Dire UN Extinction Report
This article provides more evidence that data on extinctions is hard to come by. It says the rate of extinctions is now 1000 times greater than at earlier times in history, except for the five prior mass extinctions I’ve mentioned before. But we only know about 844 extinct plants and animals in the past 500 years. It’s unfortunate that the numbers never sound very convincing, because convincing evidence may not be very pleasant to witness.
The Bloginator…
I’ve got the blog roll this week. Watch out. The latest and greatest:Two Heel Drive: Tom is becoming manorexic as he gets obsessed with cutting weight. Don’t go over to the dark side Tom. Don’t do it! You just bought two scales Tom. Scales. Contem…
Trackback by Getoutdoors.com Outdoor Blog — March 23, 2006 @ 12:54 am
I don’t mean to bill this as “only another mass extinction,” I’m very worried and saddened by the situation, and I agree with Edward O. Wilson in his book The Future of Life when he says that we have one option not available to others - conscious restraint. Non-restraint isn’t the same as “pre-meditated mass-murder” in my book, it’s just a sign that we may not be so much more conscious en-masse than other species after all. The conscious choice to preserve other species has its downsides too - it’s tantamount to domestication.
Comment by cyberhobo — March 23, 2006 @ 6:32 am