Posted on 07/25/2014 3:48:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Approximately 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs went extinct, 75% of the planet's many species went with them. It was the world's fifth, and most recent, mass extinction event.
Now, according to a July 25 review in the journal Science, the Earth seems to be at the cusp of a sixth mass extinction. Only this time, an asteroid is not to blame. We are.
"Human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change," the team of ecologists and biologists warn in Science. "Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance."
A third of all vertebrates, the scientists write, "are threatened or endangered."
There are several long-time drivers of what researchers call "defaunation" — the decline of various animal species. The study points to " overexploitation, habitat destruction, and impacts from invasive species" as continuing threats, but notes that soon, human-caused climate change will be the number one driver of defaunation. Diseases that come from pathogens introduced by humans are another growing threat.
The good news? We're not yet totally doomed.
As David Biello writes in Scientific American:
To avoid the sixth mass extinction we will probably have to employ more aggressive conservation, such as moving species to help them cope with a changing climate . Think re-wilding: reintroducing species like wolves or beavers that were once present in a given ecosystem but have since disappeared. Aggressive conservation might also mean killing off newcomer species to preserve or make room for local flora and fauna.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The overwhelming majority of animal species are bugs (insects or anthropoids). Therefore, most species could become extinct — and no one would care.
Why don’t they just cut to the chase and admit they want to exterminate 6.5 billion excess human beings?
... like massive increases in funding for the shysters who are predicting the sixth mass extinction so that they will help us avoid such an extinction.
I think I got an email from someone in Nigeria claiming they could help me with a similar problem.
This is UN Agenda 21, disguised.
To avoid the sixth mass extinction we will probably have to employ more aggressive CONSERVATISM.
I detect the faint whiff of bullshit in this story.
Wolves and beavers???
Well, coyotes are everywhere in Ohio. And beavers have been making a come back since the 70s. Now they are a pest here.
Not for much longer. ;-)
Wow.
These fanatical fruitcakes just don't give up, do they.
There is no brief way to reply to such abysmal arrogance and ignorance. The new saviors of humanity; each generation produces their own version of the man-caused catastrophe fruitcakes. Yet I keep expecting each team to explain what caused the first five (that they know of) extinctions, with no signs of interest for the obvious.
What characterizes the driving force of these nuts is the combination of certainty about their belief, and the arrogance of insisting that their view of the future has no uncertainty, the end of the world is just around the corner and they have to make the rest of us start doing everything necessary to prevent it.
Starting with the elimination of other people, of course.
Isn't it odd, that they never think it's important actually to name these (presumably) competent ecologists and biologists?
Kill all people on the African and South American continents and make them into unpopulated world parks.
A third of all vertebrates, the scientists write, “are threatened or endangered.”
There’s no such thing as a Florida panther, yet it is protected. (It’s a regular North American cougar.) The American alligator hasn’t been endangered or threatened for many years, yet it is still protected, too.
Since we do not even know how many species there are now, how we could possibly know how many there were 1 million years ago ?
Typing fingers temporally disconnected from brain.
What passes for “science” these days is a communist death cult in lab coats. If Jim Jones had only known, he would have spared the kook aid to see this day.
time for everyone to get their pitchforks and storm the white hut?
Spotted Owl and Dumplings
Take the spotted owl and remove all the feathers, remove the head and feet. Carefully slit the abdomen and remove the innards reserving the heart and gizzard. Place the bird in a pot of salted boiling water. Simmer for one hour or until the owl meat falls off the bone.
While the owl is simmering, into two cups of flour add 1/2 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of butter. Mix until there is a firm dough. Roll out the dough to 1/4 “ thickness and cut into squares about 3/4’ on a side.
Remove at least half of the grease floating on the simmering pot and then add the dumpling squares. Simmer at low heat until the broth has thickend and the squared edges on the dumplings are rounded. Add some black pepper to taste.
Spotted Owl Pate Appetiser
Take the reserved heart and gizzard and bake at a low temperature until soft. Into a small bowl slowly mash the gizzard and heart into a paste, adding a little white wine to improve the spreadability. From the garden of endangered plants, remove two leaves of the American Ginsing plant and cut into strips 1/4” wide and about 1” long. Place the pte on a Trisket and garnish with the Ginsing
>> but notes that soon, human-caused climate change will be the number one driver of defaunation
Soon.
BI never misses the trashy beat.
Friends, I want to tell you that we are in TROUBLE! We are living in the END TIMES! We are a sinful, selfish lot and we are going to perish by our own hands in the HELL FIRES of GLOBAL WARMING!
But Friends! I have GOOD NEWS! You can be SAVED FROM DAMNATION if you will just put your FAITH IN THE ONE! Yes, Friends! THE ONE, our Leader, will SAVE YOU if you’ll just FOLLOW HIS WAY! The HOLY TRINITY that is joined in the ONE, (Dear Leader, Surrogate Father, and Mighty Overlord), Barack Obama, will SAVE US from ourselves if we will just give all our CONTRIBUTIONS and TAX DOLLARS to HIM!
DON’T BE A SELFISH, GREEDY, CLIMATE CHANGE DENIER DOOMED TO HELLFIRE! PUT YOUR FAITH IN THE ONE AND FOLLOW THE LEADER FOR ETERNITY STARTING TODAY!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.