collapse of the old society

Out of curiosity I checked if their sources properly accounted for confounding variables (e.g. age, because the global population is aging). I didn't check all, but all the sources that did I check accounted for age properly.

Then I scanned some more. To bring a medical viewpoint into the discussion, took a particularly close look at one of the referenced studies of 67 health risk factors, to determine if it's stress, pollutants, communicable or environment-triggred disease that is harming people most.

The factors dishing out most harm seem to be diseases with a lifestyle / stress component (high blood pressure), behaviour patterns with a stress component (overconsumption of food and intoxicants, primarily alcocol and tobacco), and only after these comes home air pollution (cooking with open fire in developing countries). Outdoor air pollution ("ambient particulate matter pollution") isn't in the top 5, but one one diagram, it's factor number six.

(Reservation of judgement: there's not enough data yet about chemicals in the food chain. Pesticides and microplastics definitely need attention, there is absolutely no reason to expect no effect. The effect has to be measured and summarized.)

Quoting the relevant passage from "A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010"

Findings: In 2010, the three leading risk factors for global disease burden were high blood pressure (7·0% [95% uncertainty interval 6·2-7·7] of global DALYs), tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6·3% [5·5-7·0]), and alcohol use (5·5% [5·0-5·9]). In 1990, the leading risks were childhood underweight (7·9% [6·8-9·4]), household air pollution from solid fuels (HAP; 7·0% [5·6-8·3]), and tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6·1% [5·4-6·8]). Dietary risk factors and physical inactivity collectively accounted for 10·0% (95% UI 9·2-10·8) of global DALYs in 2010, with the most prominent dietary risks being diets low in fruits and those high in sodium. Several risks that primarily affect childhood communicable diseases, including unimproved water and sanitation and childhood micronutrient deficiencies, fell in rank between 1990 and 2010, with unimproved water and sanitation accounting for 0·9% (0·4-1·6) of global DALYs in 2010. However, in most of sub-Saharan Africa childhood underweight, HAP, and non-exclusive and discontinued breastfeeding were the leading risks in 2010, while HAP was the leading risk in south Asia. The leading risk factor in Eastern Europe, most of Latin America, and southern sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 was alcohol use; in most of Asia, North Africa and Middle East, and central Europe it was high blood pressure. Despite declines, tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke remained the leading risk in high-income north America and western Europe. High body-mass index has increased globally and it is the leading risk in Australasia and southern Latin America, and also ranks high in other high-income regions, North Africa and Middle East, and Oceania.

My personal conclusion: it's not pollutants harming us yet. Pollutant densities may well increase (but many are decreasing, e.g. people are cooking less with gas and solid fuel) but our social conditions are stressful as shit, and that encourages certain behaviours which have an evolutionary factor.

E.g. people are prone to over-eat when they have plentiful food, even if the food is junk and there's no need to eat more. A sedentary lifestyle and driving instead of walking then doubles down on that. People are prone to relieve stress by consuming tobacco and alcohol, despite it harming them. Our ancestors didn't have an unlimited access to food, booze and stuff to smoke for a passtime, and didn't evolve defense mechanisms against such behaviour patterns.

But as usual, culture getst to be the first responder. Genes will take millenia to get anything done, but culture can get things done in decades. Awareness of how people harm their health, and awareness of how society may be encouraging self-harm, needs to spread.