The Dynamics of Collapse
https://edro.wordpress.com/collapsing-cities/The following exhibit lists the most probable [leading] causes that would drive the first wave of world’s cities to collapse. [Note: Data is listed alphabetically]
Accumulation of toxic pollution in the environment
Civil conflict
Collapse of fisheries/fish species
Collapse of natural pest regulation systems
Corporate mass homicide
Deforestation
Desertification
Droughts
Economic collapse
Epidemics of plant and animal diseases
Excessive energy consumption
Extreme climatic events (including extreme rain events, floods)
Failing ecosystems
Famine
Foodborne, waterborne, airborne and insectborne infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, parasitic, fungal, prion)
Fuel shortage
Global collapse of pollinators
Habitat destruction
Human-enhanced natural catastrophes including earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, tropical storms, cyclones, extreme rainfall events, landslides, volcanic eruptions, droughts and wildfires …
Human-induced climate change
Increased UV radiation
Industrial accidents (including radionuclide, chemical and oil spills)
Inordinate prevalence of psychopathology caused by exponential growth economy: money fetishism, industrialism, militarism, atomistic lifestyles, consumerism, throwaway culture, dysfunctional societies …
Land use change
Loss of Topsoil
Loss of Will to Live
Mass migrations
Mass murder/suicide as a result of neurological disorder caused by mercury [other heavy metals,] poisoning, biochemical poisoning, contaminated food and water supplies, tainted drugs especially vaccines
Moral decline (unethical behavior, unsustainable lifestyles, overconsumption)
New Strains of Superbugs, super bacteria, killer fungi
Overshoot of Carrying Capacity; Increased ecological footprint; Overpopulation (esp. DCs*)
Overwhelmed by mounting waste: agricultural, municipal (garbage and sewage) and industrial
Poor global harvest/Food scarcity [Humans are one harvest away from starvation!]
Poverty
Running Dry (Running out of freshwater)
Sinking into the ground (large-scale subsidence caused by overuse of groundwater supplies)
Societal collapse
Soil degradation (salination, erosion … )
Spread of pandemic diseases
The American Dream (and its global equivalents)
The death of truth, surrender of concreteness to abstractions, defeat of ‘right’ by ‘sight,’ loss of reason [and the essential faculties needed] to advance to the future
Tourism [euphemistically, eco-tourism]
War (conventional and nuclear)
Unnamed mechanisms
Unknown causes or new mechanisms of collapse