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UN: Thirty-five years to half-extinction
Michelle Michalos
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Features
At the United Nations' climate change conference this month, experts painted a grim picture for the future of our planet. If humans don't act within the next 5 to 10 years, they warned, not only will we cause the extinction of many of the world's vital species, but in the end, we will be wiped off the earth ourselves.
"The entire web of life is on the verge of catastrophe," said Dr. Stuart Pimm from the Earth Institute at Columbia University. "If things continue, in as little as 35 years half of all species of life will be extinct." Perhaps the scariest aspect of this prediction is that nobody knows what the consequences will be. "Billions of people could die because of decreased biodiversity," Pimm warned.
As much as humans may try to keep a distance from nature, our impact on the natural world can't be denied. "The last mass extinction event was caused by an asteroid," Pimm recalled. "Now it is being caused by homo sapiens."
But while global warming is clearly a major factor in the extinction crisis - a temperature increase of just 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius would put 20-30 percent of plants and animals at risk of extinction - it's not the biggest. Habitat destruction and pollution play large roles as well. Oddly enough, the species that live in the places least touched by humans are the ones who suffer the most. This includes species that occupy the Artic region and mountaintops - they have nowhere to escape - and lowland species, which have been isolated by the agricultural land.
There is no doubt that the impact of extinction is already being felt. According to Pimm and fellow speaker Chera Van Berg, two-thirds of the planet's grazing land has already been overgrazed. Add forests that are shrinking at a rate of one and a half million square kilometers each decade - meaning that within a few decades we may completely destroy the world's forests along with the diverse ecosystems that occupy them - and severely overharvested ocean fisheries, the tremendous scale of crisis is coming into focus.
"The entire web of life is on the verge of catastrophe," said Dr. Stuart Pimm from the Earth Institute at Columbia University. "If things continue, in as little as 35 years half of all species of life will be extinct." Perhaps the scariest aspect of this prediction is that nobody knows what the consequences will be. "Billions of people could die because of decreased biodiversity," Pimm warned.
As much as humans may try to keep a distance from nature, our impact on the natural world can't be denied. "The last mass extinction event was caused by an asteroid," Pimm recalled. "Now it is being caused by homo sapiens."
But while global warming is clearly a major factor in the extinction crisis - a temperature increase of just 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius would put 20-30 percent of plants and animals at risk of extinction - it's not the biggest. Habitat destruction and pollution play large roles as well. Oddly enough, the species that live in the places least touched by humans are the ones who suffer the most. This includes species that occupy the Artic region and mountaintops - they have nowhere to escape - and lowland species, which have been isolated by the agricultural land.
There is no doubt that the impact of extinction is already being felt. According to Pimm and fellow speaker Chera Van Berg, two-thirds of the planet's grazing land has already been overgrazed. Add forests that are shrinking at a rate of one and a half million square kilometers each decade - meaning that within a few decades we may completely destroy the world's forests along with the diverse ecosystems that occupy them - and severely overharvested ocean fisheries, the tremendous scale of crisis is coming into focus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Jason
posted 9/30/07 @ 2:21 AM EST
Human nature's tendency is to make a mistake and then learn from it. It will be too late before we have a chance to learn from this one.
We will die out, but Earth will recover and some species will go on. (Continued…)
A tothe K
posted 10/01/07 @ 11:57 PM EST
ANother characteristic of certain humans, is to be alarmist attention whores. I undertand the UN guys spewing this doodi, in order to hustle the Emission credit securities (quite a lucrative market, btw). (Continued…)
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