Also posted at SayAnythingBlog
A new report published by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Global Footprint Network states that we are currently living through a period of mass extinction which is unprecedented since the time of the dinosaurs - 65 million years ago - and the cause? Human activity, of course.
The report says that in the 35 years to 2005, biodiversity has fallen by almost a third, elaborating that
"...land species have declined by 25 per cent, marine life by 28 per cent, and freshwater species by 29 per cent"Tracking nearly 4,000 species between 1970 and 2005, the team has not only revealed the destruction of the Earth's wildlife, but also pointed the finger at the perpetrators of this devastation.
Ben Collen, extinctions researcher at ZSL, said: "Between 1960 and 2000, the human population of the world has doubled. Yet during the same period, the animal populations have declined by 30 per cent. It's beyond doubt that this decline has been caused by humans."
The thing that concerns me most is not that humans are to blame, but that such a profound loss of biodiversity could have far reaching implications for future biodiversity, especially with the advent of climate change (whether human caused or not - THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS A MMGW DEBATE).
Less biodiversity, means less range within an ecology to respond to abrupt environmental changes. Therefore, there is less chance (a third less?) that species will survive such upheaval, which could have disastrous implications for us and for the biosphere.
What can we do about it?
We can pressure our governments to do something, but ultimately I think it'll be a lost cause. I'm becoming increasingly pessimistic as I get older and really can't see how we, as a species, can ever cooperate on something as big and far reaching as this.
Very disturbing indeed, and, like you, I fear we are helpless. Governments and large institutions are useless, so much a part of the myopic destructive path humans are unwaveringly travelling. See, for example, the massive loss of native British species over the last 30 years, including sparrows and bumble bees, despite a government target to halt such losses by 2010.
I think we began to lose contact with the natural world about 10,000 years ago, with the dawn of agriculture and overproduction. Most of us now, myself included, have no contact whatsover with wilderness, and live in centrally heated air conditioned bubbles.
I think our time is up soon. Our now globalised economic/agricultural system is fragile. We don't need a supervolcanic eruption or asteroid strike, just a virus that attacks wheat or rice would devastate civilisation.
Personally I want it to end. Yes the trappings of human scientific progress are wonderful, this computer for instance, but we have paid too heavy a price, the downside is extremely ugly.
I think all we can do is live as greenly as possible as individuals, don't drive, don't breed, don't eat meat, and take heart from committed individuals like Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd.