The Earth’s 6th great Mass Extinction happening right now?
The Daily Galaxy website has an interesting article about past and present extinctions of species across the Earth, which makes for really in-depth reading.
Here’s just a sample of what’s in the article, which argues that humans are the main direct cause for the latest range of extinction:
Biocide is occurring at an alarming rate. Experts say that at least half of the world’s current species will be completely gone by the end of the century. Wild plant-life is also disappearing. Most biologists say that we are in the midst of an anthropogenic mass extinction. Numerous scientific studies confirm that this phenomenon is real and happening right now. Should anyone really care? Will it impact individuals on a personal level? Scientists say, “Yes!”
Critics argue that species disappear and new ones emerge all the time. That’s true, if you’re speaking in terms of millennia. Scientists acknowledge that species disappear at an estimated rate of one species per million per year, with new species replacing the lost ones at around the same rate. Recently humans have accelerated the extinction rate to where several entire species are annihilated every single day. The death toll artificially caused by humans is mind-boggling. Nature will take millions of years to repair what we destroy in just a few decades.
Give it a read, it should give some pause for thought.
August 10th, 2008 at 4:01 am
[...] - bookmarked by 1 members originally found by redfirewitch on 2008-07-20 The Earth’s 6th great Mass Extinction happening right now? http://www.wannabehippy.com/2008/07/17/the-earths-6th-great-mass-extinction-happening-right-now/ - [...]