So when people thought it was okay to go swimming again, a “barge-apocalypse” is happening, which may give you second thoughts.
Since barges don’t exactly command attention, nobody saw this coming, even if it has far-reaching global effects. But when they cease operating, the globe will be in tremendous difficulties because of the inefficiency in transporting food and coal.
Related: Why is it impossible for the EU to reduce its dependence on natural gas from Russia?
You might be surprised at how crucial barges are to the global economy:
Nearly two-thirds of the United States grain exports and over half of its soybean exports are sent by barge.
Upwards of a third of the coal exported from the United States is moved on barges.
The agricultural production of the United States is 92% dependent on the Mississippi River.
Based on the American Waterways Operators, a single 15-barge pull can haul as much cargo as two 108-car cargo trains or a staggering 1,050 semi-trucks.
When compared to the 478 ton-miles achieved by rail and the 150 ton-miles achieved by trucks, the 616 ton-miles achieved by a barge on a single gallon of fuel is staggering.
That is to say, transporting products by barge is the most economical and efficient use of petroleum. This is why it makes perfect sense that many of the world’s major cities may be found around rivers. Logistics and commerce are of paramount importance.
When geoengineering is used to deliberately weaponize the climate and produce droughts, however, rivers dry up and ships go aground. This leads to a massive snarl of stranded barges, which is precisely what’s happening on the Mississippi right now.
As a result of low sea levels and dredging, the Mississippi River was closed to barge travel in both directions last week. There was a time when over a hundred towboats and two thousand barges were waiting… According to USCG Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, there is only one-way traffic is allowed.
That’s the same as shutting down a major highway and converting it into a one-lane construction zone where cars have to take turns. That causes a natural miles-long traffic jam.
Because barges can barely handle all along Mississippi, coal isn’t getting transferred in the quantities needed to meet coal outsource supply and demand petroleum products to European countries which are facing a cold winter without energy, and farm harvests are having to sit just on banks of the river systems, growing mold, and fungi.
As a consequence, Poland has just lifted its ban on burning rubbish in stoves, allowing its citizens to do so in order to keep warm this winter despite the poor air quality. (Which totally redefines the insult “Eurotrash.”) According to a recent article from Great Game India:
To allow its citizens to continue using coal for home heating until April of next year, Poland has temporarily relaxed its air quality laws. Many individuals are resorting to burning garbage for heat.
Polish resident Paulina Mroczkowska told Bloomberg that she has seen individuals burning rubbish to heat their houses as the NatGas shortage worsens and the expense of living skyrockets.
That you’re able to smell garbage being burned every day is something new this season. Regular fuels seldom emit any discernible odor. Mroczkowska, a native of Warsaw, the nation’s capital, expressed concern about what would happen when temperatures dropped significantly.
Some Polish homes are stockpiling trash as a substitute for coal, Bloomberg News reports.
I didn’t know that. Some individuals I know to hoard enormous amounts of resources like gold, silver, ammo, medicine, and so on. Preppers in the United States aren’t storing garbage, not even the most extreme ones. That seems to be a phenomenon in “green Europe.”
Exactly how much garbage must one amass before they can claim to be “Full Greta…”?
All along the Mississippi, bean hills are beginning to form.
US farmers are dumping mountains of soybeans just on the banks of the Mississippi River because there aren’t enough barges to move them. View a clip of one of Memphis’s “bean hills” below:
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