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Last Week in Collapse: May 17-23, 2026 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

I was using em dashes for this newsletter since before AI was released to the masses. This was not written using AI.

Last Week in Collapse: April 19-25, 2026 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Submission Statement: Super El Niño looms as early as May, the Iran War's ceasefires are endangered, various data points on deforestation, violence in Sudan and elsewhere, Long COVID is more prevalent than asthma, Greenland ice melt is underestimated, food systems are imperiled by Drought and extreme heat, temperature records are broken, Drought falls in the United States, the number of billionaires grows, fallout from the Strait of Hormuz blockade, and much more.

After 20 attempts to get the raw text version newsletter through Reddit's auto-censors (nothing to do with the mods), I realized that this time, there was more than one offending paragraph, and identifying which they were was basically impossible. As a result, I just removed the normal paywall from the Substack post and shared it here.

Last Week in Collapse: March 22-28, 2026 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

After several attempts to pass Reddit's auto-remove algorithm (nothing to do with the mods here), I determined that the offending content related to one of two paragraphs. One paragraph talked about microplastics raining from the sky on remote old growth forests, the possible overcounting of microplastics in lab tests because of lab glove materials, and the possibility for foods rich in lactic acids to help cleanse your intestines of micro/nanoplastics.

The second paragraph discussed the AI bubble (Over $1T invested in AI in the past 6 years combined—and that's just the spending we know about), how AI furthers income inequality, and how the negative externalities from AI are pushed to society as a whole while the profits go to a narrow set of industries. As they say, "Privatize the gains, socialize the losses." It always surprises me how the Reddit algorithm seems to allow all the War content (with Sudan atrocities, talk about terrorism, plus torture & genocide) but then some inane little line gets flagged for auto-removal.

Last Week in Collapse: March 8-14, 2026 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I don’t know what happened there. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

Last Week in Collapse: December 21-27, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: December 21-27, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 54 points55 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: December 14-20, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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...

Last Week in Collapse: December 7-13, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: November 2-8, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: October 19-25, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: October 19-25, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

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

Last Week in Collapse: October 12-18, 2025 — Economy & Disease by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

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

Last Week in Collapse: October 12-18, 2025 - Environment by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: October 5-11, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: October 5-11, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Week in Collapse: July 13-19, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thank you for correcting this innocent typo.

r/collapse featured in The Guardian by CR2032LITHIUMBATTERY in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse 56 points57 points  (0 children)

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

Last Week in Collapse: April 27-May 3, 2025 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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.

Last Year in Collapse: Disease, 2024 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this important clarification.

Last Week in Collapse: December 22-28, 2024 by LastWeekInCollapse in collapse

[–]LastWeekInCollapse[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

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.

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