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Wildlife populations are plummeting at a shocking rate
news.bbc.co.uk — Between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to the Zoological Society of London. Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%. Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year in one of the "great extinction episodes" in Earth's history.
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- foxhaze, on 05/16/2008, -34/+5Boo hoo hoo.
- RichardDavidLee, on 05/16/2008, -15/+6Some might consider that an impressive thing. Collectively we rank as one of the worlds worst natural disasters ;)
- friday1970, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1Good point. Now set an example and throw yourself upon the sword.
- koft, on 05/16/2008, -20/+5If you can't eat 'em ***** 'em.
- 3tcp, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7Hmmm, sounds like someone was a bit confused by the 'birds and bees' conversation...
- Narcism, on 05/16/2008, -13/+2Human population still doing okay though. :)
- Ducksa, on 05/16/2008, -5/+28"Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year"
*****, kind of scary in the long run- monoa, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7...and a large part of it is due to anthropogenic climate change, which is why the idiots who deny this reality are contributing to the ongoing natural disaster.
On the bright side, once we've fried the planet, killed off 99% of the current species, including ourselves, it'll only take a few hundred million years for the cockroaches and rats to evolve in to a new ecosystem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on ...- expert01, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2That doesn't explain the bees.
- djholybolt, on 05/16/2008, -2/+0No no no, it's the Crab people who will take over next.
Craaab people. Walk like crabs, talk like people. Craaaab people
- sodoh, on 05/16/2008, -5/+3Actually if it is 1% dying each year that means there is less dying each year. So this is good news? Or the media don't know how percentages work.
- ambrosious, on 05/16/2008, -1/+5We are currently in one of the highest rates of extinction in the history of the earth, and there is no debate that humans are the primary cause. 1% per year is the current (instantaneous) rate of change using the current total population for reference.
- monoa, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7...and a large part of it is due to anthropogenic climate change, which is why the idiots who deny this reality are contributing to the ongoing natural disaster.
- amightywind, on 05/16/2008, -24/+2The ascent of man must take precedence. Most of the animals that matter are domesticated or in zoos.
- inajeep, on 05/16/2008, -0/+11That line of thought in incredibly narrow minded and incorrect.
- nycmac247, on 05/16/2008, -0/+6...uh...except for that whole "biospere" thing...uhhh...now where is my bible
- purplehaze420, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4Let's just the ascent of "men" like you doesn't take precedence.
- purplehaze420, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Damnit, forgot the word hope, let's HOPE....
- leftyslament, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3"The ascent of man"? Humans have been the most powerful species on earth for the better part of the last 400 centuries. I think we've - you know what? No. I'm not gonna argue with you. You have to be trolling. Every time you post a comment, I'm amazed at what an incredible douche bag you are. No one can be that big of an *****. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and go get laid.
- amightywind, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I got together with my lady on Tuesday, so that shouldn't be a problem. I am being sarcastic. The eco-press trowels out these dire warnings based on anecdotal evidence to advance an agenda, thinking that eventually opinion will turn their way out of sheer repetition. I won't coerced in such a manner, so I reply in an equally over-the-top-manner to highlight the absurdity or the claim. I would rather have an honest debate about the necessary compromises that must be made between economic development and natural preservation.
- Gerz1219, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Species which are mostly confined to zoos will have a serious problem repopulating at any point in the future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder_effect
For example, the Amish have existed in a small isolated community for hundreds of years, and almost entirely marry within the community, which means that the present Amish are nearly all descended from the same four founders.
This means they have an unusually high rate of Ellis-van Creveld Syndrome, an otherwise rare genetic disorder which causes the afflicted to grow extra fingers and toes. It also causes serious health risks.
Once a species is endangered, it becomes very difficult for it to repopulate healthily without major genetic complications. We won't be able to just clone animals back from near-extinction, because a significant amount of the species' genetic diversity will have necessarily been extinguished.
Domesticated animals are ***** if anything ever happens to us. Your poodle will be eaten in short order.
- Venom339, on 05/16/2008, -10/+16A great teacher of mine once told me he believed that eventually humans would be one of the few hundred species of animals left on earth, and the most of the others would be the ones we commonly used, like sheep, cows, chickens, etc.
That we would survive just about any climate change (he was a strong believer of global warming) yet the rest of the animal species would face the impact. We as humans like to think of them as animals, when we are merely an evolved branch of them.
We are animals, and we believe as a whole, we're overly greedy, and egoistic. We don't have this right to do such a harm to these animals.
Of course he told me this wouldn't be for hundreds of years, but I don't think it will be that far in the distance.
Hmm, this is a spurred comment from lack of sleep but something I've wanted to say for awhile.- 3tcp, on 05/16/2008, -6/+2"We are animals, and we believe as a whole, we're overly greedy, and egoistic. We don't have this right to do such a harm to these animals."
Animals just behave like animals without concern about the fact that they're behaving like animals. As you get older you'll learn things that will make you surprised by how full of ***** so many of your teachers really were.
- 3tcp, on 05/16/2008, -6/+2"We are animals, and we believe as a whole, we're overly greedy, and egoistic. We don't have this right to do such a harm to these animals."
- akkibaba, on 05/16/2008, -21/+17It is estimated that 99.9% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct.It is estimated that 99.9% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct.
Source : http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BIO48/38.Extinctio ...
Species go extinct because they cannot adapt quickly enough to changing conditions like weather or other predators. This time around it's us humans who are the "change". C'est la vie, bitches. That's how life on earth works. No need to get extremely worked up over it, things will work themselves out.- monoa, on 05/16/2008, -4/+7We can kill them so we might as well? It's people like you who make me wish for a human pandemic.
- akkibaba, on 05/16/2008, -5/+2No need for ad hominem attacks here.
This is how life on Earth works, my friend. Animals that cannot evolve past the threats they face go extinct.
Humans are currently the most successful species of animal. Of course, our time to go extinct will also come eventually, and we will be replaced by some other animal. Life goes on.
Also, let me throw in an apology for the atrocious lack of proof-reading in my earlier comment.- friday1970, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I figured either ant or alligators are the most successful. We've just been around for what is really just a blink of an eye, in terms of our earths history.
But, dont worry. I'm sure a meteor is on its way. According to the Discovery Network, we'll be replaced by land dwelling squid.
- friday1970, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I figured either ant or alligators are the most successful. We've just been around for what is really just a blink of an eye, in terms of our earths history.
- sodoh, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2Actually he is right. This is how it works and it does eventually balance itself.
Study some of the civilizations that died out. Two cases I am aware of (Easter Island, and Incas?) they basically destroyed the eco-system. Once the eco-system reached a certain point the civilizations could no longer support itself and died out.
You would think with this happening before that we would realise this and deal with it.- MWeather, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Species don't become un-extinct. Throughout history's mass-extinctions, biodiversity has decreased.
- akkibaba, on 05/16/2008, -5/+2No need for ad hominem attacks here.
- jimchou, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3There's a huge difference, though, between destruction of a species (or a few species) and destruction of an ecosystem.
Have you ever seen an overcrowded aquarium? Eventually the fish die. We're the fish in the aquarium of Earth.- ratexla, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0I disagree. Destruction of one may cause that of the other. It is a bad idea to exterminate any species, since the consequences are pretty much impossible to predict.
- XZanatos, on 05/17/2008, -0/+3Everyone also eventually dies of old age, it doesn't mean its alright to go around shooting everyone for fun.
- monoa, on 05/16/2008, -4/+7We can kill them so we might as well? It's people like you who make me wish for a human pandemic.
- orlyfactor, on 05/16/2008, -13/+7We're #1! We're #1!
- brentfoor, on 05/16/2008, -8/+1Boosh
- manstein01, on 05/16/2008, -10/+15Holy crap these comments are awful.
- Ducksa, on 05/16/2008, -6/+4*misses chance to make first reply so whines about comments above him instead*
- Coffeedemon, on 05/16/2008, -3/+6What do you expect ... school is almost done for the year right?
- changedmind, on 05/16/2008, -12/+1So what? SUrvival of the fittest I say. If its just us left then we win!!!! RIght?
- thatguyfred, on 05/16/2008, -12/+4They're on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.
- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -1/+5If you make potatoes extinct SO HELP ME GOD....
- HubbertWins, on 05/16/2008, -8/+1Haha! Pwned...wait, what?
- ChildhoodRage, on 05/16/2008, -8/+17The root cause is the same as global warming, war, and famine. Our planet is overpopulated, pure and simple. The solution is to curb birth rates in third world countries, by improving their literacy rates.
Look it up!- Zomar, on 05/16/2008, -7/+9Wrong.
People in third world countries have nothing to do with global warming.
Global warming was caused by and is the responsibility of the global North. The United States, the European Union, Russia, China, India. These countries are at fault for basically all of the global world problems, and undeniably at fault for climate change.
One global northerner is equivalent on an environmental scale to dozens if not hundreds of "third world" humans. The root cause of climate change and war is not "overpopulation," if we all lived like third world countries live, there would be no global climate change.
The root cause of climate change is primarily greed fueled by capitalism. Since the birth of the modern industrial age, Northern countries have exploited the world's resources, people, and locals for the purpose of maximizing profits. All the while the citizen has been convinced by the corporations of the would that their personal value as a human being is a direct correlation to what they "own" and that in order to be happy we need to buy their product. The north is living beyond the Earth's means and the big corporations will continue to rape the earth as long as the people keep buying.- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4Really? Climate change doesn't occur naturally?
- MWeather, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Sure it does, but the current changes can't be accounted for by natural causes.
- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4Really? Climate change doesn't occur naturally?
- akkibaba, on 05/16/2008, -2/+10"American children grow up to be valuable citizens. Bangladeshi children grow up to be part of the world population problem. Fretting about overpopulation, is a perfect guilt-free - indeed, sanctimonious - way for "progressives" to be racists."
- P. J. O'Rourke
- Zomar, on 05/16/2008, -7/+9Wrong.
- Duositex, on 05/16/2008, -17/+10Buried for nonsensical fearmongering.
- Zomar, on 05/16/2008, -1/+12Fact: world wildlife is rapidly going excinct and dying out.
Fact: humans are the primary cause of this.
How is this fearmongering? This article is true.
Species come and go, but since humans have expanded throughout the world the majority of larger species that have shared environments with man have been killed by man. Seriously at this rate the only sizable animals that are going to be around in the future are the ones we've enslaved for our own pleasure. There practically is no wildlife anymore, except for the remotest of places. A human's most common interaction these days with animals are the tortured and diseased ones he eats each meal. Are we really just going to rape this earth and the beings we share it with until there is nothing left but what exists soley for our benefit?- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -3/+1I'm always entertained when ideologies conflict. Not accusing you, just commenting.
We need to save the starving people. Overpopulation is killing the animals. Laugh.- MWeather, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1The solution is simple: eat the poor.
- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -3/+1I'm always entertained when ideologies conflict. Not accusing you, just commenting.
- Zomar, on 05/16/2008, -1/+12Fact: world wildlife is rapidly going excinct and dying out.
- kenrayd, on 05/16/2008, -14/+3It is one of the major signs of the near return of Christ for the complete earth make-over - be His friend while you still can, cause when it's too late, it's too late.
- BaudiIROCZ, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3holy headdesk batman.
- sodade, on 05/16/2008, -3/+5People who believe this ***** scare the ***** out of me.
- Zemenar, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2I lol'd.
- forgeflow, on 05/16/2008, -9/+4Yeah, Christ has a coupon cut-off date. What a lot of nonsense.
- monoa, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3Christ? You mean the fictional zombie who started off one of the desert death cults?
What does he have to do with the reality of species extinction?
- monoa, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3Christ? You mean the fictional zombie who started off one of the desert death cults?
- senorsubagua, on 05/16/2008, -3/+25i think the planet could do without about 80% of the commenters in here this morning, too. despicable.
- HarryBauzonia, on 05/16/2008, -4/+8I know most of you want to blame governments and (teh evil) corporations for this, but cities and subdivisions are the greatest threat to wildlife.
- DeFex, on 05/16/2008, -0/+6Subdivisions are the way they are is because "teh evil corporations" bought up and destroyed most US public transit infrastructure. and brainwashed everyone in to thinking they need a car.
- Zomar, on 05/16/2008, -0/+6I don't know what statistically is the "greatest threat," but expansion of residency is certainly up there. But it's not just that, it's the mindset that it's okay to use whatever means necessary environmentally to meet our wants. Just think of how much of the world's forests have been cut down to be turned into inefficient cattle prairies and consumer establishments. How many mountains have been blown up to get the coal underneath to power our ever growing "need" for energy. How so many of the world's fish populations have been eradicated by overfishing. The list goes on and on.
Corporations are build around extracting as much money from the consumer as possible. Next to profit, the environment means nothing. This is the nature of capitalism. Of course the consumer doesn't need to purchase most of what the corporations are selling, and are also a contributor of the problem.
The government seems to be okay with corporations exploitation of our environment, and that's largely because the people themselves are complacent with the issue.
- DeFex, on 05/16/2008, -0/+6Subdivisions are the way they are is because "teh evil corporations" bought up and destroyed most US public transit infrastructure. and brainwashed everyone in to thinking they need a car.
- masgaster, on 05/16/2008, -4/+22Well, on the bright side, if we only wipe out 1% of the world's species each year then every year there will always be 99% of the world's species remaining.
- culbeda, on 05/16/2008, -0/+8So we're always APPROACHING zero percent, rather than reaching it. Well I feel better now.
- ambrosious, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7I know you're kidding, but for anyone who is unclear, what they mean is 1% of the current amount...
- Rixta, on 05/16/2008, -8/+2Maybe they're just hiding.....
- DestroyFascism, on 05/16/2008, -2/+7We are next, it only takes the wrong 1 to screw it all...
- DeFex, on 05/16/2008, -2/+12Keep driving those SUVs, Keep breeding uncontrollably. keep throwing plastic and chemicals all over the place.
- lukeduke, on 05/16/2008, -11/+3Oh no, humans are taking over. What do they propose, killing anything past the second child? A happy world wear cars run on rainbows? A law mandating that all houses are to be four feet apart with no more than 1000 square feet....all just to save a river dolphin.
By the way, if the dolphin was smart, it would live in the OCEAN with the other dolphins. That's just survival of the smartest at work- leftyslament, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2Decent troll. Almost believable until the bit about the dolphins moving to the ocean. Close, but no cigar. I'll give it a 4/10
- MWeather, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1" What do they propose, killing anything past the second child?"
What do you propose, mass starvation and wars over basic resources?
- mfc5200, on 05/16/2008, -2/+7If your parents had more than 2 kids. Go bitch at them. If you are planning on having more than two kids, you are a hypocrite.
- highwebl, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5If you are planning on having more than two kids, adopt.
- liquidpele, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I would be a hypocrite for having more than 2 kids? Wouldn't that depend on my views?
I think you think that word means something it doesn't. - JesseJay, on 05/16/2008, -2/+090% of my race was killed post-contact and you want me to curb it's growth?
- normalkid0615, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2Blame Former President Reagan for killing the sexual revolution - VH1 - off topic but damn did u see that last night
? - yubpro, on 05/16/2008, -1/+7Folks, just give us one more century. Stop destroying, or at least slow it down, this is YOUR responsibility. Give us 100 years and imagine where we'll be, what we'll discover, the miracle drugs and treatments we can extract from a world that has everything that we need and more. We've only discovered 1% of the plants in the rain forests, just think about that other 99%, the cures and ingenuity of nature that lay undiscovered.
- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3Wait... you want more time to find miracle drugs. You realize that will only increase the population... right?
- yubpro, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Following that logic, why cure anybody who gets sick? Sorry if I'm too much of an optimist, but just because it may cause certain social problems is no reason not to look for improvement. Given a commitment to technological improvement, within the next century or two we could foreseeable master decay of the human body and at the same time find technologies that allow us to much more efficiently use the space we have here on earth, and beyond...
Yes there are problems that will need to be overcome, but there are solutions. It's a question of whether or not society is willing to work together to find them.
- yubpro, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Following that logic, why cure anybody who gets sick? Sorry if I'm too much of an optimist, but just because it may cause certain social problems is no reason not to look for improvement. Given a commitment to technological improvement, within the next century or two we could foreseeable master decay of the human body and at the same time find technologies that allow us to much more efficiently use the space we have here on earth, and beyond...
- MrWhite7, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3Wait... you want more time to find miracle drugs. You realize that will only increase the population... right?
- TritonX, on 05/16/2008, -2/+11And they think global warming is bad, wait until the ecosystems falls apart.
- BDOUG, on 05/16/2008, -1/+11There is no need for panic. This is a self-correcting problem if you simply take the long view. Humans will eventually breed/consume/war themselves into extinction and other critters will take over. The loss of these animal species is tragic but inevitable. Almost any animal species will naturally die off with or WITHOUT humans here. Humanity accelerates this problem but also accelerates our own demise, eventually ending that particular environmental pressure. Guilt and political initiatives are useful in smaller contexts, but not in one this overwhelmingly large . There are too many people who simply do not care, and never will. There's no changing that, and thinking you can with web articles, t-shirt slogans, songs, etc, is just another predictable irrational fallacy.
- ratexla, on 05/17/2008, -1/+0It... just seems a bit unnecessary.
Our existence and other species = possible!?
Our non-existence and other species = possible...
Our existence and ruined ecosystem = not possible.
- ratexla, on 05/17/2008, -1/+0It... just seems a bit unnecessary.
- eggsovereasy, on 05/16/2008, -7/+3Victory is in sight my friends, don't give up now!
- curtisag, on 05/16/2008, -1/+5What we really need is an emergency project on a scale even larger than the Manhattan Project to develop a clean and renewable source of power. I think that source will eventually be fusion energy. If we can just figure out the technical problems behind the technology, we would have enough power to save ourselves and the planet. But it's now a race against time for the human race to continue to exist. Either we develop the technology to sustain our way of life, or we will all die in the final war for the little natural resources that are left. Perhaps this is why we don't detect any extra-terrestrial signals from outer space. A species must revert back to a non-technological state or go extinct once all natural resources are gone.
- ASoE, on 05/16/2008, -4/+2Is the WWF the only source for this article?
- mogebier, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4When the animals evolve an opposable thumb we humans are DOOMED!!!
- Jem7vwh, on 05/16/2008, -6/+2Thats what happens when you give house loans to people that can't even afford them. Then the housing market increases causing building all over and loss of land. Then the animals are forced to live in a few scrap areas we throw at them and the people bitch when a bear shows up in their yard.
America is full of pussies now all scared of wld animals. - FredFredrickson, on 05/16/2008, -1/+6And this is why, when I read news articles about people having their 14th child, I just shake my head and thank goodness I won't be alive long enough to see the results of our mindless consumption of the earth's resources.
- ASoE, on 05/16/2008, -5/+3"animals are forced to live in a few scrap areas we throw at them" Have you ever been out of the house? I just drove from Kentucky to Louisiana and I assure you that the forested area was far, far greater that the developed area.
- slantyeyed, on 05/16/2008, -5/+1People go up in arms about endangered species, but tens of thousands of people dead in Burma or China or Darfur and nobody cares crap.
- Digitalfilm43, on 05/16/2008, -6/+1Survival of the fittest.
- ratexla, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0Hi. You need other species.
- kahakauai, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4If a quarter of animal life has been destroyed - and we are killing off an estimated 1% per year... That means we have 75 years until all life on earth is extinguished?
Pretty morbid concept being as how I will probably live to see it... - Barackalypse, on 05/16/2008, -3/+0But I thought we LIKED evolution. Adapt or die. History is littered with millions of species that failed, why should we care that this continues today? Perhaps these animals should learn a lesson from tasty ones like cows, pigs, and chickens. Those animals will never be extinct because people love to eat them.
- andreegal, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Buried as propaganda.
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