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and by bad times I mean, you know, extinction.
“Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions,” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, the director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international network of campaign groups, governments, scientists and other experts.
She called the findings “a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live.”
To translate we humans have been expanding our population and everything that comes with it to such a degree that we’re pushing a good portion of other species out on their asses and their method of adapting? Well, they don’t really have one. They’re dying off.
1/4th of mammals.
1/3 of amphibians.
A fair number of bugs and such as well.
Experts who helped lead the study said the hazards were, if anything, increasing.
“What we’ve found is that one in four mammals are truly in peril, but these assessments were done largely without accounting for the potential impacts of climate change,” said Jonathan Baillie, the director of conservation programs at the Zoological Society of London.
“If we continue emitting greenhouse gases at the current rate, we’re looking at 40 percent loss of biodiversity by the end of the century,” warned Dr. Baillie, referring to the potential extinction of all species.
Well, that’s some outstandingly depressing news. Happy monday.
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October 7th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Now if only we could add uber-conservative Evangelical Republicans to the extinction list.