While some may see global warming as a “future problem,” there is no denying that we are already well into the phenomenon of mass extinction. This tragic situation may not be breaking through into the media or general consciousness because most people do not have direct experience of nature and animal life.

What “mass extinction” means to you depends on your perspective. We see it as proof that humans have blindly gone too far in pursuit of growth and consumption. It is also a wake up call to realize that we have essentially already “gone off the cliff.”

By initiating the fastest mass extinction in global history, we have already altered sensitive and interdependent ecosystems to an essentially “apocalyptic” degree. There is no real “going back” when it comes to extinction and once you have destroyed enough environments, ecosystems and species, many interrelated ones are sure to follow.

A shift towards conservation is the only option, but even the most aggressive efforts may not stop the tragic events that we have set in motion.

From food cycles to oxygen producing algae and the climate, the earth is a very sensitive and interdependent system. Humans have ignorantly and massively disturbed this system and the results are likely to be devastating within our own lifetimes.

Evidence

• E. O. Wilson of Harvard, the world’s most esteemed biologist, estimates that one half of all species on earth will be extinct by the end of this century.
• Seven out of ten biologists believe the world is now in the midst of the fastest mass extinction of species in the 4.5-billion-year history of the planet, according to a poll conducted by the American Museum of Natural History.
• One quarter of the world’s mammals face extinction within 30 years, according to a 2002 United Nations report.
• A global study in 2003 found that only 10% of big ocean fish remain. 6
• More than a quarter of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed by pollution and global warming. Scientists warn that the remaining reefs could be dead in 20 years.
• Lion populations have fallen by 90% in the last 20 years.

Had people taken the alert signals seriously, as intelligent people must, this 1992 book [The Diversity of Life] would have set the basis for a new level of discussions on the environment and the current ongoing worldwide biotic holocaust exterminating species at the rate of one every 20 minutes. People might be working on solutions by now instead of still wallowing in ignorance. The facts are clearly and well laid out. The evidence is presented, the theories and data explained at length, at a reasonable cost in paperback (or free from the public lending library). Eight years later people are still presenting in public flawed paradigms (perhaps deliberately) to excuse their gluttonous behaviour which is crushing the planetary life-support systems. – E. O. Wilson 2000