is to destroy ALL foreign missiles upon launch.(20 May 2000.)
On Saving the Environment, and the Inevitability of Global War. This article discusses the likelihood of global war and how it relates to the global environmental problem. The thesis of the article is that the Earth's environmental problem will continue to worsen until global war occurs. (8 May 2001.)
Why Serious Nuclear War Must Be Global in Scope. This article explains why National Missile Defense (NMD) will motivate larger nuclear weapon stockpiles and why, if nuclear war occurs, it will be global in scope. (23 May 2001.)
On War and Peace. An article on the necessity of war for ensuring the health of the human species and the biosphere. (4 August 2002, updated 28 August 2002.)
How to Win the War in Iraq: An Open Letter to President George W. Bush Divide (balkanize) the country into three parts – three countries: one for the Kurds (“Kurdistan”), one for the Sunnis (“Sunnistan”) and one for the Shiites / Shias (“Shiastan”). (8 May 2004, expanded 12 May 2004.)
A charge of treason against the President of the United States An open letter to President George W. Bush. In your oath of office, you swore to defend the Constitution of the United States. Article I, Section 8, states, “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” Article IV, Section 4, states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.” The Constitution is very explicit: it is your sworn duty to protect the country from invasion. (1 December 2004.)
Other Politics (American Independence Movement, Preparation Party) While the central political focus of the Foundation website is the international (planetary) level, it is recognized that human beings are affected by politics at all levels: international, national, state and local. With respect to the national level (the United States), my views are as presented in the following documents. (Originally published September 11, 2001; updated May 31, 2016 (minor edits, such as hypertext links).)
The American Independence Movement
Founded February 20, 2001, at Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Mission: To save the planet's environment and biodiversity from the destruction being caused by large human population and industrial activity; to increase the likelihood of the long-term survival of mankind; to enhance the long-term security of the United States; and to prepare its citizens for survival in the post-industrial era.
Platform: A strong military, economic self-sufficiency, political and social stability, an independent foreign policy, and preservation of the global natural environment.
Founder Message. ... On the establishement of a political movement, the American Independence Movement (AIM), which has the dual goals of saving the Earth's environment and stopping the ongoing "sixth extinction" that imperils both mankind and all other large species, and of enhancing the long-term survival of America.
Founder Bio. One-page biographical sketch of Joseph George Caldwell.
The Preparation Party (affiliated with the American Independence Movement)
Founded August 15, 2009, at Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA
Mission: The goal of the Preparation Party is to prepare for that development, and promote the likelihood that a fragment of the United States survive, after its coming collapse. The ultimate purpose of promoting this survival is to promote the establishment of a long-term-survivable planetary management system.
Preparation Party Platform. The immediate goal of the Preparation Party (PP) is preparation for survival of a remnant of the United States after the collapse of the global industrial /economic system and the disintegration of the US in the post-petroleum era. The ultimate goal of the PP is the establishment of a long-term-sustainable planetary management system, e.g., as described in Can America Survive?
Local-level political views: Position Statement for an unrealized 2004 run for office as US Representative from Florida. The current system of global anarchy (“lack of rule”) will be replaced by a system of global synarchy (“joint, ‘together,’ cooperative, or unitary rule”), with a single planetary management organization that is committed to the long-term survival of the biosphere and mankind. Under synarchy, growth-based economics will cease to be the basis for planetary management. Large-scale global industrial production will cease. The out-of-control anarchic system of multinational laissez-faire politics will come to an end. With a single nation, there will be no war. The human population will remain at a low level that does not harm or destroy the biosphere, but operates harmoniously as a small, integral part of it. The destruction of the global environment and the biosphere will stop. The mass species extinction will stop.
