A number of catastrophes could block the sun, including asteroid/comet impact, super volcanic eruption, and nuclear war with the burning of cities (nuclear winter). The problem of feeding 7 billion people would arise (the food problem is more severe than other problems associated with these catastrophes). Previous work has shown this is possible converting stored biomass to food if industry is present. A number of risks could destroy electricity globally, including a series of high-altitude electromagnetic pulses (HEMPs) caused by nuclear weapons, an extreme solar storm, and a super computer virus. Since industry depends on electricity, it is likely there would be a collapse of the functioning of industry and machines. Additional previous work has shown that it is technically feasible to feed everyone given the loss of industry without the loss of the sun. It is possible that one of these sun-blocking scenarios could occur near in time to one of these industry-disabling scenarios. This study analyzes food sources in these combined catastrophe scenarios. Food sources include extracting edible calories from killed leaves, growing mushrooms on leaves and dead trees, and feeding the residue to cellulose-digesting animals such as cattle and rabbits. Since the sun is unlikely to be completely blocked, fishing and growing ultraviolet (UV) and cold-tolerant crops in the tropics could be possible. The results of this study show these solutions could enable the feeding of everyone given minimal preparation, and this preparation should be a high priority now.

Thomas Aquinas, one of the "founding fathers" of just war theory, offers an account of virtuous warfare in practice. The author argues that Aquinas's approach to warfare, with its emphasis on justice and charity, is helpful in providing a coherent moral account of war to which Christians can subscribe. Particular attention is given to the role of charity, since this virtue is the distinguishing characteristic of the Christian soldier. Charity compels him to soldier justly, and by fighting justly, he is elevated by God to friendship with God. Notable features of this approach are its emphasis on the criteria for judging whether a war is just and its relativizing of the criteria for proper combat behavior.

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Aristotle reported that some peoples rewarded their warriors returning from battle in proportion to how many they killed and punished those who had not killed enough (Politics VII.1324blO-22). Christians have not followed the example of such peoples. In the place of rewards Christians have often demanded penance for those returning from battle. Exactly why penance was thought necessary in some cases is not perfectly clear, but it is clear that penance was demanded at least from those who fought unjustly and sometimes even from those who fought justly. So, from the very beginning of Christian involvement in warfare, ecclesiastical authorities demanded that at least some, if not always all, Christian soldiers should do penance. The Christian just war doctrine has always played a large role in shaping Christian moral approaches to war. When the church did not demand penance from all soldiers, the just war doctrine is what allowed it to judge exactly who needed penance. For the just war doctrine is the tool that allows the church to distinguish justice from injustice in war, and thus to distinguish soldiers deserving of praise and those deserving of shame and penance. PENANCE FOR SOLDIERING: WHO AND WHY Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Irish, and French penitentials up until the eleventh century all prescribed penances for soldiers who killed in battle.

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