Catastrophe Chronicle — Updated Regularly — OSHOTimes

“We are on the deathbed. Humanity cannot survive — the way it has been behaving with nature — for more than fifty years, sixty years, or, at the most, one hundred years, which is nothing. If the Third World War does not happen, then we will be committing a slow suicide. Within a hundred years, we will be gone. Not even a trace will be left.”1 Osho

See also: Osho, “Religion: The Crimes Against Nature and the Environment”

It is becoming increasingly clear that humanity just doesn’t have the consciousness to prevent the inexorable destruction of the only home it has.

Perhaps more fundamentally, this humanity — which is trashing out the land, the oceans, the atmosphere, and the space beyond the atmosphere — is simply being really trashy. We endlessly look outwards for solutions and almost no one is making it clear that unless we fix our trashiness, nothing can fundamentally change. Without this fundamental change in our trashy approach to the world around us, every “solution” we come up with will be deeply compromised by our trashiness!

While waiting for this obvious point to sink in, followed by a clear understanding of how to undo our trashiness, the OSHO Times can only chronicle the inevitable resultant degeneration of Planet Earth, “and all who sail in her!”

Carbon Dioxide Levels in the Atmosphere

Levels of the greenhouse gas have not been as high as today for 3–5m years, when the global temperature was 2–3C warmer and the sea level was 10–20 metres higher: The Guardian

The C02 clock is ticking here: Bloomberg Green Carbon Clock

Human Population

The population clock is ticking here: Worldometre

The Emissions Gap Report 2020

A simple graphical expression of the gap between where we are going and where we need to go to avoid the coming catastrophe. The UN Report: “Emissions Gap Report 2019: 1.5ºC goal at brink of impossible” — UN Environment

The Unfolding Story — 2021 — Updated Regularly:

Read 2020 Edition HERE

June 11, 2021
The West is the driest it’s been in 1,200 years — raising questions about a livable future
“Trees are dying. Riverbeds are empty. Lake Mead’s water level dropped to its lowest point in history, and Utah’s governor asked residents to pray for rain. Water is increasingly scarce in the Western U.S. — where 72 percent of the region is in ‘severe’ drought, 26 percent is in exceptional drought, and populations are booming…. It’s time to ask, ‘Is this a drought, or is it just the way the hydrology of the Colorado River is going to be?’ said John Entsminger, the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.”- Yahoo!News

June 10, 2021But while the G7 countries have agreed to stop the international financing of coal, the world’s wealthiest nations
António Guterres on climate crisis: ‘We are coming to a point of no return’are pouring billions of dollars into developing gas, another fossil fuel, in the global south at a rate four times that of finance supporting wind or solar projects.” — The Guardian

“Guterres told the Guardian at the UN headquarters in New York… ‘It’s now clear we are coming to a point of no return…. To spend these trillions of dollars and not use this occasion to reverse the trends and massively invest in the green economy will be an unforgivable lost opportunity.’…

June 8, 2021
CO₂ Reaches Its Highest Level in More Than 4 Million Years

“Based on geological evidence collected over the six decades scientists have been tracking atmospheric CO₂, this year’s peak appears to be the highest in as long as 4.5 million years. This continued accumulation of greenhouse gas is driving dangerous global heating around the world.” — Bloomberg Green

June 7, 2021
‘Dirty deals’ between UK banks and fossil fuel companies surged in 2020, data shows
“British lenders Barclays and HSBC made dozens of deals with major fossil fuel companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron in 2020, according to data shared with The Independent that shows the value of transactions was more than in the previous year. Barclays, Europe’s largest fossil fuel financier, provided a total of $5.1 billion (£3.7bn) to ExxonMobil over a series of 13 deals and $1.2bn (£850m) to Shell over a series of six deals in 2020, according to data collated by Reclaim Finance, a group campaigning for an end to financial support for fossil fuels.” — Independent

June 7, 2021
A Million Years of Data Confirms: Monsoons Are Likely to Get Worse
“Scientists have known for years that climate change is disrupting monsoon season . Past research based on computer models has suggested that the global heating caused by greenhouse gases, and the increased moisture in the warmed atmosphere, will result in rainier summer monsoon seasons and unpredictable, extreme rainfall events. The , published Friday in the journal Science Advances, adds evidence for the theory by looking back over the past million years to give a sense of monsoons to come.” — The New York Times

June 2, 2021
Record-breaking temperatures more likely in populated tropics
“New University of Arizona-led research, published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that more record-breaking temperatures will actually occur in the tropics, where there is a large and rapidly growing population. ‘People know tropical forests are important, but here we’re saying they’re even more important because suddenly we realized there are going to be more extreme events and weather over the Amazon rainforest,’ said lead study author Xubin Zeng, director of the UArizona Climate Dynamics and Hydrometeorology Center and a professor of atmospheric sciences. — ScienceDaily

May 27, 2021"Rare and disturbing aerial photographs have laid bare the devastation being inflicted on Brazil’s largest reserve for indigenous people by thousands of wildcat goldminers whose illegal activities have accelerated under the country’s far-right leader,
Brazil aerial photos show miners’ devastation of indigenous people’s land
Jair Bolsonaro. Activists believe as many as 20,000 garimpeiro prospectors are operating within the Yanomami reserve in northern Brazil using speedboats and light aircraft to penetrate the vast expanse of jungle near the border with Venezuela.” — The Guardian

May 27, 2021
‘Cataclysmic day’ for oil companies sparks climate hope
“A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Shell to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas by 45% by 2030. A tiny activist investor group simultaneously won two places on ExxonMobil’s board and Chevron’s management was defeated when investors voted in favour of forcing the group to cut its carbon emissions. Chevron is second on the list of fossil fuel firms with the biggest cumulative carbon emissions, ExxonMobil is third and Shell sixth.” — The Guardian

May 27, 2021
Shell forced to slash global emissions after landmark court ruling
“Activist groups hail ‘historic win’ as Dutch court orders multinational fossil fuel company to cut CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030…. A Shell spokesperson told The Independent the company will appeal against the court’s decision.” — Independent

May 18, 2021
Nations Must Drop Fossil Fuels, Fast, World Energy Body Warns
“In a sweeping new report, the International Energy Agency issued a detailed road map of what it would take for the world’s nations to slash carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. That would very likely keep the average global temperature from increasing 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the threshold beyond which scientists say the Earth faces irreversible damage.” The New York Times

May 17, 2021
Big Agriculture Is Leading to Ecological Collapse
“As of this writing, animal agriculture accounts for 14.5 percent of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions annually. It is also the source of 60 percent of all nitrous oxide and 50 percent of all methane emissions, which have 36 times and 298 times, respectively, the warming potential of carbon dioxide. As industrial animal agriculture has scaled up, agricultural emissions of methane and nitrous oxide have been going in one direction only: up.” — Foreign Policy

May 14, 2021
Climate change threatens one-third of global food production — ScienceDaily

April 25, 2021
Climate has shifted the axis of the Earth, study finds
“Loss of water on land through ice melting and human-caused factors is changing the movement of the North and South poles…. ‘It tells you how strong this mass change is — it’s so big that it can change the axis of the Earth.’ said Humphrey,
a climate scientist at the University of Zurich who was not involved in this research…. Their analysis revealed large changes in water mass in areas like California, northern Texas, the region around Beijing and northern India, for example — all areas that have been pumping large amounts of groundwater for agricultural use. ‘The ground water contribution is also an important one,’ Humphrey said.” — ScienceDaily

April 20, 2021
As marine life flees to cooler waters due to global warming, history warns this could lead to mass extinction
“The tropical water at the equator is renowned for having the richest diversity of marine life on Earth, with vibrant coral reefs and large aggregations of tunas, sea turtles, manta rays and whale sharks. The number of marine species naturally tapers off as you head towards the poles. Ecologists have assumed this global pattern has remained stable over recent centuries — until now. Our recent study found the ocean around the equator has already become too hot for many species to survive, and that global warming is responsible. In other words, the global pattern is rapidly changing. And as species flee to cooler water towards the poles, it’s likely to have profound implications for marine ecosystems and human livelihoods. When the same thing happened 252 million years ago, 90 per cent of all marine species died.” — South China Morning Post

April 19, 2021
Could climate change force a billion people to move?
“Ever-more frequent extreme weather events have in recent years devastated rural regions in developing countries, with millions of people having to start from scratch after losing everything in storms, droughts and floods. Global temperatures could increase more in the next 50 years than in the previous 6,000, according to a study by scientists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2020. It says extreme heat only common to regions such as the Sahara today could eventually blanket 19% of the world’s land by 2070, meaning “1 to 3 billion people are projected to be left outside the climate conditions that have served humanity well”. And with the climate crisis already unfolding, millions of people across the world are already on the move. The UN’s International Organization for Migration estimates that environmental factors may factor into the migration of between 25 million and 1 billion people by 2050.” — Aljazeera

8 April, 2021
Study calls for urgent climate change action to secure global food supply
“New Curtin University-led research has found climate change will have a substantial impact on global food production and health if no action is taken by consumers, food industries, government, and international bodies. Published in one of the highest-ranking public health journals, the Annual Review of Public Health, the researchers completed a comprehensive 12-month review of published literature on climate change, healthy diet and actions needed to improve nutrition and health around the world. Lead researcher John Curtin Distinguished Emeritus Professor Colin Binns, from the Curtin School of Population Health at Curtin University, said climate change has had a detrimental impact on health and food production for the past 50 years and far more needs to be done to overcome its adverse effects. ‘We estimate that by 2050 world food production will need to increase by 50 per cent to overcome present shortages and meet the needs of the growing population.’” — ScienceDaily

24 March, 2021
Big Banks Are ‘Fueling Climate Chaos’ By Pouring Trillions Into Oil, Gas And Coal
“The world’s 60 biggest banks have provided $3.8 trillion to fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate agreement in 2016, according to a new report…. Banks provided more financing to oil, gas and coal companies in 2020 than they did in 2016, the year countries signed the Paris climate agreement and committed to rapidly reducing emissions to keep global temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius.” — HuffPost

22 March, 2021
World Water Day: Polluted waters around the world”About four billion people experience severe water shortages for at least one month a year, and around 1.6 billion people — almost a quarter of the world’s population — have problems accessing a clean, safe water supply, according to the United Nations. While the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals call for water and sanitation for all by 2030, the world body says water scarcity is increasing and more than half the world’s population will be living in water-stressed regions by 2050.” — Aljazeera

18 March, 2021
Six Charts Show How Hard It Is for India to Hit Net Zero by 2050
“The world’s third largest emitter will need to completely overhaul its economy. Top Indian government officials are debating whether to set a target for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.” — Bloomberg

14 March, 2021
‘Inequalities will become even more entrenched’: Why climate change is a feminist issue
“Climate change is already here, and it’s having a disproportionate impact on women around the world…. from the United Nations (UN) suggest that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change worldwide are women. According to a of 130 studies by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance in 2016, women are more likely to suffer food insecurity as a result of the climate crisis. Following extreme weather events, women are also more likely to experience mental illness and partner violence…. ‘Women and girls, particularly of colour, need to be at the forefront of decision-making on climate change at the local, regional, national and international level,’ Professor Julie Doyle of the University of Brighton, concludes.” Independent

February 25, 2021
Extreme melt on Antarctica’s George VI ice shelf
“Antarctica’s northern George VI Ice Shelf experienced record melting during the 2019–2020 summer season compared to 31 previous summers of dramatically lower melt, a new study found.” — ScienceDaily

February 25, 2021
Gulf Stream System at its weakest in over a millennium
“They found consistent evidence that its slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented in the past millennium; it is likely linked to human-caused climate change…. The study results suggest that it has been relatively stable until the late 19th century. With the end of the little ice age in about 1850, the ocean currents began to decline, with a second, more drastic decline following since the mid-20th century…. If we continue to drive global warming, the Gulf Stream System will weaken further…. This could bring us dangerously close to the tipping point at which the flow becomes unstable.” — ScienceDaily

February 24, 2021
Cutting down forests: what are the drivers of deforestation? “Every year the world loses around 5 million hectares of forest. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. At least three-quarters of this is driven by agriculture — clearing forests to grow crops, raise livestock and produce products such as paper.1 Beef, soy and palm oil are responsible for 60% of tropical deforestation. If we add the third largest driver — forestry products, which is dominated by paper but also includes timber — then we cover almost three-quarters.” — Our World in Data

February 22, 2021
The Texas Crisis Shows (Again) There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster “We can’t do anything to stop hazards from occurring, although we do seem to be able to make them worse, whether by causing earthquakes through fracking or environmental depredations that make storms more intense. Hazards do not automatically cause disasters. An earthquake in the middle of an uninhabited desert does no harm; a tsunami may affect plants and animals, but if there are no people or buildings on the coast that it hits, we wouldn’t call it a disaster. It’s the interaction between hazard and human settlement or activity that creates a catastrophe.” — Slate

February 20, 2021
Seagrass Is A Vital Weapon Against Climate Change, But We’re Killing It
“This elusive, tiny marine plant is at risk, threatened by human activities such as dredging, scarring from boat propellers and pollution…. Around the world, 58 species of seagrasses hug the coastline of every continent except Antarctica…. Seagrasses occupy less than 0.2% of the seafloor but represent up to 10% of the ocean’s capacity to store carbon, known as “blue carbon.” Although the amount they can store depends on the species and location, some seagrasses can store twice as much carbon as the world’s temperate and tropical forests. They also help keep the water clear by capturing sediments. They cycle nutrients and provide important habitats for fish, crustaceans and shellfish.” — HuffPost

February 19, 2021
The world has lost one-third of its forest, but an end of deforestation is possible “Shortly after the end of the last great ice age — 10,000 years ago — 57% of the world’s habitable land was covered by forest. In the millennia since then a growing demand for agricultural land means we’ve lost one-third of global forests — an area twice the size of the United States. Half of this loss occurred in the last century alone. But it’s possible to end our long history of deforestation: increased crop yields, improved livestock productivity, and technological innovations that allow us to shift away from land-intensive food products gives us the opportunity to bring deforestation to an end and restore some of the forest we have lost.” — Our World In Data

February 9, 2021
Arctic permafrost releases more CO2 than once believed
“Rising global temperatures are causing frozen Arctic soil — permafrost — in the northern hemisphere to thaw and release CO 2 that has been stored within it for thousands of years. The amount of carbon stored in permafrost is estimated to be four times greater than the combined amount of CO 2 emitted by modern humans.” — ScienceDaily

February 9, 2021
‘Invisible killer’: fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds
“‘The 8.7m deaths in 2018 represent a “key contributor to the global burden of mortality and disease’, states the study, which is the result of collaboration between scientists at Harvard University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London. The death toll exceeds the combined total of people who die globally each year from smoking tobacco plus those who die of malaria. Scientists have established links between pervasive air pollution from burning fossil fuels and cases of heart disease, respiratory ailments and even the loss of eyesight. The new estimate of deaths, published in the journal Environmental Research, is higher than other previous attempts to quantify the mortal cost of fossil fuels. A major report by the Lancet in 2019, for example, found 4.2m annual deaths from air pollution coming from dust and wildfire smoke, as well as fossil fuel combustion.” — The Guardian

February 9, 2021
State-owned fossil fuel firms planning $1.9tn investments
“In the report, entitled Risky Bet: National Oil Companies in the Energy Transition, the authors made the dilemma clear: ‘Either the world does what’s necessary to limit global warming, or national oil companies can profit from these investments. Both are not possible.’ National oil companies (NOCs) produce about two-thirds of the world’s oil and gas and own about 90% of reserves. They are rarely scrutinised, however, as their state ownership means they can operate secretively, without publishing much detail on their finances or operations, as publicly listed oil companies such as Exxon, BP and Shell must.” — The Guardian

February 8, 2021
Before Himalayan Flood, India Ignored Warnings of Development Risks
“The Himalayas have been warming at an alarming rate for years, melting ice long trapped in glaciers, soil and rocks, elevating the risk of devastating floods and landslides, scientists warned…. But the Indian government overrode the objections of experts and the protests of local residents to blast rocks and build hydroelectric power projects…. Officials said Monday that bodies of 26 victims had been recovered while the search proceeded for nearly 200 missing people. On Sunday a surge of water and debris went roaring down the steep mountain valleys of the Rishiganga river, erasing everything in its path. Most of the victims were workers on the power projects…. The World Bank has warned that climate change could sharply diminish living conditions for up to 800 million people in South Asia. — The New York Times

February 7, 2021
A Virus Similar to COVID-19 was Present in Cambodia as Early as 2010
“The Covid-19 crisis taught the world that keeping immense numbers of small carnivores in captivity is a major health risk…. The data in the figure above indirectly support the hypothesis that the SARS-CoV-2 group actually originated in mainland Southeast Asia. Indeed, human populations in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam appear to be much less affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. As pangolins and small carnivore species were frequently stored and sold together in wet markets, a “snowballing effect” due to interspecies viral transmission could be the last step in starting the human Covid-19 pandemic. — The National Interest

February 6, 2021,
GOING VEGAN IS CRUCIAL TO HELP HALT THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND COULD PREVENT FUTURE PANDEMICS, SAYS REPORT
“Diseases that are passed from animals to humans are a ‘predictable consequence’ of damage to ecosystems, researchers said. Opting for a plant-based diet is the best thing we can do to prevent damage to global wildlife, is vital in battling climate change and will reduce the risk of future pandemics, according to a new report…. To stop the way we eat from damaging biodiversity, the three changes proposed were: a mass shift towards plant-based diets; setting aside more land for protected natural habitats; and adopting more sustainable farming methods.” — Independent

February 5, 2021
Climate change may have driven the emergence of SARS-CoV-2
“A new study published today in the journal Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.” — ScienceDaily

January 28, 2021
Marine heatwaves becoming more intense, more frequent
Thinning surface layer of ocean leaves waters more susceptible to extreme warming events
“When thick, the surface layer of the ocean acts as a buffer to extreme marine heating — but a new study shows this ‘mixed layer’ is becoming shallower each year. The thinner it becomes, the easier it is to warm. The new work could explain recent extreme marine heatwaves, and point at a future of more frequent and destructive ocean warming events as global temperatures continue to climb.” — ScienceDaily

January 27, 2021
Doomsday Clock Says World Remains ‘100 Seconds’ From Disaster
“The clock remains set at “100 seconds to midnight” — unchanged from last year, when its hands were moved as close as they had ever been to midnight…. This year, scientists pointed to the woeful response of world leaders to the coronavirus pandemic, the erosion of the public’s faith in science and government institutions, the acceleration of nuclear weapons programs, and the persistent threat of climate change. — The New York Times

January 27, 2021
Shark Populations Are Crashing, With a ‘Very Small Window’ to Avert Disaster
“In just the last half-century, humans have caused a staggering, worldwide drop in the number of sharks and rays that swim the open oceans, scientists have found in the first global assessment of its kind, published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Oceanic sharks and rays have declined by 71 percent since 1970, mainly because of overfishing…. The research offers the latest data point in what is a dismal trajectory for Earth’s biodiversity. From butterflies to elephants, wildlife populations have crashed in recent decades and as many as a million species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction.” — The New York Times

January 20, 2021
Limiting air pollution ‘could prevent 50,000 deaths in Europe’
“Limiting air pollution to levels recommended by the World Health Organization could prevent more than 50,000 deaths in Europe annually, according to research. The WHO estimates air pollution kills more than 7 million people each year and is one of the leading causes of sickness and absence from work globally.” — The Guardian

January 13, 2021
Earth to reach temperature tipping point in next 20 to 30 years, new study finds
“Earth’s ability to absorb nearly a third of human-caused carbon emissions through plants could be halved within the next two decades at the current rate of warming, according to a new study in Science Advances…. Using more than two decades of data from measurement towers in every major biome across the globe, the team identified a critical temperature tipping point beyond which plants’ ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon — a cumulative effect referred to as the “land carbon sink” — decreases as temperatures continue to rise.” — ScienceDaily

January 13, 2021
Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future of mass extinction’ and climate disruption
“‘The scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms — including humanity — is in fact so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts,’ they write in a report in Frontiers in Conservation Sciencewhich references more than 150 studies detailing the world’s major environmental challenges…. The report warns that climate-induced mass migrations, more pandemics and conflicts over resources will be inevitable unless urgent action is taken.” — The Guardian

January 12, 2021
Insect apocalypse: Earth losing up to 2 per cent of its bugs every year, say scientists
‘Climate change, insecticides, herbicides, light pollution, invasive species and changes in agriculture and land use are causing massive insect decline…. Insects ‘are absolutely the fabric by which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built,’ said University of Connecticut entomologist David Wagner, lead author in the special package of 12 studies in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences written by 56 scientists from around the globe.” — South China Morning Post

January 11, 2021
Number of people suffering extreme droughts will double
“A global research effort offers the first worldwide view of how climate change could affect water availability and drought severity in the decades to come. By the late 21st century, global land area and population facing extreme droughts could more than double — increasing from 3% during 1976–2005 to 7%-8%, according to Yadu Pokhrel, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in MSU’s College of Engineering, and lead author of the research published in Nature Climate Change.” — ScienceDaily

December 31, 2020
Hunting for ‘Disease X’
In the Congo rainforest, the doctor who discovered Ebola warns of deadly viruses yet to come…. Experts say the rising number of emerging viruses is largely the result of ecological destruction and wildlife trade…. In the first 14 years of the 21st century, an area larger than the size of Bangladesh was felled in the Congo River basin rainforest. “The United Nations has warned that if the current deforestation and population growth trends continue, the country’s rainforest may have completely disappeared by the end of the century. As that happens, animals and the viruses they carry will collide with people in new and often disastrous ways.” CNN Video

Originally published at https://www.oshotimes.com on June 17, 2020.