Thursday, 9 January 2020, 6:42 pmArticle: Robert J. Burrowes

Human Extinction Now Imminent and Inevitable? A Report onthe State of Planet Earth

Robert J. Burrowes

There is asignificant body of evidence that human extinction is nowimminent; that is, it will occur within the next few yearsand possibly this year: 2020. There is also a significantbody of evidence that human extinction is now inevitable;that is, it cannot be prevented no matter what wedo.

There are at least four distinct paths to imminent(that is, within five years) human extinction: nuclear war(possibly started regionally), biodiversity collapse(already well advanced and teetering on the brink), thedeployment of 5G (commenced recently) and the climatecatastrophe. Needless to say, each of these four paths mightunfold in a variety of ways.

In addition, it should benoted, there are other possible paths to extinction in thenear term, particularly when considered in conjunction withthe four threats just mentioned. These include the cascadingimpacts triggered by destruction of the Amazon rainforest(which is now imminent) particularly given its critical rolein the global hydrological cycle, the rapidly spreadingradioactive contamination of Earth, and geoengineering formilitary purposes (which has been going on for decades andcontinues).

Far worse, however, is the path to extinctionthat looms before us when we consider the impact of allseven of these paths in combination with the vast range ofother threats noted below.

These interrelated threats havegenerated a shocking series of points of no return(tipping points) that we have already crossed, themutually reinforcing set of negative feedback loops that wehave already triggered (and which we will continue totrigger) which cannot be reversed in the short-term, as wellas the ongoing synergistic impact of the variousextinction drivers (such as ongoing extinctionsbecause dependent species have lost their resource species)we have set in motion and which cannot be haltedirrespective of any remedial action we might take. Hence,taking into account all of the above factors, the prospectsof averting human extinction are now remote, at best.

Whyhas this happened?

Because long-standing dysfunctionalhuman behavior, which we have not even begun to recognize asthe fundamental driver of this extinction crisis, let aloneaddress, has now trapped us between a rock and a hardplace.

On the one hand, we are trapped by our grotesquelydysfunctional parenting and education models that massproduce individuals who are terrified, self-hating andpowerless (leaving them submissively obedient while unableto seek out and consider the evidence for themselves andtake powerful action in response) and who, as a result ofbeing terrorized during childhood, are now addicted tochronic over-consumption to suppress their awareness oftheir deep (and unconscious) emotional pain. See Love Denied: The Psychology ofMaterialism, Violence and War and Do We Want School or Education?with more detailed evidence in WhyViolence? and Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology:Principles and Practice.

On the other hand, also asan outcome of our dysfunctional parenting and educationmodels (as well as the political and economic systems thesegenerate), we keep reproducing and remain trapped by theglobal elite, and its compliant international organizations(such as the United Nations), national governments andcorporations, including its corporate media. This globalelite is utterly insane (and, hence, devoid of suchqualities as conscience, empathy, compassion and love) andintent on exploiting our desire to suppress awareness of ouremotional pain by over-consuming in order to feed theirinsatiable desire for profit, power and privilege no matterthe cost to humanity and Earths biosphere. See The Global Elite is InsaneRevisited.

Hence, this article does twothings.

First, in the hope of generating greaterconsideration of these two issues imminence andinevitability of human extinction I have presented instraightforward language and point form, a reasonablesummary of the nature and extent of our predicament (whichclearly indicates that we are on track for human extinctionbetween now January 2020 and 2025), as well asciting the relevant scientific and/or other evidence thatexplains each problem in more detail.

And second, thearticle outlines a powerful series of actions and strategiesthat individuals as well as community groups, neighborhoodsand action groups can take as part of a global effort tofight to avert human extinction even if, as mentioned above,it is now inevitable. See, for example, Extinction Foretold, ExtinctionIgnored in which the McPherson Paradox, whichexplains one key reason why we are doomed to extinction, isexplained.

The obvious question, which you might well askme, is this: If the overwhelming evidence that humanextinction is now imminent and inevitable isincontrovertible, why are you suggesting that we fight toavert human extinction? And my answer is simply this:Because, as I have done for several decades, I am committedto trying to do this one key thing that feels worth doing.Moreover, I am also hopeful that a miracle or two might justoccur if we humans commit ourselves fully to theeffort. I am only too well aware that anything less thana full effort, as outlined below, will certainly fail. Andwe will virtually certainly fail anyway. But I would rathertry, than give up. And you?

So, in noting the pointsbelow, each of which identifies one key way (or a set ofrelated key ways) in which the Earth and its inhabitantswere subjected to greater violence in 2019, it is painful toreflect that, as forecast this time last year and based on aclear understanding of the primary driver of human behavior fear that is generating this multifaceted crisis,2019 was another year of vital opportunities lost when somuch is at stake.

Because, in essence, whetherpsychologically, socially, politically, militarily,economically, financially, ecologically or in other ways, in2019 humanity took more giant strides backwards whilepassing up endless opportunities to make a positivedifference in our world.

Moreover, to highlight thedramatic nature of our failure, by the end of 2019, asubstantial number of countries and regions of the world notably including the Amazon basin, Australia, severalcountries in Central Africa, many European countries,Indonesia, Siberia and North America had eachexperienced (and/or were still experiencing) a huge seriesof wildfires (or fires that were deliberately lit), many ofthem out of wildfire season and breaking records fortheir unprecedented destructive impact, demonstratingthat the Earth is literally burning up. For just anoverview, see NASAs Fire Information for Resource ManagementSystem.

But this very visible symptom of our crisismasks a vast quantity of evidence, in many domains, that isvirtually unknown but far more damaging.

Oneacknowledgment of this crisis in Earths biosphere was thefact that the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the AtomicScientists remains poised at just two minutes to midnight,the closest it has ever been to doomsday (and equal to1953 when the Soviet Union first exploded a thermonuclearweapon matching the US capacity and raising the spectre ofnuclear war). See It is now two minutes tomidnight.

This status reflects the perilous stateof our world, particularly given the renewed threat ofnuclear war and the ongoing climate catastrophe. It didnteven mention the massive and unrelenting assault on thebiosphere (apart from the climate) and the rapidlyaccelerating biodiversity crisis nor, of course, the ongoingmonumental atrocities against fellow human beings.

So letme identify, very briefly, some of the more crucial backwardsteps humanity took during 2019 and, far too easily,unfortunately, forecast what will happen in2020.

Some Key Lowlights of 2019

1. Theglobal elite, using key elite fora such as the Group of 30,the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group and theWorld Economic Forum, and despite much rhetoric to thecontrary, continued to plan, generate and exacerbate themany ongoing wars, deepening exploitation within the globaleconomy, climate and environmental destruction, and thekilling and exploitation of fellow human beings in amultitude of contexts, in pursuit of greater elite profit,power and privilege. See, for example, Who Is Really in Control of US ForeignPolicy?, Giants: The Global Power Elite andThe Global Elite is InsaneRevisited.

2. International organizations (such asthe United Nations, the World Bank and InternationalMonetary Fund) and national governments and corporationsused military forces, legal systems, police forces andprison systems see The Rule of Law: Unjust andViolent around the world to serve the globalelite by defending its interests against the bulk of thehuman population, including those individuals andorganizations courageous enough to challenge elite profit,power and privilege who are being killed in record numbers.(See more in point 35 below.)

3. $US1.8 trillion wasofficially spent worldwide on military weapons tokill fellow human beings and other lifeforms, and to destroythe biosphere. This is the highest official (because thefigures are taken from open sources) annual militaryexpenditure ever recorded and the second consecutive year inwhich an increase occurred. Apart from military spending,weapons transfers worldwide remained high and both the USAand Russia were on a path of strategic nuclearrenewal. See SIPRI Yearbook 2019: Armaments,Disarmament and International Security;Summary.

However, as noted last year, soout-of-control is this spending that the United Statesgovernment has now spent $US21trillion on its military inthe past 20 years for which it cannot even account! Thatsright, $US1trillion each year above the official US nationalbudget for killing is lost. See Army General Fund Adjustments Not AdequatelyDocumented or Supported, Has Our Government Spent $21 Trillion OfOur Money Without Telling Us? and The Pentagon Cant Account for $21Trillion (Thats Not a Typo).

There has been noprogress reported in accounting for this lostexpenditure during the past year.

4. Under the directionof the global elite (as explained above), the United Statesgovernment and its NATO allies continued their perpetual waracross the planet wreaking devastation on many countries andregions, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. See,for example, Towards a World War III Scenario: TheDangers of Nuclear War, Dirty Wars: The World is aBattlefield and Understanding NATO, EndingWar.

As a result, whether in the US-sponsored andsupplied Saudi Arabian war against Yemen which the UNHCRcharacterizes as the worst humanitarian disaster in theworld see The Cost of Feeding Yemen as War RagesOn the result of the US use of depleted uraniumon top of its other extraordinary military destruction ofIraq over the past 29 years see Depleted Uranium and RadioactiveContamination in Iraq: An Overview or thecomplete dismemberment of Libya as a result of NATOsbombing of that country and the subsequent assassination ofits leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 see Endless War and Chaos in Libya the United States and its NATO allies have continued theirefforts to destroy entire countries (also includingAfghanistan, among others), at staggering cost to theirpopulations and environments, not because these countriesposed a threat to security anywhere but in order to maintaingeopolitical control and to facilitate the theft of theirresources (mainly oil) at great profit to the global elite.See, for example, Hillary Emails Reveal NATO Killed Gaddafito Stop Libyan Creation of Gold-BackedCurrency.

Moreover, of course, theperpetually-profitable perpetual war, by definition, has noend. But it still isnt quite acceptable to say, toopublicly and loudly, that The global elite has again usedthe United States military and its NATO allies to destroyIraq/Afghanistan/Syria/ (or, as is now the case, toattack Iran) to make a profit so what can be passed offas an excuse must be manufactured and promulgated by thecompliant corporate media. And, with a gullibly terrifiedhuman population disinclined to question authority, thisisnt a problem. The same unconvincing formula invariablyworks each time. For a fuller and insightful explanation ofthis point, see Edward Curtins article The war hoax redux.

Of course,Iran has long been in the crosshairs of the global elitebecause of its prodigious (and thus hugely profitable) oilreserves as well as the clear inclination of its leaders(both before and after the US-installed Shah) to makedecisions in the interests of Iranians, including foreignpolicy decisions such as those related to defense and therole of nuclear weapons. Thus, the global elite ensured thatthe US Congress, via removal by the Senate of a provisionexplicitly not authorizing the Pentagon to wage waragainst Iran or assassinate its officials see America Escalates its DemocraticOil War in the Near East in the recently passedNational Defense Authorization Act, effectively encouragedPresident Trumps recent assassination of General QassemSoleimani, Irans head of the foreign arm the QudsForce of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC),Irans elite military force and the key figure in thefight against terrorism in the Middle East, in clearcontempt of international law. See Trumps assassination of Soleimani:Five things to know, With Suleimani Assassination, Trump IsDoing the Bidding of Washingtons Most Vile Cabal,Why US assassinated General QassemSoleimani and US killing of Irans Qassem Soleimanian act of war.

This assassination, of course,raises a heightened possibility of war essentially, fromthe elite perspective, to achieve regime change andcapture control of Irans oil in one or more guisespossibly involving, as explained by Professor MichelChossudovsky, the use of tactical nuclear weapons,acts of political destabilization, confiscation of financialassets, extensive economic sanctions, electromagnetic andclimatic warfare, environmental modification techniques,cyberwarfare as well as chemical and biological warfare. SeeA Major Conventional War Against Iran Isan Impossibility. Crisis within the US CommandStructure and America, An Empire on its Last Leg: To beKicked Out from the Middle East?

Hence, much willdepend on the Iranian response to the insanity of thoseattacking it, which will unfold as this article is beingpublished. For further thoughtful analyses of this crisis,see War With Iran, Iran vs. US The Murder of GeneralQassem Suleimani and On the Brink of War?

5. Notcontent with the devastating impact of the military violenceit is inflicting already, during 2019 the global elitecontinued to plan how to cause more destruction in future.Key initiatives included ongoing work to employ advances inautonomous systems and artificial intelligence technologiesthat will undermine nuclear deterrence and increase thelikelihood of nuclear escalation see A Stable Nuclear Future? The Impact ofAutonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence and the decision in the United States to create a SpaceForce, a sixth branch of the US military forces, just twomanifestations of this. See The Very Bad Space Force Deal andUS Making Outer Space the Next BattleZone Karl Grossman.

In its turn, the Russiangovernment has developed and just deployed a hypersonicweapon that travels at Mach 27 and which makes the USmissile defense installations in Europe obsolete. SeeAvangard changes everything: WhatRussias hypersonic warhead deployment means for theglobal arms race.

But other initiatives receivingrenewed attention hypervelocity guns, particle beamsand laser weapons onboard orbiting battle platforms withonboard nuclear reactors or super plutonium systemsproviding the power for the weapons also enhance thethreat that Modern society would go dark in the wordsof Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell. Why? Because any warin space would be the one and only. By destroying satellitesin space massive amounts of space debris would be createdthat would cause a cascading effect and even thebillion-dollar International Space Station would likely bebroken into tiny bits. So much space junk would becreated... that wed never be able to get a rocket off theplanet again because of the minefield of debris orbiting theEarth at 15,000 mph. See Trump Signs Measure EnablingEstablishment of a U.S. Space Force.

Of course,technological advances in weaponry reflect retrogradesteps in policy with the US Air Force Global Strike Command(AFGSC) which includes 20 B-2 stealth bombers, 76 B-52bombers and 450 Minuteman III intercontinental ballisticmissiles together capable of delivering thousands of nuclearwarheads along with the U.S. Navys submarine-launchedTrident ballistic missiles, are now capable ofextinguishing essentially all life on Earth within a matterof hours. See The Air Forces Global Strike CommandIs Preparing For A Delivery Of New NuclearWeapons.

6. Following the US withdrawal from theAnti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in 2002 and afterwithdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (theIran nuclear deal) and the Intermediate Nuclear Forces(INF) Treaty (which limited the deployment of intermediaterange nuclear weapons) in 2018, the US government furtherand unilaterally signaled its intention to dismantle thelittle that remained of attempts during the Cold War andsince that time to contain the threat of nuclear war byfurther acting in violation of the Outer Space Treaty of1967 see Treaty on Principles Governing theActivities of States in the Exploration and Use of OuterSpace, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodiesand US Weaponizing Space in Bid to LaunchArms Race as explained in the point above, anddemonstrating its disinterest in extending New START: thesole remaining restraint on U.S.-Russian nuclear arsenalsthat caps deployed offensive strategic nuclear weapons to nomore than 1,550 each. See Russia says its already too late toreplace new START treaty and Global Zero Urges Trump to AcceptPutins Offer on Nuclear Treaty.

If you are inany doubt regarding the devastating consequences of nuclearwar, you will find Professor Steven Starrs thoughts see Nuclear Darkness, Global Climate Changeand Nuclear Famine: The Deadly Consequences of NuclearWar illuminating. In addition, the description byLynn Eden in City on Fire (based on her bookWhole World on Fire: Organizations,Knowledge, and Nuclear Weapons Devastation) iscompelling.

7. Another substantial proportion of globalprivate financial wealth conservatively estimated by theTax Justice Network in 2010 to already total between $US21and $US32 trillion has been invested virtually tax-freethrough the worlds still-expanding black hole of morethan 80 offshore tax havens (such as the City ofLondon Corporation, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man,Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Nauru, St. Kitts,Antigua, Tortola, Switzerland, the Channel Islands, Monaco,Cyprus, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein). This is just financialwealth. Additionally, a large share of the real estate,yachts, racehorses, gold bricks and many other assets thatcount as non-financial wealth are also owned via offshorestructures that make it impossible to identify their owners.See Tax Justice Network.

Tax havens arelocations around the world where wealthy individuals,criminals and terrorists, as well as governments andgovernment agencies (such as the CIA), banks, corporations,hedge funds, international organizations (such as theVatican) and crime syndicates (such as the Mafia), can stashtheir money so that they can avoid laws, regulation andoversight and, very often, evade tax. See Elite Banking at Your Expense: HowSecretive Tax Havens are Used to Steal YourMoney.

Controlled by the global elite, Wall Streetand other major banks manage this monstrous diversion ofwealth under Government protection. Their business isfraud and grand theft. Tax haven locations offer morethan tax avoidance. Almost anything goes on. Itincludes bribery, illegal gambling, money laundering,human and sex trafficking, arms dealing, toxic wastedumping, conflict diamonds and endangered speciestrafficking, bootlegged software, and endless other lawlesspractices. See Trillions Stashed in Offshore TaxHavens.

8. The worlds major corporationscontinued to inflict enormous ongoing violence (in a myriadof ways) in their pursuit of endless profit at the expenseof living beings (human and otherwise) and Earthsbiosphere by producing and marketing a wide range oflife-destroying products ranging from nuclear weapons andnuclear power to fossil fuels, junk food, pharmaceuticaldrugs (including health-destroying and sometimeslife-destroying vaccinations: see, for example, Vaxxed-Unvaxxed The Science),synthetic poisons and genetically mutilated organisms(GMOs).

These corporations include the following: weaponsmanufacturers, major banks and their industry groupslike the International Monetary Conference, asset managementfirms, investment companies, financial services companies,fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas) corporations, technologycorporations, media corporations, major marketing and publicrelations corporations, agrochemical (pesticides, seeds,fertilizers) giants, pharmaceutical corporations (with theirhandmaidens in the medical and psychiatric industries: seeDefeating the Violence in Our Food andMedicine and Defeating the Violence ofPsychiatry), biotechnology (genetic mutilation)corporations, mining corporations, nuclear powercorporations, food multinationals and water corporations.You can see a list of the major corporations in thisarticle: The Global Elite is InsaneRevisited.

9. More than two billion peoplecontinued to live under occupation, dictatorship or threatof genocidal assault often with the global elite sponsoringan oppressive national government or simply a local elitethat exercises power irrespective of the government inoffice. See, for example, 500 Years is Long Enough! Human Depravityin the Congo.

10. 36,500,000 human beings (mainlyin Africa, Asia and Central/South America) were starved todeath in 2019.

Are we serious about ending these totallyunnecessary deaths? Not even remotely, as thoughtfullyexplained by Professor George Kent in his article Are We Serious About EndingHunger?

As Professor Kent notes: currently, aroundthe world, around 800 million people suffer fromhunger and that global efforts to end hunger have notbeen serious: There has been no substantial commitmentof resources, no management group to control the process, norealistic timeline, and no means for mid-course correctionson the way to the goal. There [have been] no contracts withagencies that would work toward achievement of the goal.hoping for the end of hunger wont work. Hope is not astrategy. Moreover, The UN system offers little morethan vague aspirations.

11. 18,250,000 children werekilled by adults in wars, by starving them to death, bydenying them clean drinking water, and in a large variety ofother ways.

12. 8,000,000 children were trafficked intosexual slavery; executed in sacrificial killings after beingkidnapped; bred to be sold as a cash crop for sexualviolation, to produce child pornography (kiddie porn)and snuff movies (in which children are killed duringthe filming); ritually tortured and murdered as well asraped by dogs trained for the purpose. See Humanitys Dirty Little Secret:Starving, Enslaving, Raping, Torturing and Killing ourChildren.

13. Hundreds of thousands of individualswere kidnapped or tricked into slavery, which now denies46,000,000 human beings (more than at any time in humanhistory) the right to live the life of their choice,condemning many individuals especially women andchildren to lives of sexual slavery, forced labor or aschild soldiers. Needless to say, the global elite continuesto expand this highly profitable business while itscompliant governments do no more than mouth an occasionalobjection to the practice while doing nothing effective toactually end it, as was patently evident followingdisclosures about high-profile public figures during theyear. See The Global Slavery Index. For onerecent account of the life of a modern slave, see My Familys Slave. And for anaccount of the involvement of public figures in sex slavery,see Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein: whatyou need to know and the other articles listed at theend of this one.

14. Well over 100,000 people(particularly Falun Gong practitioners) in China, where anextensive state-controlled program is conducted, weresubjected to forced organ removal for the trade in humanorgans. See Bloody Harvest and The Slaughter.

15. 15,768,000people were displaced by war, persecution or famine. Thereare now 70,800,000 people, more that half of whom arechildren and approximately 10,000,000 of whom are stateless,who have been forcibly displaced worldwide and remainprecariously unsettled, usually in adverse circumstances.One person in the world is forcibly displaced every twoseconds. See Figures at a Glance.

16.Millions of people were made homeless in their own countryas a result of war, persecution, natural disasters(many of which, including hurricanes/cyclones and wildfires,were actually generated by dysfunctional human behaviorrather than nature), internal conflict, poverty or as aresult of elite-driven national economic policies. The lasttime a global survey was attempted by the United Nationsback in 2005 an estimated 100 million people werehomeless worldwide. In addition, as many as 1.6 billionpeople lack adequate housing (living in slums, for example).See Global HomelessnessStatistics.

17. Highlighting the unheraldedbiodiversity crisis on Earth, as a result of habitatdestruction and degradation as well as a multitude of otherthreats, 73,000 species of life (plants, birds, animals,fish, amphibians, insects, reptiles and microbes) on Earthwere driven to extinction with the worldwide loss of many ofthese species and certainly including insects, birds,animals and fish now at catastrophic levels. Tragically,many additional species are now trapped in a feedback loopwhich will inevitably precipitate their extinction as wellbecause of the way in which co-extinctions,localized extinctions and extinction cascadeswork once initiated and as has already occurred in almostall ecosystem contexts. See the (so far) five-part series Our Vanishing World. Have you seena flock of birds of any size recently? A butterfly?

18.Separately from global species extinctions, Earth continuedto experience a huge episode of population declines andextirpations, which will have negative cascadingconsequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital tosustaining civilization. We describe this as a biologicalannihilation to highlight the current magnitude ofEarths ongoing sixth major extinction event. Moreover,local population extinctions are orders of magnitude morefrequent than species extinctions. Population extinctions,however, are a prelude to species extinctions, so Earthssixth mass extinction episode has proceeded further thanmost assume. See Biological annihilation via the ongoingsixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate populationlosses and declines and Our Vanishing World:Wildlife.

19. Wildlife trafficking, worth up to $20billion in 2019, is pushing many endangered species to thebrink of extinction. Illegal wildlife products includejewelry, traditional medicine, clothing, furniture, andsouvenirs, as well as some exotic pets, most of which aresold to unaware/unconcerned consumers in the West althoughChina is heavily implicated too. See, for example, Stop Wildlife Trafficking.

20.16,000,000 acres of pristine rainforest were cut or burntdown for purposes such as the following: acquiring timbersused in construction, clearing land to establish cattlefarms so that many people can eat cheap hamburgers, clearingland to establish palm oil plantations so that many peoplecan eat processed (including junk) foods based on this oil,clearing land to establish palm oil and soybean plantationsso that some people can delude themselves that they areusing a green biofuel in their car (when, in fact,these fuels generate a far greater carbon footprint thanfossil fuels), mining (much of it illegal) for a variety ofminerals (such as gold, silver, copper, coltan, cassiteriteand diamonds), and logging to produce woodchips so that somepeople can buy cheap paper, including cheap toilet paper.One outcome of this destruction is that 40,000 tropical treespecies are now threatened with extinction. See Our Vanishing World: Rainforests,Measuring the Daily Destruction of theWorlds Rainforests, Estimating the global conservation statusof more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species and Half of Amazon Tree Species FaceExtinction.

Another outcome is that the preciousAmazon is teetering on the edge of functional destructionand, with it, so are we. How long do we have? Thetipping point is here, it is now. Professor Thomas E.Lovejoy and his fellow researcher Carlos Nobre elaboratethis point: Bluntly put, the Amazon not only cannotwithstand further deforestation but also now requiresrebuilding as the underpinning base of the hydrologicalcycle if the Amazon is to continue to serve as a flywheel ofcontinental climate for the planet and an essential part ofthe global carbon cycle. See Amazon Tipping Point: Last Chance forAction.

21. Vast quantities of soil were washedaway as we destroyed the rainforests, and enormousquantities of both inorganic constituents (such as heavymetals like cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel andzinc) and organic pollutants (particularly syntheticchemicals in the form of fertilizers, pesticides andherbicides) were dumped into the soil as well, thus reducingits nutrients and killing the microbes and earthworms withinit. We also contaminated enormous quantities of soil withradioactive waste. See Soil-net, Glyphosate effects on soilrhizosphere-associated bacterial communities and Disposing of Nuclear Waste is a Challengefor Humanity.

To briefly elaborate the evidence inrelation to earthworms: Given recent reports of criticaldeclines of microbes, plants, insects and otherinvertebrates, birds and other vertebrates, the situationpertaining to neglected earthworms was evaluated in anextensive investigation recently undertaken by Robert J.Blakemore. His research demonstrated an 83.3 percentdecline in earthworms in agrichemical farms that is,those that use pesticides, herbicides and syntheticfertilizers compared with farms utilizing organicmethods. Why? Because it is impossible to replace orartificially engineer the myriad beneficial processes andservices freely provided by earthworms which includesextensive burrows in pastures enriched with soil organicmatter that allow ingress of air & water and provide livingspace for other soil organisms. Moreover, given thatecological services overall have been given a median valueof US$135 trillion per year, which is almost double theglobal economic GDP of around $75 trillion see Changes in the global value of ecosystemservices and Valuing nature and the hidden costs ofbiodiversity loss Blakemore reaches an obviousconclusion: Persistence with failing chemical agriculturemakes neither ecological nor economic sense. See Critical Decline of Earthworms fromOrganic Origins under Intensive, Humic SOM-DepletingAgriculture.

Given that this multifaceteddestruction of the soil fundamentally threatens the globalgrain supply, when the ability to grow, store and distributegrains at scale is a defining element of civilization, asProfessor Guy McPherson eloquently explains it: Asignificant decline in grain harvest will surely drive thisversion of civilization to the abyss and beyond. See Seven Distinct Paths to Loss of Habitatfor Humans.

22. Despite an extensive and ongoingcoverup by the Japanese government and nuclear corporations,as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),vast amounts of radioactive waste were dumped into thebiosphere from the TEPCO nuclear power plant at Fukushima inJapan including by discharge into the Pacific Ocean killingan incalculable number of fish and other marine organismsand indefinitely contaminating expanding areas of thatocean. See Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War:The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation,2019 Annual Report Fukushima 8thAnniversary, Eight years after triple nuclearmeltdown, Fukushima No. 1s water woes show no signs ofebbing and Fukushimas Three Nuclear Meltdowns AreUnder Control Thats a Lie.

But thechallenges to be overcome in safely handling and,ultimately, safely storing the radiation hazards (such asthe three melted nuclear reactors and the spent fuel rods)and the radioactive waste from the Fukushima disaster aremonumental, as touched on in this article outlining the40-year plan that the Japanese government hopes will deludeus into believing will deal with the many components of thisperpetual radioactive nightmare. See Japan revises Fukushima cleanup plan,delays key steps.

In addition, one critical legacyof the US militarys 67 secretive and lethal nuclearweapons tests on the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958is the eternally radioactive garbage left behind andnow leaking into the Pacific Ocean. See The Pentagons Disastrous RadioactiveWaste Dump in the Drowning Marshall Islands is Leaking intothe Pacific Ocean.

Is other nuclear waste safelystored? Of course not! See, for example, NRC admits San Onofre Holtec nuclearwaste canisters are all damaged, USAs Hanford nuclear site could sufferthe same fate as Russias Mayak or worse and,for a more comprehensive report, The World Nuclear Waste Report 2019:Focus Europe.

Of course, the Chernobyl nuclearcatastrophe in 1986 continues to inflict extensive damage onthe biosphere which you can learn more about from theresearch by Professor Kate Brown, author of Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide tothe Future Chernobyl Radiation Cover-Ups & DeadlyTruth, UN and Western countries covered up thefacts on the huge health toll of Chernobyl radiationand Unreported Deaths, Child Cancer &Radioactive Meat: The Untold Story of Chernobyl as well as the investigatory work of Alison Katz ofIndependent WHO: Chernobyl Health Cover-Up, Lies by UN/WHOExposed.

23. Human use of fossil fuels to poweraircraft, shipping and vehicles as well as for industrialproduction and to generate electricity (among otherpurposes) released 10 billion metric tons (10 gigatons) ofcarbon dioxide into Earths biosphere, a 0.6% increaseover 2018, with Chinas monstrous CO2 emissions for 2019totaling 2.6% greater than the previous year. See Global Carbon Budget 2019.

Asone measure of their contempt for the utterly inadequategoals of the Paris climate agreement, and with governmentapproval, over 400 of the 746 companies onthe Global Coal Exit List are still planning to expand theircoal operations. If built, these projects in 60countries would add over 579 GW to the global coal plantfleet, an increase of almost 29%. See CompaniesDriving the Worlds Coal Expansion Revealed: NGOs ReleaseNew Global Coal Exit List for Finance Industry and Proposed Coal Plants byCountry.

24. 72 billion land animals (mainlychickens, ducks, pigs, rabbits, geese, turkeys, sheep, goatsand beef cattle) were killed for food. In addition, between37 and 120 billion fish were killed on commercial farms withanother 2.7 trillion fish caught and killed in the wild. SeeHow Many Animals Are Killed for FoodEvery Day?

Apart from that, more than 100 millionanimals were killed for laboratory purposes in the UnitedStates alone and there were other animal deaths in shelters,zoos and in blood sports. See How Many Animals Are Killed EachYear?

In addition, according to Humane SocietyInternational, about 100 million animals (particularly mink,foxes, raccoon dogs and rabbits) were bred and slaughteredin fur farms geared to supplying the fashion industry. Inaddition to farming, millions of wild animals were trappedand killed for fur, as were hundreds of thousands of seals.See How Many Animals are Killed EachYear?

25. Farming of animals for human consumptionreleased 7.1 gigatons of CO2-equivalent into Earthsatmosphere; this represented 14.5 percent of allanthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. About 44% oflivestock emissions were in the form of methane (which was44% of anthropogenic CH4 emissions), 29% as Nitrous Oxide(which was 53% of anthropogenic N2O emissions) and 27% asCarbon Dioxide (which was 5% of anthropogenic CO2emissions). See GHG Emissions by Livestock.

26.Human use of fossil fuels and farming of animals releasedmore than 3.2 million metric tons of (CO2 equivalent)nitrous oxide (N2O) into Earths atmosphere. See Nitrous oxide emissions.

27.Despite largely successful efforts by the elite-controlledIPCC to delude people into believing that the global meantemperature has increased by only 1.0 degree celsius, infact, since the pre-industrial era (prior to 1750)greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have already caused theglobal temperature to rise by about 1.73 degrees celsius.See How much warmer is it now?

Amonga lengthy list of adverse outcomes, this has caused themelting of Arctic permafrost and undersea methane iceclathrates resulting in an incalculable quantity of methanebeing uncontrollably released into the atmosphere, includingduring 2019, with the quantity being released getting evercloser to exploding. See Anomalies of methane in the atmosphereover the East Siberian shelf: Is there any sign of methaneleakage from shallow shelf hydrates?, 7,000 underground gas bubbles poised toexplode in Arctic, Release of Arctic Methane May BeApocalyptic, Study Warns and Understanding the Permafrost-HydrateSystem and Associated Methane Releases in the East SiberianArctic Shelf.

In fact, the methanethreat is already so extreme that the forecast El Nioevent for 2020 could be the catalyst to trigger huge methanereleases from the Arctic Ocean precipitating humanextinction this year. See Very early warning signal for El Nio in2020 with a 4 in 5 likelihood and Extinction in 2020?

28. Glaciersand mountain ice fields whether located in Greenland orother regions of the far north, the Himalaya, at theEquator, in southern latitudes or Antarctica are allmelting at unprecedented and accelerating rates, losingbillions of tonnes of ice in 2019. For a discussion of thedetails and the implications of this, see Our VanishingWorld: Glaciers.

29. The ongoing destruction ofEarths oceans continued unabated and accelerated in keyareas.

An incalculable amount of agricultural poisons,fossil fuels and other wastes was discharged into the ocean,adversely impacting life at all ocean depths see Staggering level of toxic chemicals foundin creatures at the bottom of the sea, scientists say and generating ocean dead zones: regions that havetoo little oxygen to support marine organisms. See Our Planet Is Exploding With MarineDead Zones.

In addition, however, anotherproblem that has been getting insufficient attention is theresult of the expanding impacts of the rapidly increasinglevels of ocean acidification, ocean warming, ocean carbonflows and ocean plastics. Taken in isolation each of thesechanges clearly has negative consequences for the ocean. Allthese shifts taken together, however, result in a rapid andserious decline in ocean health and this, in turn, adverselyimpacts all species dependent on the ocean including fish,mammals and seabirds. Moreover, on top of these problems isthe issue of oxygen availability given that oxygen in theair or water is of paramount importance to most livingorganisms. As the recently released report Ocean deoxygenation: Everyonesproblem. Causes, impacts, consequences and solutionsdescribes in some detail, oxygen levels are currentlydeclining across the ocean, not just in deadzones.

And to elaborate the plastics problem briefly:at least 8 million metric tons of plastic, of which 236,000tons were microplastics, was discharged into the ocean. Sosevere is the problem that there are now five massivepatches of plastic in the oceans around the world coveringlarge swaths of the ocean; the plastic patch betweenCalifornia and Hawaii is the size of the state of Texas. SeePlastic waste inputs from land into theocean and Plastics in the Ocean.

30.Earths fresh water and ground water was further depletedand contaminated.

The depletion is a primary outcome ofthe ongoing deforestation of the planet and is manifestingin several ways including as localized droughts, which arebecoming increasingly common as a number of cities andregions around the world can attest. According to the WorldResources Institute, half of the surface water in somecountries mainly in Central Asia and the Middle East was depleted between 1984 and 2015, with agriculture usingan average of 70% of the water. 36 countries areextremely water-stressed and water is now a majorfactor in conflict in at least 45 countries. See 7 Graphics Explain the State of theWorlds Water.

Separately from depletion, freshwater was contaminated by bacteria, viruses and householdchemicals from faulty septic systems; hazardous wastes fromabandoned and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites (of whichthere are over 20,000 in the USA alone); leaks from landfillitems such as car battery acid, paint and householdcleaners; the pesticides, herbicides and other poisons usedon farms and home gardens; radioactive waste from nucleartests (some of it stored in glaciers that are now melting);and the chemical contamination caused by hydraulicfracturing (fracking) in search of shale gas, for whichabout 750 chemicals and components, some extremely toxic andcarcinogenic like lead and benzene, have been used. See Groundwater contamination, Groundwater drunk by BILLIONS of peoplemay be contaminated by radioactive material spread acrossthe world by nuclear testing in the 1950s and Fracking chemicals.

31. Thelongstanding covert military use of geoengineering spraying tens of millions of tons of highly toxic metals(including aluminium, barium and strontium) and toxic coalfly ash nanoparticulates (containing arsenic, chromium,thallium, chlorine, bromine, fluorine, iodine, mercury andradioactive elements) into the atmosphere from jet aircraftto weaponize the atmosphere and weather in order toenhance elite control of human populations, continuedunchecked. Geoengineering is systematically destroyingEarths ozone layer which blocks the deadly portion ofsolar radiation, UV-C and most UV-B, from reaching Earthssurface as well as adversely altering Earths weatherpatterns and polluting its air, water and soil at incrediblecost to the health and well-being of living organisms andthe biosphere. See Geoengineering Watch, including Engineered Climate Cataclysm: HurricaneHarvey.

For a discussion of the militaryimplications of geoengineering, see The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction:Owning the Weather for Military Use.

And fordiscussions of the research, and implications of it, by Dr.Dietrich Klinghardt and Dr. Stephenie Seneff (SeniorResearch Scientist at MIT), which considers damage to thebiosphere and human health caused by the geoengineeringrelease of a synthesized compound of nanonized aluminium andthe poison glyphosate that creates a supertoxin thatis generating a crisis of neurological diseases, seeWorld-Renowned Doctor Addresses ClimateEngineering Dangers, Dr Stephenie Seneff, Autism Explained: Synergistic Poisoningfrom Aluminum and Glyphosate and Extinction is Stalking Humanity: TheThreats to Human Survival Accumulate.

32. Theincredibly destructive 5G technology, which a vast number ofscientists (currently totaling more than 188,000 individualsand organizations from 203 nations and territories: see International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earthand in Space) are warning will have catastrophicconsequences for life on Earth, is now being rapidlyintroduced without informed public consultation and despiteongoing protests around the world.

The following articlesand videos will give you a solid understanding of key issuesfrom the viewpoint of human and planetary well-being. See 5G Satellites: A Threat to allLife, 5G Danger: 13 Reasons 5G WirelessTechnology Will Be a Catastrophe for Humanity, 5G Technology is Coming Linked toCancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimers, andDeath, 20,000 Satellites for 5G to be LaunchedSending Focused Beams of Intense Microwave Radiation OverEntire Earth, Will 5G Cell Phone Technology Lead ToDramatic Population Reduction As Large Numbers Of Men BecomeSterile?, The 5G Revolution: Millions of HumanGuinea Pigs in Big Telecoms Global Experimentand 5G Apocalypse The ExtinctionEvent.

33. As one outcome of our dysfunctionalparenting model and political systems, fascism continued torise around the world. See The Psychology of Fascism.

34.Despite the belief that we have the right to privacy,privacy (in any sense of the word) was ongoingly eroded in2019 and is now effectively non-existent, particularlythanks to Alphabet (owner of Google). Taken together,Uber, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Tinder, Apple, Lyft,Foursquare, Airbnb, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, AngryBirds... have turned our computers and phones into bugs thatare plugged in to a vast corporate-owned surveillancenetwork. Where we go, what we do, what we talk about, who wetalk to, and who we see everything is recorded and, atsome point, leveraged for value. Moreover, givenGoogles integrated relationship with the US government,the US military, the CIA, and major US weaponsmanufacturers, there isnt really anything you can do thatisnt known by those who want to know it. In essence,Google is a powerful global corporation with its ownpolitical agenda and a mission to maximise profits forshareholders and it partly achieves this by expanding thesurveillance programs of the national security state at thedirection of the global elite. But Google isnt alone andit isnt just happening in the USA. See Everybodys Watching You: TheIntercepts 2019 Technology Coverage, Googles Earth: How the Tech Giant IsHelping the State Spy on Us, the articles by John W.Whitehead on Surveillance and the documentaryThe Modern SurveillanceState.

35. The right to free speech, accurateinformation and conscience-based nonviolent activism wasongoingly eroded in 2019 as efforts, by governments andcorporations particularly, to control speech, informationand political action accelerated. Whether this took the formof censorship, restrictions on access or violent actsdirected against those whose views or actions were seen asdangerous or wrong, Global Witness, Human Rights Watch andother organizations documented an endless series of setbacksfor free speech and political activity in a wide variety ofcountries around the world with individuals and journalistsimprisoned for telling the truth, nonviolent activistsassaulted and killed, critics silenced by defamation laws ordisappearance, and the closure of newspapers,television stations and the internet to prevent rapidpromulgation of information, among other infringements. See,for example, Free Speech, The supply chain of violence, Environmental activist murders double in15 years and Enemies of the State? How governments andbusinesses silence land and environmentaldefenders.

36. Believing that we know better thanevolution, and following the birth in 2018 of the firstgene-edited babies in China see Why we are not ready for geneticallydesigned babies and Chinas Golem Babies: There is AnotherAgenda in 2019, further human gene-editing wasdone as well as gene-editing experiments intended to explorepossibilities for more complex gene-editing of humans. Why?According to the authors of one report: To extend thefrontier of genome editing and enable the radicalredesign of mammalian genomes (emphasis added).This experiment allowed for the simultaneous editing of>10,000 loci in human cells. See Enabling large-scale genome editing byreducing DNA nicking.

Needless to say, at leastsome responsible scientists are well aware of the possiblyhorrific consequences of this technology in the hands ofthose without ethics and are calling for a moratorium of atleast five years on heritable human gene editing to allowtime to engage in proactive, rather than reactive,discussions about the future of such technology. Ofcourse, despite the calls for caution, some researchersare forging ahead. See NIH Director on Human Gene Editing: WeMust Never Allow Our Technology to Eclipse OurHumanity.

37. Incalculable amounts of waste ofevery conceivable kind including antibiotic waste,military waste, nuclear waste, nanowaste and geneticallyengineered organisms, including gene drives (ormutagenic chain reactions) were released intoEarths biosphere, with an endless series of adverseconsequences for life. See Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest GarbageDump in the Universe?

Not content to dump our junkon Earth, an incalculable amount of junk was also dumped inSpace which already contains 100 trillion items of orbitingjunk. See Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest GarbageDump in the Universe? and Space Junk: Tracking & Removing OrbitalDebris.

38. Ongoing visible, invisibleand utterly invisible violence against children see WhyViolence? and Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology:Principles and Practice ensured that more peoplewill grow up accepting (and quite powerless to challenge)our dysfunctional and violent world, as describedabove.

See the article here:
Human Extinction Now Imminent and Inevitable? - Scoop.co.nz