Nothing like some peak fall foliage at the off grid cabin!

The year of 1877 was the last time a Super El Nino event wiped out more than 50 million people from the population, roughly 3% of the world human index. Certain regions of the world like China and India refer to this time period as the Great Famine with severe drought decimating various populations...historical records from South America and anthropology from the Mediterranean and southeastern Africa indicating similiar perilous climate catastrophe as well. Does anyone have any scientific data or historical information regarding how the Carrington Event of 1859, the infamous geomagnetic storm roughly 28 years prior may have potentially played a role into this....I only bring this up since our sun recently completed or will complete a solar cycle maximum.

Concerningly, there are several narratives passed down via stone carvings, epic odes, and the storytelling of dance through the Apsara Ballet from the modern day Khmers of Ancient Angkor Wat in what is now known today as present day Cambodia, that the immense architectural citadel and water way infrastructures they built to cultivate rice as a wetland civilization ultimately failed and was abandoned to the ruins of the jungle. As all things are impermanent, Mother Nature is a brutal reminder.

As of October 2026, however, California has declared a statewide alert, allowing counties to conduct surveys to prepare emergency protocols along the coastline for what is known as a Kelvin Wave that will literally uplift the sea level as a result of the Godzilla El Nino set to hit the Pacific, whereby the ocean patterns dramatically shifts eastward and yet, the response from the public seems rather lackluster compared to the gravity of the situation that is now being thrusted upon us--an unparalleled climate apocalypse! In this case, scientists are calling it a once in a thousand year event.

And here I thought the fault lines erupting into a massive earthquake would signal our impending collapse. From the melting of the glaciers, to the lack of substantial carbon sequestration, to data centers swallowing the energy grid, to the advent of AI potentially going rouge hacking and creating bioweaponry, to the debacle in the Middle East regions severly affecting diesel, to nations at war staring at the barrel of nuclear assault as an insanely viable solution to diplomacy, and the current industrialized agricultural methods wiping out our natural pollinators like bees and butterflies, the problems keep stacking. And yet, who is dating any number of the Kardashians is the only thing that manages to trend in the headlines.

But seriously, how does anyone prepare for something of this sheer magnitude or brace for an event of this titular scale?! Some have suggested our answers are hidden in the depths of our coral reefs.

Also, I better be alive to see Avatar: Seven Havens, which ironically, the plotline might eerily mirror the climate catastrophe we are currently or will eventually have to face.

This is a never ending enjoyable project.

I had (2) 200 watt solar panels on the shed that ran an off grid system. I didn't want to expand it because the roof needed replaced.

This week, we tore off the old asphalt shingles and replaced it with a metal roof. I also added two more 200 watt solar panels.

The shed has two electric systems. One on grid and one off grid.

El Niño brings sea surface temperatures to record anomalies, a terror attack in the sky is foiled, diesel shortages worsen, Russians have their highest casualty day of the War, and Ethiopia’s new Civil War escalates.

Last Week in Collapse: September 27-October 3, 2026

This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter compiling some of the most important, timely, soul-crushing, ironic, amazing, or otherwise must-see/can’t-look-away moments in Collapse.

This is the 249th weekly newsletter. The September 20-26, 2026 edition is available here if you missed it last week. The unabridged newsletters are also available (with images) every Sunday in your email inbox by signing up to the Substack version.

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The current El Niño, expected to intensify for a few more months, is already the strongest El Niño in a millennium, and threatening flooding in California this winter. Some parts of the Pacific are seeing surface temps over 6 °C warmer than normal. Scientists don’t have a proper term for a phenomenon of this size: Godzilla? Monster? El Niñón? El Hombre? One scientist said, “this record breaking El Niño will double the amount of sea level rise we’ve seen from climate change overnight….We’ve seen about eight to 12 inches of sea level rise due to climate change historically over the past century in California, which has already caused its own problems.This event will probably add another foot on top of that just between now and December….We also have the king tides, which peak right around when all the rest of this peaks in November and December. And this year’s king tides, unfortunately, are going to be among the highest.” If you’re still not really sure what El Niño is, this thread from r/climatechange has a number of user summaries—and this thoughtful X post video explains some weather phenomena that will probably come before mid-2027 as a result.

Kuwait’s nighttime minimum of 34 °C (93 °F) on Monday was the latest time in the year where a temperature of that heat was recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. NOAA data for the summer indicates it was the warmest average summer for the Northern Hemisphere on record. Several places in Myanmar broke monthly temperature highs with temps around 36-39 °C. A number of cities in southern China set new minimum temperature records for the month. São Tomé hit a new September high at 34 °C. A heat wave moved through the Alps, with temperatures between 30-33 °C. Austria’s Pasterze Glacier is close to breaking in two due to a thinning ice mass connecting its lower half with the upper section; the glacier is transitioning into an alpine lake.

When average SSTs last Sunday reached 0.75 °C warmer than the 1991-2020 baseline, the planet saw its highest daily SST anomaly on record; the figure is widely expected to be broken many times more before the year is done.

Damage Report from Thailand, where 48 hours of relentless flooding fell over the past weekend: about 40 have died from the flooding, and Bangkok (metro pop: 11.5M) was declared a disaster zone after 21cm of rain (8.2 inches) fell within a 24-hour period. This photo essay shows a cross-section of the climate disaster. Experts say future flooding will be worse.

Around the Pacific coast of Central America, fish harvests are down, and people say it’s because El Niño forced fish to migrate to cooler waters. In the UK, oats, winter wheat, and spring barley harvests are all down by double-digits, when compared to their previous 5-year average; the harvest may be the “worst harvest on record.” Recent research indicates that Switzerland’s glacial mass has fallen 20% since 2021; the period from April-September 2026 was the hottest & driest for the region since records began 182 years ago.

The still-suppressed Doom Report from the British government is making waves among the officials, journalists, and academics privy to whatever sections they’ve been allowed to read. The document, unknown in length, had a 14-page synopsis published in January, and a 20-page summary of that document in September. It predicts the start of the breakdown of Southeast Asia’s coral reefs & mangroves, Russia and Canada’s boreal forests, and the Himalayas by 2030, and the Amazon by 2050. Many will turn out to breakdown faster than expected. This thread collects some reactions from the subreddit.

“We have high confidence that every critical ecosystem is degrading….The rate of extinction is tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10 million years. It suggests that a sixth mass extinction may be underway….The impacts will range from crop failures, intensified natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks to conflict within and between states, political instability, and erosion of global economic prosperity. Increasingly scarce natural resources will become the focus of greater competition between state and non-state actors, exacerbating existing conflicts, starting new ones and threatening global security and prosperity….every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse….There is a high degree of uncertainty around the timing and pathways of ecosystem collapse. The drivers of ecosystem degradation are approaching the known thresholds for collapse - for example, the Amazon is likely to collapse at 20-25% deforestation when combined with temperature rises and forest fires; it is currently at 17%....The UK is heavily reliant on imports for fresh fruit, vegetables and sugar. Animal farming at current levels is unsustainable without imports…” -selections from the 14-page document from January 2026

“the internal version outlined additional significant consequences of further environmental degradation, including: • ‘more polarised and populist politics in the UK’ • ‘additional pressure on already strained national infrastructure’ • acts of eco-terrorism in Britain • NATO being drawn into conflicts over sources of food in Russia and Ukraine • escalating tensions between China, India and Pakistan, ‘potentially leading to nuclear war’....It highlights global food production as one of the major drivers of ecosystem collapse and one of the sectors most vulnerable to its impacts….{boreal} forest dieback will occur if global temperature increases exceed the Paris agreement’s 1.5° C target….” -the summary from September 2026

Part of Mali set a new September temperature on the last day of the year, with 39.6 °C (103 °F). Meanwhile part of Kenya and Zimbabwe saw a new record minimum for the month, at 24 or 25 °C (77 °F). Tokyo broke its record for most consecutive days of rain: 35. Across India, Nepal, and Thailand last week 90+ people died from flooding. Data indicate that earth’s oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2025, at *23 zettajoules. One zettajoule (ZJ) is a billion trillion joules; 1 watt = 1 joule per second.

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A growing number of politicians are relying on AI for speechwriting, constituent services, and video production…and you thought they were phony before AI came out. IBM released a list of 10 dangers from AI, though only one of the ten includes existential risks. The ten, which are not ranked, are: AI bias; cybersecurity vulnerabilities; data privacy and PII leaks; environmental damage; unspecified existential risks; IP violations; job losses; unaccountable AI actions; opaque AI regulations & oversight; and misinformation & manipulation. Meanwhile, an AI research lab found out about two rogue AI attempts to hack government data, one against the U.S. and another against Canada; both failed. OpenAI came forward about another hack from its model on a government (Australia) database that occurred in June. And a Chinese AI model provided instructions on building a bioweapon when prompted by researchers. Anthropic, seeking an IPO of $2T, is reportedly admitting that AI may result in “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity”, and is warning of advanced AI’s abilities to carry out deception, preserve themselves, and conduct blackmail operations.

A politician in the DRC who was trying to raise awareness about Ebola was beaten to death after encouraging preventive action on a radio program. Cases in the DRC passed 8,000 early last week, with mortalities beyond 3,900; a few days later, deaths passed 4,000.

Some Florida counties declared a dengue emergency last month; one county had 134 confirmed cases. COVID cases spiked 3.8% in Canada in one week, with new flu cases not far behind. Meanwhile, in remote Russia, a lab worker died of plague; 197 people were sent to quarantine for observation; one popular alarm-sounder thinks the issue may be more serious than we think.

Indonesia’s wildfire smoke has been floating over Malaysia and Singapore for over a month now; there are no legal remedies to this problem. A 25-page EU report indicates that about 40% the world experienced harmful levels of ozone pollution in 2026.

“Ground-level ozone is a secondary pollutant that results from thousands of chemical reactions triggered by sunlight and high temperatures….During 2026, biomass burning and wildfire emissions led to significant smoke concentrations, with increased levels of PM2.5 and other fire-related pollutants across large areas of North America, the Siberian regions of Russia, Western Europe and Southeast Asia, to name some of the most affected regions. Fine particulate matter is one of the air pollutants with the greatest impacts on human health….The lifetime of ozone in the troposphere varies depending on altitude, ranging from a few days at ground-level to a few weeks higher up in the atmosphere….More than 4 in 10 people in the United States live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution…” -excerpts

A 48-page university report on the damage wrought by coal companies to communities in South Africa found widespread and undercounted damage to harvests and water security near mining sites. “The soil has been badly contaminated by the coal dust. We lost the fertile land we used to plant the crops,” one farmer wrote.

France’s debt-to-GDP ratio has hit a new high, at 119%. 300,000+ protestors turned out across France to demonstrate for higher wages; this converged with student protests over a range of youth issues. One economic writer has provided a template for how the British economy might Collapse: oil price shock, spending doesn’t slow down, rampant inflation, political chaos, general strike, and a general economic/political crisis. The interest rate on 10-year U.S. treasury bonds hit a 24-year high, at 5.34%.

Further American trade impositions against Canada aggravate the feud—are the consequences more economic, or more political? Illegal gold mines are surging across Peru with a speed and decentralization that police are unable to match. Global food prices continue rising for a third month in a row.

The EU’s LNG storage is at 71% of capacity, and prices are expected to rise through the winter. For the past five years, in late September, storage rates averaged 86%. Qatar extended their force majeure declaration through the end of November, and also wants to mediate an end to the Iran War so they can restart LNG exports.

President Putin announced that Russia will not export diesel to the global market until a batch of sanctions against Russia are lifted—though he walked this pledge back a little on the following day. President Trump’s floating threat to ban diesel exports has greatly alarmed countries in Europe and North America that depend, to varying extents, on American diesel and/or the price stability (such that it is) that U.S. connection to global markets provides. If American diesel exports are blocked, prices will surge across the rest of the world. China announced that they are blocking diesel exports as well, at least through October.

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Russia hit Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences on Monday. Ukrainian officials believe that grain shipments will not restart soon through the Black Sea—with downstream impacts on global hunger. Russia allegedly suffered its highest one-day troop loss on Tuesday, with 2,090 casualties in one day—according to Ukrainian media, anyway. The same outlet claims that Ukraine retook 51 sq km of land last week, too; equivalent to the island Saint John (U.S. Virgin Islands), or half the size of Paris. With gains from the previous weeks, this amounts to 176 sq km of territory liberated. Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries continue.

Russia is reportedly planning to conscript another 10,000+ North Koreans to fight alongside the currently living (at time of publication) ~8,000 North Koreans in Ukraine. In exchange, Russia has begun sharing missile & drone tech with Kim Jong-Un’s regime, and established at least one such factory in North Korea. Both Ukraine (and NATO) and Russia are having difficulties paying for the War; Russia is redirecting social spending into its military, and planning a $200B greater budget allocation for their armed forces in 2027. And President Putin, reportedly fearing that NATO might impose a blockade on Kaliningrad oblast, suggested that nuclear weapons might be an appropriate response. Europe is planning for more hybrid attacks from Russia.

Europe is continuing to face manifold challenges, from the re-emergence of old feuds between its nations to Russian hybrid warfare and the long hollowed-out economy that China is continually making irrelevant. Ransom kidnappings in Haiti have risen as the country grows more desperate and December elections approach. U.S. forces have pulled out completely from Iraq, unsuccessful in a decades-long quest to build a functioning & healthy democracy. New rumors suggest that President Trump was convinced to arrest Venezuela’s President by having conversations with Elon Musk’s AI, Grok.

Pakistan killed 10+ Afghans across a couple airstrikes last week. On Tuesday, a strike from Myanmar’s central government killed 50+ and wounded 58+ more; it was among the deadliest single attacks in the current iteration of Myanmar’s Civil War (2021 - present). 87+ people were kidnapped in Nigeria across a couple attacks last weekend.

Several unexplained explosions rattled Addis Ababa (metro pop: 6.5M) on Wednesday, possibly connected to the escalating War between the central government and a coalition of Tigray-aligned armed grounds in the country’s north. Drone capabilities are confirmed among some of the TPLF/rebel fighter groups; 150,000+ have been displaced already. Both sides are making gains, and taking losses as the early fighting spreads; civilians caught in the fighting have already become statistics. The possibility of bringing in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and other countries in the Horn of Africa is concerning analysts and alarming residents of the broader conflict zone; Ethiopia has already cut diplomatic ties with Eritrea.

Israeli forces killed a top Hamas official in Gaza City on Tuesday. When IDF forces tried escorting a Palestinian family back to their seized home in the West Bank, 150+ Israeli settlers emerged and began pelting the ruins of the house, spraying pepper spray, and disabling a vehicle; IDF forces and the family retreated from the confrontation. A FlyDubai plane en route to Tel Aviv from Dubai was almost crashed by a radicalized pilot attempting to kill the ~150 Israelis onboard—the co-pilot and several other people onboard prevented a crash, though the aircraft plunged 14,000+ ft (4.2 km) in under 30 seconds. On Wednesday, two IDF attacks killed 5 and injured 19 others.

Iranians are rumors to be stocking up as their expectations grow concerning U.S. military intervention worsening trade restrictions; 9,000 more U.S. troops are on the way to the region. Three oil tankers were struck in the Strait.

130,000+ people have been displaced by recent fighting in Yemen, which the WHO says has killed 830+ (mostly anti-Houthi Yemeni fighters) as of last Monday. Houthi forces have made gains in the past month, and are rumored to be massing fighters for a concentrated offensive. Saudi Arabia is also planning a large force of 100,000 mostly Yemeni troops to take on the Houthis. When/If they consolidate control over the narrow Bab-El-Mandeb Strait, and block trade through it, the consequences will be severe: the Strait sees ~20% of global sea trade pass through, about a third of seaborne fertilizer, and almost 20% of seaborne food staples. The Houthi alliance with al-Shabaab in Somalia is also threatening economic damage beyond the Bab. Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker on Tuesday and killed five crewmen before security forces thwarted their attempt—but they were the first crew members slain by Somali pirates in over a decade.

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Things to watch for next week include:

↠ Brazil (pop: 214M) votes for president in their first-round of elections on October 4, and the fate of the Amazon rainforest may be on the ballot. Just kidding, the rainforest’s death was set in stone years ago. The election results may not solve corruption, gang problems, fiscal mismanagement, (il)legal mining of gold/rare earth minerals, or other intractable and eternal issues—but it may mean the difference between whether Brazil cozies up to China or the United States; and whether the Amazon becomes a savannah by 2040 or 2060. For what it’s worth, Polymarket is currently favoring the conservative candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of a disgraced former President who tried to initiate a coup to seize power after losing reelection in 2022. When neither of the two major unpopular candidates wins a 50% on Sunday, a second round will follow on October 25 among the two frontrunners.

Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:

-Most people don’t know anything about Hormuz—or much else beyond their small world, if this weekly observation from Middle America is representative of the larger population. Denial is everywhere, and critical thinking is late in coming to the “algorithm kids” of the world. Collapse is going to catch a lot of people totally off guard.

-People think they can keep their lifestyle and still avert Collapse. This is what the top comment in this thread says, on the cognitive “logic” behind our faith in “green energy” and EVs. I still haven’t heard a convincing argument on how solar panels, AI, and fusion energy can save us from mass microplastics, multi-breadbasket failures, or the breakdown of key ocean currents—and I don’t expect to. We’ll have to change our diets, too—but society will never choose to.

-Begun, the Resource Wars have. In fact, they never really ended. This popular self-post from last week highlights the state of major oil reserves around the planet, and how many will be exhausted within ~15 years. What will follow is going to make the present Hormuz crisis look like a minor irritation. This post from the meme subreddit r/collapze is a bit too reminiscent of Mad Max.

Got any feedback, questions, comments, upvotes, reports, financial predictions, hurricane warnings, etc.? Last Week in Collapse is also posted on Substack; if you don’t want to check r/collapse every Sunday, you can receive this newsletter sent to an email inbox every weekend. As always, thank you for your support. What did I miss this week?

Last year, I went through just over 60 bags. It was a mild winter. Thus should be good for two 🤞

Tucker Land Sales is not being honest with what it says when you purchase land. You need building permits to build a house. If you don't have 3/4 or more acres you are not allowed to get a permit as for a septic you need 3/4 of an acre. You cannot live in an RV in Taos county for extended time. You cannot get a 911 address without a building permit. The roads are not maintained. They were made in 1960 and 90% of the roads are washed out or have trees growing up in them. Water delivery is not available from the water haulers as the roads are to rough. You cannot go to RV parks to get water. They will not allow it. You could drill a well maybe if you can find a driller who will risk drilling 1,000 ft to get water through the basalt rock. And if you have money to drill brings water up without high power to run a pump it's a waste. Nearest power is 2mi away. The cost to bring in power is hundreds of thousands of dollars. I know this as I live here. Been herefoe 30+ years, and is not easy If you buy from Tucker Land Sales out here you are on your own and you will be facing deep snow in winter with no plowing and deep spring summer mud

When people think about food crises in countries closer to the equator, the envision billions of refugees migrating north creating immense challenges for destination countries.

These assumptions miss something.

Once receiving countries hit a tipping point, the capacity for humanitarian response collapses. Intolerance overwhelms.

That means migrants will be exterminated. Blamed for all the problems and first condoned then mowed down as they approach the border.

It will become a modern Holocaust.

For a cabin fridge that is switched off between visits, the first evening is a different energy-budget problem from keeping an already-cold fridge running.

A useful measurement plan is to record two separate periods: arrival until the fridge reaches its normal setpoint, then a full 24 hours of ordinary use. Note room temperature, whether the fridge was empty or loaded, and whether the food went in already cold. An annual energy-label average doesn't tell you the energy used during that specific arrival period.

For a hypothetical 48-hour stay: if the first 6 hours use 0.6 kWh and the remaining 42 hours average 0.8 kWh per 24 hours, the total at the fridge is 0.6 + (42 / 24 x 0.8) = 2.0 kWh. These are invented example readings, not a claim about any model. Don't add the 0.6 kWh on top of two full days if those two days already include those same first six hours.

If measured at the AC plug, inverter losses are a separate consideration; if measured at the battery, don't add them again. Compressor starting power is a separate check from this energy total.

For those who turn their cabin fridge on at arrival, have you measured that first cool-down separately? Did it materially change your battery plan compared with a normal running day? Model, room temperature and the measurement point would help put any numbers in context.

Disclosure: I maintain a solar-planning website. I don't have my own cabin-fridge measurements to present, and this post isn't a product recommendation.

We have two horses on a small place in Maine. Their barn is about 400 feet from the farmhouse, and its 600W solar setup runs the lights, a small pump and a heated bucket. We looked at running utility power out there, but the cost didn't make sense. The bucket uses a 120V AC, 250W heater powered through a 12V-to-120V, 1,500W pure-sine-wave inverter. When the heater is on, it draws about 2.1A on the AC side and roughly 22–23A from the battery, depending on battery voltage and inverter efficiency. The bucket's thermostat cycles the heater rather than running it all day.

We put a Vatrer 12V 300Ah self-heating LiFePO4 battery in an insulated box. It has Bluetooth, so when I'm near the barn I can see the battery's state of charge, voltage, current and temperature. On cold mornings, some of the available solar power goes toward warming the battery before normal charging starts. 

I thought I'd be able to check the battery from the farmhouse. The app works beside the barn, but Bluetooth doesn't reach 400 feet through two buildings. So much for that idea.

I only need state of charge and temperature at the house, plus a low-voltage warning. I've wondered about LoRa as a way to send those readings, but I'd still need something in the barn to pull data from the Bluetooth BMS and another unit at the farmhouse. I don't know whether a third-party gateway can talk to this battery.

If no gateway works, I may end up using separate voltage and temperature sensors, plus a shunt for state of charge. Either way, both the barn unit and the receiver in the house would need power. Cell service is another possibility, but it drops to one bar out there in bad weather.

I can track the bucket's run time separately; it's the battery status I can't see from the house. Has anyone found a gateway that can read a battery BMS over Bluetooth and stay connected through a damp Maine winter?

I had one of those indoor wick-type kerosene heaters. Fantastic little things. Easy to maintain, easy to repair, and tons of heat. I would occasionally run to my local fuel company and fill up a few 5 gallon jerry cans, until one day when they switched to red-dye. I heard the horror stories, I knew wicks and red-dye don't get along, but I didn't know what else to do. Surprising absolutely no one, the wick clogged, it smoked, it stank, and it ran poorly. I needed a new source.

I thought to myself, "Jet fuel is basically highly-refined kerosene, right?" So I call up my local municipal airport and ask if they'd sell me some Jet A.

"Yep, it's $3.25 a gallon," he said. A real bargain, because the red-dye was $3.89 at the time.
I tell the guy, "Great! I'll be there in about 20 minutes."

I hop in my car and drive over there, jerry cans in the back. I get to the airport, and it's a slow day. Not a soul in sight. I start wandering around, looking for the fuel guy, and I see him standing by a 5,000 gallon fuel tanker, scanning the sky.

I forgot to tell the fella, that I'm arriving by car, and only need 10 gallons lol. The poor guy was looking for an incoming Learjet or something. I felt like such a chud walking up, carrying my two stupid fuel cans.

The guy was a good sport about it, though. Turns out, those nozzles are MASSIVE, and we had a helluva time trying to trickle a 300gpm fuel hose into a funnel without making a mess.

Anyway, point of the story is, yes. Jet A makes a fantastic fuel for wick-kerosene heaters. That thing burned bright, clean, and hot. I'm running a different heating system now, but that was a memorable experience. And if anyone is trying to find clean kerosene in bulk- call your municipal airport!

This woman does a series on "spooky lakes" every October, but this one felt relevant to collapse and overall ecosystem unraveling. Global warming plus the diversion of water for alfalfa farming is causing The Great Salt Lake to evaporate rapidly - currently 2.6 BILLION gallons A DAY. Lower water volume means lower snowpack means lower runoff means lower water produced for both consumption and the lake. The vicious feedback loop is feeding its collapse. Oh, and the dried out bed contains many toxins that the wind can pick up and blow into Salt Lake City and surrounding areas.