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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"It's the next annihilation of vast numbers of species. It is happening now, and we, the human race, are its cause," - Richard Leaky and Roger Lewin in "The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of life and the Future of Mankind" |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"The future of humanity is inextricably tied to the fate of the natural world. In perpetuating this, the Earth's sixth mass extinction, we may ultimately compromise our own ability to survive." - Letter to U.S. Senate by E.O. Wilson and 10 other prominent scientists. |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"An Armageddon is approaching at the beginning of the third millennium. But it is not the cosmic war and fiery collapse of mankind foretold in sacred scripture. It is the wreckage of the planet by an exuberantly plentiful and ingenious humanity." - E.O. Wilson in "The Future Of Life" |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"The Red List is solid documentation of the global extinction crisis, and it reveals just the tip of the iceberg," - IUCN (World Conservation Union) News Release "Confirming the Global Extinction Crisis" |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"... we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of earth ..." Convention on Biological Diversity: Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"The effects of human activities on biodiversity have increased so greatly that the rate of species extinctions is rising to hundreds or thousands of times the background level." - United Nations EarthWatch Biodiversity Assessment |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"The world is currently undergoing a very rapid loss of biodiversity comparable with the great mass extinction events that have previously occurred only five or six times in the Earth's history." - World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report 2004 |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"We are into the opening stages of a human-caused biotic holocaust--a wholesale elimination of species--that could leave the planet impoverished for at least five million years." - Norman Myers in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences) |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"... an unprecedented mass extinction of life on Earth is occurring....There have always been periods of extinction in the planet's history, but this episode of species extinction is greater than anything the world has experienced for the past 65 million years-the greatest rate of extinction since the vanishing of the dinosaurs." - United Nations Environment Programme "Key Facts on Biodiversity" |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"Biological diversity is being lost at a rate unequalled since the appearance of modern ecosystems more than 40 million years ago. A quarter of all mammals are threatened with extinction and nearly 70% of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited or depleted." - The Royal Society (The UK's National Academy of Sciences) on Biodiversity and Conservation |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"30% extermination of all species by the mid 21st century is not unrealistic" - National Academy of Sciences "The Current Biodiversity Extinction Event: Scenerios for Mitigation and Recovery." |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"The current massive degradation of habitat and extinction of species is taking place on a catastrophically short timescale, and their effects will fundamentally reset the future evolution of the planet's biota." |
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Species Extinction & The Sixth Mass Extinction
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"The Father of All Mass Extinctions. There is a good possibility that losses in diversity in the present will surpass anything in the geological past. Facing that specter could shake the very tenets of conservation" - Peter Ward |
