Last Week in Collapse: April 14-20, 2024
Sudan’s War turns one, extreme weather kills hundreds, and a not-so-old virus has resurfaced.
Last Week in Collapse: April 14-20, 2024
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter compiling some of the most important, timely, useful, soul-crushing, ironic, stunning, exhausting, or otherwise must-see/can’t-look-away moments in Collapse.
This is the 121st newsletter. You can find the long April 7-13 edition here if you missed it last week. Thank you for subscribing to the Substack.
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Mount Ruang exploded on Wednesday, and experts worry that the mighty Indonesian stratovolcano may Collapse—causing a tsunami in the surrounding waters. Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated.
Scientists claim that Mali’s deadly heat wave a couple weeks ago—which killed 100+ people, most of whom were 60+ years old—would not have been possible were it not for manmade climate change. Shell Oil says that taking more action against climate change is “unrealistic.” A study in Nature Climate Change released on Wednesday forecasts losses of 10-17% of national GDP at 3 °C warming.
Flash floods killed 20+ people in Oman, and 1 in the UAE, forcing the temporary shutdown of Dubai’s airport—where a year’s worth of rain fell in a single day, setting a new daily record. In Mongolia, wildfires burnt 70,000+ hectares of forests and pastures. El Niño and the lingering effects of 2023’s Cyclone Freddy have been blamed for farming problems in Malawi. Scotland is experiencing its wettest April on record.
Good news: Greece has banned bottom trawling in its marine areas. Bad news: the ban takes effect in some marine sites in 2026, and won’t cover all protected waters until 2030. And, since Greece is the first European country to implement a ban, no other nearby nation has implemented such a restriction.
Some corporations know what many have long forgotten: “water is more valuable than oil.” One company flipped the water rights of a town in Arizona for $14M profit. States in the Colorado River basin are experiencing the prisoner’s dilemma the hard way—and Mexico’s growing water crisis is causing them to withhold water from Texas, portending a poor citrus & sugar season ahead. In central Mexico, drought and water theft, plus deforestation, are taking a severe toll on water use, fishing, and tourism. In parts of India, groundwater is gone, and farmers rely on trucked water to sustain their dying farms.
As flooding worsens in western Siberia, radioactive waste, deposited in two underground reservoirs, is threatening to resurface, potential flowing down rivers to the Arctic Ocean. Meanwhile, the desertification of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan is leading to increased dust pollution, which accelerates glacial melt and impacts human health. The once-large salty lake has transformed the land into a large desert, the world’s youngest, known as the Aralkum. This desert is a little smaller than Latvia—but growing.
A U.S. non-profit released the 24-page report on America’s 10 Most Endangered Rivers of 2024, and the results span the entire country. New Mexico’s rivers are the most endangered, particularly after a 2023 Supreme Court ruling cut protections for seasonal rivers. The loss of wetlands is leading to the destruction of two Mississippi rivers, the second-most endangered. Tennessee’s Duck River is dropping because of human overconsumption, #3 on the list. Drought, human use, and pollution is damaging #4, the Santa Cruz River. #5, the Little Pee Dee River in the Carolinas, is mostly at risk from the development of a new interstate and its destructive impact on wetlands.
“Climate sensitivity” indicates the relationship between CO2 levels and global warming. A study from Science Advances looked into ancient earthly temperatures (from 19,000 BCE) to better forecast future temperatures based on CO2 ppm. It adjusted our worst-case scenario threshold from 5 °C warming to just 4 °C. The Southern and East Pacific Oceans are forecast to warm faster than others. Researchers also determined that low-pressure storms sweeping into Australia are becoming more common—and carrying more water.
Part of Pakistan “experienced precipitation levels exceeding the historical average by 99 percent” from April 1-17, and lightning reportedly killed 28 people…Dozens others were killed by the storms— at least 135 dead altogether. Flooding in southern China displaced tens of thousands.
Parts of Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye set new records for April night temperatures. Western Sahara broke an April record, as did several Balkan countries. Mexico City also broke a temperature record.
19+ died in landslides in Indonesia. 15+ forest fires burn in Thailand. Flooding killed 58+ people in Tanzania over the last two weeks. Flash floods in Afghanistan slew at least 33.
Climate change is being blamed for cockroach infestations in Spain—as well as the changing genetic composition of cockroaches. Scientists say that, as wildlife dies, nature may become more of an “acoustic fossil,” still & dead.
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A new strain of monkeypox—”mpox” as it was later rebranded—has surfaced in the DRC, and officials claim it has “pandemic potential.” This variant is said to be more contagious and doesn’t always appear on tests. Officials say it is transmitted mostly through sexual contact. This strain of Mpox “is endemic in an animal reservoir in nature yet to be identified,” one scientist said.
H5N1 continues to lurk in the background, with doctors alarmed about the virus’ expansion and terrified about a future human-to-human transmission. Another disease, “rabbit fever,” also known as tularemia is spreading through beavers in Utah; it can be transmitted through the bite of a tick or fly.
The World Bank claims that COVID increased poverty and income inequality in many of the world’s poorest countries. The advance edition of the 130-page report is heavy on financial graphs, and paints a mixed picture of the future.
“COVID-19 saw GDP growth in these {very low income} countries fall to 0.3 percent in 2020—the lowest rate recorded since the early 1980s….The combination of pre-pandemic vulnerabilities, recent overlapping crises, and wider problems—including the effects of climate change and increases in violence and conflict—is weighing heavily on these countries’ economic and social development….These countries account for 92 percent of the world’s food-insecure people, after a doubling of their food insecure populations since 2019….a more fundamental structural slowdown is likely to persist globally throughout the remainder of the decade…” -excerpts from the report
Several large regions in China are seeing buildings sinking—some by more than 1 cm per year—as water extraction accelerates. Many cities are sinking faster than the sea levels rise. In California, similar things are happening in the San Joaquin Valley.
Sierra Leone hasn’t paid its electricity provider—so their power has been shut off for weeks. The country owes nearly $50M (USD) to Karpowership, a Turkish energy company providing mobile power from a large powership offshore. In Ecuador, Drought has led to a hydropower crisis, feeding into their growing insecurity. Nigeria’s power grid Collapsed again last week, for the 6th time this year.
A British doctor who held a sign saying “no new oil” at a Just Stop Oil protest in the UK may lose her license to practice medicine. Meanwhile, Canada’s healthcare system continues to Collapse from extended wait times & overworked medical staff. Coffee prices hit new highs as shortages tighten in Brazil & Vietnam. British food prices are increasing as well, a combination of local flooding and international shortages & shipping issues.
A study into pollution from coal trains, supposedly the first of its kind, confirms the obvious: increased rates of heart disease, asthma, and pneumonia to those living nearby.
“I'm bedridden for two to three weeks if I try to do a gentle walk," said a former triathlete with a terrible case of Long COVID. A study in Environment International determined that toxins from some microplastics can be absorbed through skin contact, especially through sweaty skin.
Shadow banking, unregulated electronic traders, and the growth of private investing markets have reportedly contributed to increased instability in global financial markets. Institutions are rapidly trying to “de-risk” their investments, but the share of global private & governmental debt has never been greater—and the piles of cash held by colossal megacorporations like Amazon & Apple & Meta & Alphabet, etc. have never been larger. While most countries’ growth forecasts are fairly dim—or even negative—the U.S. forecast is still decent, carried, perhaps, by corporate extraction and rising consumer spending/debt.
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