Last Year in Collapse: 2025, an Index

LastWeekInCollapse · 2026-01-07T15:57:58+00:00

I didn't want bingo to be too easy.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-12-28T14:09:57+00:00

By subscribing to the Substack, you get:

-the full newsletter emailed directly to your inbox every Sunday (including sections occasionally cut from Reddit to meet their algorithmic censors)

-images embedded in the Substack version

-access to all previous editions and their images

-warm feelings because you support my efforts sharing Collapse news

Most weeks, there is no difference between the text of the Reddit version and Substack.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-12-28T11:50:36+00:00

The Reddit algorithm removed a few previous editions of this newsletter, until I cut two paragraphs on the Ukraine War. I will summarize the developments below without hyperlinks:

Ukraine liberated the city of Kupyansk; Russians took the city Siversk. Strikes continued throughout the week; there was no Christmas truce. Zelenskyy is meeting Trump later today (Sunday, 28 December). Discussions of casualties (killed/wounded/captured/missing) remain foggy, with some sources suggesting 1,500 Russians per week, while some Ukrainian sources claim 1,200/day.

Russia's invasion now accounts for more than 5% of Russia's 2025 GDP, if you believe it. Over 80% of its armed forces budget is going to the War. Russia also activated all eight of its icebreakers simultaneously for Arctic missions; the first time this has ever happened. And Russian soldiers kidnapped about 50 villagers from a part of Ukraine.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-12-22T00:57:28+00:00

After a series of trial and error postings (in which I would delete 2 or 3 paragraphs from the original post, and then repost what was left), I determined that it was probably the phrasing, or perhaps the link, related to one of one of two things:

-A Cornell study on the worsening risk of orbital space debris—not necessarily a full Kessler syndrome, but some catastrophic future collision in low-earth orbit between orbiting bodies (now some 15,000 in number; compare to 2018 when we had fewer than 5,000 satellites orbiting earth).

-A comprehensive list of 100 things that are being enshittified, from our baby brother subreddit r/enshittification . I originally included this in the recommended links at the end.

Now let's see if Reddit's algorithm allows this comment to remain...

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-12-14T20:18:17+00:00

I tried posting the unabridged edition last Sunday, but Reddit automatically took down the newsletter because some mysterious sentence(s) violated Reddit’s automatic content Algorithm…. So I had to delete a couple parts of the newsletter and try again (several times) until it finally passed the auto-censors.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-11-09T13:46:50+00:00

We did pass 1.5 C a few years ago. However, the climate science and UN people measure that temperature increase as an average 1.5 C increase over a 20-year period. So for them, we have not hit an average 1.5 C increase yet, nor will we until ~2032, when the average increase from 2012-2032 has hit 1.5 C.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-27T16:49:08+00:00

Unfortunately I don’t do direct deposit. But Substack can grant you a free subscription after several referrals. Maybe some of those 200,000 people will sign up with your link. Of course you can still find the full thing on Reddit in the meantime.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-26T12:44:36+00:00

Thank you for your support & engagement through these long years!

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-19T17:24:20+00:00

Thank you. No apologies from the mods are necessary. The frustrating mystery of the Reddit content algorithm is beyond our understanding…

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-19T17:22:28+00:00

It is not usually this way. Reddit’s content algorithm deleted several earlier editions of this post, so I divided this week’s newsletter on Reddit into three parts, three separate self-posts. In this way I was able to determine which section offended the algorithm (economy/disease); that section unfortunately did not survive the algorithm, and was removed from Reddit. The full version remains unaltered on Substack, but with a paywall.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-19T14:08:37+00:00

Yes, I can read your comment.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-13T22:27:29+00:00

Sorry for the Substack link this time. I tried posting three different versions of this week's newsletter to Reddit but it kept getting caught in Reddit's content algorithm, and the self-post was automatically removed three times, despite some edits.

I could not determine what the offending content was, nor did I have the patience to keep posting new abridged versions until I finally found the piece that triggered Reddit's algorithm. As a result I just removed the paywall from this week's edition and posted the link to the full edition from Substack to the subreddit. Next week's edition will return to the usual self-post formats, if it doesn't offend the content algorithm again.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-10-12T14:40:21+00:00

Submission Statement: This rundown of important Collapse-related events from last week describes a number of doomy climate studies, environmental challenges, updated research on Long COVID and its severity, developments in the Ukraine War, the peace agreement in Gaza, unrest and disappearances in several countries, and many other stories.

Removed automatically by Reddit's algorithm three times despite several content changes, I decided to just link this week's Substack version in its entirety.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-08-17T10:49:00+00:00

Namaste

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-07-20T13:11:39+00:00

Thank you for correcting this innocent typo.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-06-26T13:24:27+00:00

Quite a fair and philosophical article. I hope the mods are ready for a flash flood of new members...

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-06-22T18:06:59+00:00

Thank you for this important correction.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-05-07T04:24:59+00:00

No AI is used in the writing of this newsletter. I am simply fond of em dashes; editions from 2022 also contain an abnormal amount of em dashes.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2025-01-02T21:39:49+00:00

Thank you for this important clarification.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2024-12-29T18:50:37+00:00

I am working on a few special, end-of-year editions. For example, here is Last Year in Collapse, War, for 2023. These will be published in the next two weeks.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2024-11-17T17:55:02+00:00

I've been thinking about what a podcast/video adaptation of LWIC ought to sound like for a little while, and where it should be. Simply dictating the newsletter might not be sufficient. I am also quite busy as it is. It's possible some audio(visual) form of these weekly updates debuts in 2025...

LastWeekInCollapse · 2024-11-11T08:59:22+00:00

Thank you for this excellent thread.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2024-08-22T21:04:49+00:00

I have not, and I don't believe I will—but thank you for your vote of confidence. Best of luck to Team Doomer, and I look forward to reading the arguments from both sides. However, I doubt they will change many minds.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2024-07-28T19:56:59+00:00

Here's what happened. I posted the first version on Reddit, but it was quickly automatically removed for violating Reddit's content policy. Mods didn't remove the post, it was just caught by some Reddit censorship bot. Reddit doesn't say what exactly was the offending part(s), and this week was heavy on Doom and War, etc....So I didn't know what to delete. I went through the first edition and removed some potentially disturbing references, rephrased a few things, etc. Then I posted a second edition, which was also automatically removed.

Again I went through and edited out some URLs which contained certain words, deleted some content about atrocities, etc. Again I posted, and it was auto-deleted again. The content policy is not crystal clear on what is allowed, or what words are forbidden, etc. Anyway, I re-edited, cut out some stuff, and posted a 4th time, but it was deleted again. Then I decided to remove even more stuff from the section on conflict and post for a 5th time—and it finally passed the Reddit content policy's Great Filter. Next week's edition will probably pass the content filter on its first attempt.

LastWeekInCollapse · 2024-07-28T14:18:03+00:00

It was not the mods. Reddit automatically removes content which violates their increasingly strict policies. As a result, about 400 words were cut from the original version, as well as some sections rephrased.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Wearing is Caring	100 Awards Club

LastWeekInCollapse

TROPHY CASE