Virtually every fish in one of Arizona’s largest lakes has died after the reservoir fell to less than 1% of its capacity.
This spring, the mountain snow that feeds the reservoir reached just 2% of its normal level. With almost no inflow, the lake shrank dramatically, the water overheated, oxygen levels collapsed, and nearly 100% of the fish suffocated.
But drought wasn’t the only reason.
Even as the reservoir was collapsing, water continued flowing downstream to supply farms under agreements written decades ago, when a snowpack collapse this severe was considered unthinkable.
The ecosystem kept losing water while the climate that sustained it had already changed.
The rules were built for a world that no longer exists.
Climate change isn’t only testing ecosystems. It’s testing the systems we built to manage them.
Before and after: San Carlos Reservoir, Arizona (2023 vs. 2026).
[Source: NASA Earth Observatory, June 2026.]
One thing you'll notice is that most Western Marxist critiques are solely destructive. They say what the object of critique shouldn't be doing, but they don't offer up an alternative that actually takes into account the conditions that gave rise to the choices they are attacking.
One of the most interesting speeches I’ve come across: Afghanistan’s late president, Najibullah asked in the 80s why so many foreign Arab fighters traveled to Afghanistan for jihad when Palestine was right next door.