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Everything is connected. The more we lose bird and insect species, the harder it will be on the flowers,grasses, and trees. The harder it is on those, the harde

Everything is connected. The more we lose bird and insect species, the harder it will be on the flowers,grasses, and trees. The harder it is on those, the harder it is on use due to erosion and has CO2 scrubbing by the plants. We lost the last White Rhino last year, 3 bird species, and others. The extinction rate each of the last five years has been 1000 to 10000 times the normal rate. https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-01-02-extinct-animal-species-2018 https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-01-02-exti...

5040 8y ago
Is there such a thing as the "normal extinction rate"?
- tmountain 8y ago
  Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we're now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day.
tmountain 8y ago
As a society, we've chosen to prioritize financial interests above all else; thereby, robbing future generations of the richness and majesty that makes the world a beautiful place. When propagandists successfully politicized environmental protection, they set us on a path that not only ensured the mass extinction of thousands of species of plants and animals, but also jeopardized the survival of our own species. No one has a full picture of what the impacts of the impending extinctions and climate events will be, but I believe characterizing them as an existential crisis for the human race is accurate. Money doesn't do much good when the food and water are poisoned, the air is toxic to breathe, and vast portions of the continents are under water. Unfortunately, we're not well adapted to dealing with slow moving threats such as these, so addressing the situation while there's still time seems dubious at best.
- hanniabu 8y ago
  > As a society, we've chosen to prioritize financial interests above all else; As a government* While the government is supposed to be for the people, by the people, they often act against the desires and interests of the population.
  - eropple 8y ago
    Dunno where you are, but in the States somewhere between forty-five and fifty-five percent of the voting public will vote for just about anything if it's good "for the economy". (That is the charitable reading of their voting record, anyway.)
    - clarkmoody 8y ago
      Nah, they'll vote for anything their party tells them to. Most people don't have any sort of guiding principles. Their decisions are mainly based on tribalism, identity, and partisanship.
  - jmcqk6 8y ago
    >> As a society > As a government These are not different things. The government is made up of people from society. There is no secret cabal running things, just a bunch of people. If you want to treat the government as something other than yourself, then this is the inevitable result.
- athenot 8y ago
  > Money doesn't do much good when the food and water are poisoned, the air is toxic to breathe, and vast portions of the continents are under water. Unfortunately, those who stand the most to profit are also those who can mitigate the damage for themselves with costly workarounds such as fresh bottled water imported from the opposite side of the world, high tech air filtration systems and secondary homes in remote places. In other words, they don't care.
- justicezyx 8y ago
  As a society? Since when the common people have much say in any nontrivial large-scale policies? Name one that the behindscen motivation isn't cooperate profit?
briandear 8y ago
The Northern White Rhino is what you are thinking of an global warming didn’t kill it, poachers did, driven by a Chinese market based on superstition. Rhino horn is used in Traditional Chinese “Medicine” despite being chemically identical to a human fingernail. Perhaps we should be banning windmills and solar if we are going to care about the birds. https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-birds https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe... https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/windmills-and-solar-plans-kill-far-birds-than-oil-spills/ https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/windmills-and-... If Audubon cares about birds, they should promoting the banning of domestic cats. Invasive species propagation is a far bigger driver of extinction than variation in climate. In fact it’s the second largest driver of extinction behind hunting/fishing/harvesting.

5040 8y ago

Is there such a thing as the "normal extinction rate"?

tmountain 8y ago
Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we're now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day.

tmountain 8y ago

As a society, we've chosen to prioritize financial interests above all else; thereby, robbing future generations of the richness and majesty that makes the world a beautiful place. When propagandists successfully politicized environmental protection, they set us on a path that not only ensured the mass extinction of thousands of species of plants and animals, but also jeopardized the survival of our own species. No one has a full picture of what the impacts of the impending extinctions and climate events will be, but I believe characterizing them as an existential crisis for the human race is accurate. Money doesn't do much good when the food and water are poisoned, the air is toxic to breathe, and vast portions of the continents are under water. Unfortunately, we're not well adapted to dealing with slow moving threats such as these, so addressing the situation while there's still time seems dubious at best.

hanniabu 8y ago
> As a society, we've chosen to prioritize financial interests above all else; As a government* While the government is supposed to be for the people, by the people, they often act against the desires and interests of the population.
- eropple 8y ago
  Dunno where you are, but in the States somewhere between forty-five and fifty-five percent of the voting public will vote for just about anything if it's good "for the economy". (That is the charitable reading of their voting record, anyway.)
  - clarkmoody 8y ago
    Nah, they'll vote for anything their party tells them to. Most people don't have any sort of guiding principles. Their decisions are mainly based on tribalism, identity, and partisanship.
- jmcqk6 8y ago
  >> As a society > As a government These are not different things. The government is made up of people from society. There is no secret cabal running things, just a bunch of people. If you want to treat the government as something other than yourself, then this is the inevitable result.
athenot 8y ago
> Money doesn't do much good when the food and water are poisoned, the air is toxic to breathe, and vast portions of the continents are under water. Unfortunately, those who stand the most to profit are also those who can mitigate the damage for themselves with costly workarounds such as fresh bottled water imported from the opposite side of the world, high tech air filtration systems and secondary homes in remote places. In other words, they don't care.
justicezyx 8y ago
As a society? Since when the common people have much say in any nontrivial large-scale policies? Name one that the behindscen motivation isn't cooperate profit?

briandear 8y ago

The Northern White Rhino is what you are thinking of an global warming didn’t kill it, poachers did, driven by a Chinese market based on superstition. Rhino horn is used in Traditional Chinese “Medicine” despite being chemically identical to a human fingernail. Perhaps we should be banning windmills and solar if we are going to care about the birds. https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-birds https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe... https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/windmills-and-solar-plans-kill-far-birds-than-oil-spills/ https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/windmills-and-... If Audubon cares about birds, they should promoting the banning of domestic cats. Invasive species propagation is a far bigger driver of extinction than variation in climate. In fact it’s the second largest driver of extinction behind hunting/fishing/harvesting.