Last Week in Collapse: February 18-24, 2024
It’s been two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, and the world is heating up.
Last Week in Collapse: February 18-24, 2024
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter compiling some of the most important, timely, useful, soul-crushing, ironic, stunning, or otherwise must-see/can’t-look-away moments in Collapse.
This is the 113th newsletter. You can find the February 11-17 edition here on Reddit if you missed it last week. Thank you for subscribing to the Substack. If you know someone who should read this, please consider forwarding this to them.
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Parts of the Amazon rainforest not targeted by loggers are becoming susceptible to wildfires. As the planet warms, melting permafrost is unleashing radon gas into the atmosphere. England had its wettest winter in 25+ years, while Morocco enters a 6th year of Drought.
China experienced its largest temperature gap in recorded history: temperatures hit -52.3 °C (-62 °F) in Xinjiang and 38 °C (100 °F) in southern China. China is also missing all its 2025 climate targets, even as clean energy is seeing an unprecedented boom. The planet also experienced its hottest 12-month period in history, according to data ending last January.
Lake Superior, between Canada and the U.S., is seeing record low amounts of ice since data began being collected 50+ years ago. Ordinarily in late February, the lake is 40% covered by ice. Today: only 2%. The implications for algae blooms and the underwater ecosystems are also serious. Meanwhile, the Colorado River, fed by tributaries across 7 states (plus Mexico), is drying up, and a commission which is supposed to conclude a mutual agreement by March. However, an agreement does not appear forthcoming, signaling years of water conflict ahead. Alberta is also facing encroaching Drought, and some communities have recorded record low groundwater reserves. Months-old wildfires continue burning in western Canada.
Canada’s winters are not what they once were, and long-time residents are concerned. Ice skating outside is just a memory for many, and the premature closure of ice palaces, skiing opportunities, and other winter activities is just the start. In Colombia, sacred glaciers are melting. Ireland’s largest lake, according to some scientists, may be experiencing cascading ecosystem Collapse, triggered partially by a massive algae bloom last year.
Officials are still concerned about a lasting drought in the Mediterranean. A study suggests the Pacific Northwest will see more wildfires burning in the future. Milan is inundated with smog...and drought. Landslides around LA after a storm dumped 10 inches (25 cm) of rain in some places over a couple days.
“Pinning points” (undersea ice formations which anchor large chunks of sea ice in place) are melting faster than expected. More than twice the rate compared to 50 years ago, to be a little more precise. The Nature study attributes this change to warming sea temperatures and rising sea levels. Sea ice around Antarctica remains at dangerously low concentrations.
Switzerland is calling on the UN to explore solar geoengineering solutions. The UN General Assembly will vote next week on the proposal, though the vote is non-binding. A number of mostly European nations are growing more concerned about the impact a potential AMOC Collapse will have on global climate patterns.
A study from January looking into carbon sequestration suggests that the best place to store carbon may be in deep sea basins lacking oxygen.
Record temperatures were recorded in Mexico, and parts of Argentina, and around parts of southern Africa, in Nicaragua, up and down Thailand, February records in part of the Philippines and in Europe, record hot February nights in Indonesia, and several records set in Australia. Kashmir ended its warmest January on record…until next year, that is.
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South Korea issued its highest emergency yet for the healthcare industry because the government wanted to raise the number of trainee doctors. Thousands of doctors walked out in protest.
Some scientists are reportedly concerned that chronic wasting disease, that scary prion disease, might one day make the jump to humans. Recent research into PFAS chemicals found significantly higher than expected concentrations near an airbase in New Mexico.
A Columbia University study determined that our bottled water contains more nanoplastics than previously estimated. A study in Frontiers in Marine Science examined nano/microplastics around the Canary Islands to determine how currents, water depths, the shape of the microplastics, and other factors impact their travel. In Australia, treated wastewater is bringing microplastics into farming fields—and then up the food chain.
Scientists are worried that climate change is amplifying cholera. Last year, an average of about 80,000 cholera cases were recorded every month, resulting in 5,500+ deaths worldwide. There was yet another human case of H5N1 in Cambodia.
Although COVID and RSV cases in the United States appear to be trending downward, flu cases remain very high. Yet another study on Long COVID suggests that its impacts tend to differ based on various health factors. Every new infection of COVID raises the risk of a severe Long COVID diagnosis. Another study suggests that Long COVID’s brain fog may be a symptom of a weakening blood-brain barrier.
“Long Covid can manifest in people across the life span (from children to older adults) and across race and ethnicity, sex, and baseline health status. It is a complex nonmonolithic multisystemic disease with sequelae across almost all organ systems. Long Covid is likely a disease with many subtypes that may have different risk factors (genetic, environmental, etc.) and distinct biologic mechanisms that may respond differently to treatments. For example, the prototypical (classic) form of Long Covid (with brain fog, fatigue, dysautonomia, and postexertional malaise) is more common in younger adults and in females. Other forms of Long Covid, including those with cardiovascular and metabolic sequelae, are manifest more often in older adults and those with comorbidities.”
Lasting droughts in Iraq are increasing pollutant concentrations, pushing a water treatment system to the brink of Collapse. Air pollution is also linked to Alzheimer’s disease...
The World Bank is warning that economies of the world must accelerate their growth in order to repay mounting debts. Personal household debt is rising across the United States, and some economists are warning of a financial crisis in the U.S. ahead.
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“The greatest threat is not from the outside of our country. I really believe it is from within.” So said Donald Trump at a Christian media convention last week. A study from Rice University confirmed that, yes, Americans really are as polarized as they appear to be. However, another study out of Dartmouth claims that 4% of Americans support partisan political violence—although supposedly both Democrats and Republicans estimate that over 40% of the opposing party supports political violence.
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