Researchers at Cal Berkeley say that we – we being humans – have probably triggered the sixth mass extinction in our planet’s history (the first man-made mass extinction!). Thanks to the last 500 years of over-fishing, overhunting, habitation destruction and fossil-fuel-induced global warming, we could have the blood of over 75 per cent of Earth’s current living species on our hands.
Maybe people are being paranoid, but those who have tracked extinction rates throughout history think otherwise:
Until mankind’s big expansion some 500 years ago, mammal extinctions were very rare: on average, just two species died out every million years.
But in the last five centuries, at least 80 out of 5,570 mammal species have bitten the dust, providing a clear warning of the peril to biodiversity.
“It looks like modern extinction rates resemble mass extinction rates, even after setting a high bar for defining ‘mass extinction,” said researcher Anthony Barnosky.
Luckily for you, these mass extinction things take thousands, even millions, of years to play out, and its full impact wont even hit for another “3 to 22 centuries”. So you won’t feel nearly as much guilt/stress/terror as some remote descendant of yours in the future. No worries, right?! [AFP]
quog
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 1:28 PMOf course it will be the first man made one –
for all of the others mankind wasn’t around
What a load of rubbish and global warming fear mongering
Andrew Klahn
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 3:32 PMoff topic but I have to ask is there a high res version of picture that you have used for this artlice around?…
Pete
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 2:15 PMhttp://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-25/hires/iss025e009840.jpg
I use a website called http://www.tineye.com to find the source of images.
gohumans
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 6:01 PMIf you take a step back and look at what we have done (and are still doing) to this planet, you could easily compare the human race to a virus of sorts, spreading and multiplying across the planet, consuming all in it’s path, raping the the earth of it’s natural resources.
And will we ever stop, hell no, we are consumers after all, we are constantly told by advertisements that we have to have that new car, computer, furniture, iphone etc. The manufacturers and retailers are simply feeding our addiction for new and better goods, an addiction that they create through marketing and advertising. It’s a vicious circle, and without it our financial system would collapse. It’s pretty much too late for us to change now.
theOtherWay
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 10:12 PMUm if we tried to kill something should that really count against us?
It’s not like they accidentally died out, either they were delicious or made nice rugs.
I wouldn’t think you could count those against us or the ones that died because of what we killed.
Ross
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 5:52 PMI think smith says this in the matrix :P
Maybe we just need to develop AI that will use humans as a life-source while placing us within a virtual reality in our heads!!!!!!
Ross
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 5:54 PMsorry theOtherWay, this was meant to go to gohumans**
:)
Chuck
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 12:08 AMAhh, so many worries… goddamn… stuff… and companies. All this denial is so depressing.
Paganel Gigel
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 3:54 AMECOLOGICAL EVIDENCE from Previous PLANET X Passages… PLANET X – CLASSIFIED INFORMATION… Gigantic hidden planet could be hurling comets at the rest of the solar system:
http://cristiannegureanu.blogspot.com/2010/12/gigantic-hidden-planet-could-be-hurling.html
Jeff
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 9:41 AMis that the nile river?
Ben Freeling
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 6:05 PMCool story bro. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Peter Simpson
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 12:54 AMThe problem is you won’t see it. The evidence is there, and you’re just going to ignore it.
Geffro
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 8:02 PMDarwin strikes again!!