Let’s see how the climate change deniers try to spin this one: A new study shows that the planet has entered its sixth mass extinction phase in the history of the Earth, and time is quickly running out for us to avoid it going further.
The study was published Friday in the journal Science Advances,?and it warns that vertebrates–mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish–are vanishing from the planet at a rate 114 times faster than is normal based on historical data. The study, which was conducted jointly by Stanford University and the?University of California-Berkeley, states that the number of vertebrates which have gone extinct over the last century usually take 800 to 10,000 years to vanish from Earth.
The data led the researchers to conclude:
“These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way.”
The culprit for this latest mass extinction:?Human activity related to development and climate change, as the study notes:
“Our analysis emphasizes that our global society has started to destroy species of other organisms at an accelerating rate, initiating a mass extinction episode unparalleled for 65 million years. Avoiding a true sixth mass extinction will require rapid, greatly intensified efforts to conserve already threatened species and to alleviate pressures on their populations — notably habitat loss, overexploitation for economic gain, and climate change…However, the window of opportunity is rapidly closing.”
As a result, the planet could soon experience a period of waste which would seriously threaten human life and the ability to sustain it. As one of the study’s authors told the BBC:
“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on.”
This is sobering data, and it remains to be seen if we will take it seriously or merely allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking it won’t happen merely because some climate change deniers hope to wish it away or pretend it’s all just a figment of the liberal imagination.
