Return of the Bible Plagues

“… all the waters that were in the river [Nile] were turned to blood. And all the fish that was in the river died,” reports the Bible, “and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river.” (Exodus 7:20–21). With water pollution and temperatures on the rise, toxic algae cause serious problems nowadays for inland waters and for the oceans. Increasing algal bloom is poisoning fish and shells, and it has become a health hazard for human beings as well: toxic algae are responsible 60,000 cases of food poisoning worldwide every year. The documentary, Return of the Plagues, takes a closer look at the effect these poisonous microorganisms have today.

“… so there were lice upon man, and upon beast,” reports the Bible, “all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 8:18, 17). Even today, two million people die every year from malaria transmitted by mosquitoes, mainly in Africa. But even in the Upper Rhine valley, where malaria was still rampant only a century ago, people have to watch out – with globalization and international travel, the cause of malaria, the so-called plasmodia, may return at any time, encouraged by the rise in average temperatures and the reproduction of the “right” type of mosquito. The Asian tiger mosquito is spreading slowly across Italy and even into Switzerland, a blood-sucking species that has caused numerous casualties in Asia as well as in the U.S. as a carrier of dengue fever and the West Nile virus. In the industrialized world, people are fighting this plague with state-of-the-art medication and insecticides that have as few side-effects as possible, but mosquitoes and pathogens are becoming more and more resistant. Some promising approaches to the solution of this problem have come out of the poor African continent itself, where researchers have been experimenting with the anopheles fly’s natural enemies (robber flies and jumping spiders) and have achieved remarkable results with plants such as the neem tree and artemisia.

“… and the Lord sent thunder and hail, … and fire mingled with the hail,” reports the Old Testament. “And the hail smote … all that was in the field, both man and beast.” (Exodus 9:23–25). Mostly on the edge of mountain ranges such as the Alps and the Rocky Mountains, hail and heavy rain have devastating effects today in conjunction with global warming: crops are destroyed, homes and cars are swept away, adding up to billions of dollars in damages. Thousands of people have already died as a result of floods, landslides and mudslides. The documentary, Return of the Plagues, follows individual researchers in Germany, Austria, and Colorado who are trying to determine the conditions that cause these disasters, laying the groundwork for possibly controlling them in the future, or at least making more reliable predictions. Scientists study the dramatic sequence of events in a landslide or a flood, and they test man-made structures that are meant to withstand the enormous power of these mountains. In Styria, “hail pilots” fly small propeller aircraft into menacing thunderclouds, in order to manipulate the weather.

“… locusts … invaded all Egypt …. They covered all the ground until it was black,” reports the Bible. “They devoured … everything growing in the fields … – nothing green remained on trees or palms in all the lands of Egypt.” (Exodus 10:14–15). Swarms of locusts are still a very real plague today. They afflict drought areas, especially after a rare rainfall, leaving a trail of destruction behind. In Africa, this regularly leads to disastrous famines. Fighting the locusts with crop dusters is too costly for many of the poorer countries, and classic insecticides take an extremely high toll on the environment and the remaining plants. Researchers all over the world are looking for new, more effective ways to combat the invaders. Scientists at the University of Halle in Germany are experimenting with pheromones that might upset the insects’ mating behavior. In Australia, where swarms of locusts have recently been destroying crops in parts of the country that never had this problem before, the locusts are being attacked with crop-dusting helicopters that apply pesticides in minimum dosage. But aerial application is extremely sensitive to wind, and the deadly mist might easily miss its target.

“… darkness that can be felt … covered all Egypt for three days,” reports the Bible. “No one could see anyone else … for three days.” (Exodus 10:22–23). Dust storms frequently paralyze public life during the storm season in many of the most arid regions of the Earth, burying roads and human settlements, threatening the lives of humans and animals alike. The frequency of these dust storms is increasing, year after year. And the deserts that supply the raw material for the dust storms are also growing. In China, 20 percent of the land is already covered by desert, and every year sand covers a new area the size of Luxembourg. China has decided to build a 4,500 kilometer-long “green wall” as a bulwark against the dust storms: a belt of shrubs and trees is supposed to block the wind and stop the expansion of the desert. The documentary series, Return of the Plagues, follows “desertification fighters” to buried villages, where they plant kilometer after kilometer of new vegetation on sand dunes, fighting pests and looking for plants that are best suited to retain humidity in the soil. In Darmstadt, Germany, researchers have found out that dust storms from China and the Sahara are not only the result of climate change but also play an important role themselves in influencing the weather.