An Epidemic of Extinctions: Decimation of Life on Earth

[FourScore]

Source: The Independent UK

The world's species are declining at a rate "unprecedented since the extinction of the dinosaurs", a census of the animal kingdom has revealed. The Living Planet Index out today shows the devastating impact of humanity as biodiversity has plummeted by almost a third in the 35 years to 2005.

The report, produced by WWF, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Global Footprint Network, says land species have declined by 25 per cent, marine life by 28 per cent, and freshwater species by 29 per cent.

Jonathan Loh, editor of the report, said that such a sharp fall was "completely unprecedented in terms of human history". "You'd have to go back to the extinction of the dinosaurs to see a decline as rapid as this," he added. "In terms of human lifespan we may be seeing things change relatively slowly, but in terms of the world's history this is very rapid."

And "rapid" is putting it mildly. Scientists say the current extinction rate is now up to 10,000 times faster than what has historically been recorded as normal...




Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/an-epidemic-of-extinctions-decimation-of-life-on-earth-829325.html

---

[lonestarnot]

1. We suck!

:(

[femrap]

8. I gotta say that more

males suck than females. This whole macho, let's conquer Mother Nature, and take everything from the Earth that we can.... really really sucks.

When do the people who care about Mother Nature get to rule? When do the smart people who understand that our citizens have to STOP CONSUMING get to direct? When do the Corporations get pushed to the back row of the arena? When? Maybe it's too late....and we're just stuck with suck.

We need to go BACKWARDS as far as production and do everything locally...think Wall Street gets that?

[ryanmuegge]

11. LOL. Jesus Christ. Let's turn this into a fucking gender issue of all things.

Come on.

I'm in agreement with what you say, but I do not believe this is a gender issue.

[femrap]

47. Obviously you haven't given the idea any

thought. Look around. Look at the multinationals and who runs them. It's maybe so obvious that you can't see the trees for the forest...the dying forest, that is.

[customerserviceguy]

83. See all those people on the planet?

Every one of them got here by being born to a female! If we ensured that 90% of the people born on this planet were male, we'd breed ourselves down to managable size in only a couple hundred years. And the bonus is, we'd start in the most sexist, backwards, religiously-fucked places on earth.

Yes, my point is stupid, just as yours is, which boils down to, "Men rule the world's governments, corporations, and militaries, therefore all men are evil." I heard enough of that shit back in the 1970's in Seattle. No wonder Rush Limbaugh came up with the word "feminazi", he had thinking like yours to show to the fucktards.

[Name removed]

89. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CaptJasHook]

90. Women do more than their fair share of Consumption

That is what this is mostly about. Using up resources on things that are not needed.

If their is demand, it will be produced. If it is produced, the resources will be drained. If it is drained, then other species cannot use it.

The other issue is over population by the human species. It takes two to tango on that one.

[Zhade]

104. Yeah, so blame all men for *their* actions? Fucking ridiculous.

NT!

[natrat]

12. wow talk about idiocy-there are just too many people and too much pollution

even if all females on the planet it would be way too much-just the cockroaches now

[femrap]

48. Wow....a real deep thinker. nt

[Somawas]

86. A good plague or pandemic

could perform a salubrious thinning of the herd.

[RadiationTherapy]

13. Disregarding your gender specific pap...

The people who care about mother nature and are "live and let live" don't "rule" because "ruling" is antithetical to most of them. The people who get to be "in charge" are hardcore alpha types who's very very natures are exploitative of people and resources.


You should learn about the tao. Although the characteristics you describe would be categorized as yang (male, electric), no human is born 100% yin or 100% yang and therefore these characteristics cannot be determined by having a penis or a vagina.

[femrap]

49. I am not buying that excuse.

Our culture's emphasis on machoism, violence, exploitation, oppression, greed, and acquisition is KILLING THE PLANET. Mother Nature is viewed as something to conquer. Why let the few alphas kill us all? We're actually being led by Psychopaths....and they're male.

Given your view of the world, we have been destined to die at the hands of the alphas. As studies have shown, women 'lead' with much more of a consensus-style. Maybe the alpha psychopaths need to be sent to The Hague?

[NJCher]

57. practical example

Here is a brief example of what I thiink femrap's talking about:

Lawn service. Men want to take huge leaf blowers and riding lawnmowers and CONQUER all growing things on that plot of suburban land. Look at most landscaping services: they are run by men. They seem to get an inordinate amount of satisfaction from waving their leafblower "wand" around. The noise just adds to it (for them).

I wanted to have a woman's landscaping service. This service would turn lawn into garden, some of it vegetable gardens. Instead of carting around heavy lawn maintenance equipment. the service would use the owner's equipment. Instead of blowing leaves out in the street (again, for pickup by the city, using fossil fuel energy to do so), the leaves would be chopped and left as a mulch around trees and shrubs. No weedwacking, no leaf blowing, and minimal lawn cutting.

Can this economically be done? No. Around here the going rate for a month's worth of lawn service (using equipment like leafblowers, weedwackers, and lawn mowers) is $200 per month. The system is set up for men and their POV about how things should be done. They make it economically impossible to compete.



Cher

[femrap]

93. Thank you, Cher...

an excellent practical example. In my hometown, there are 2 women who run a service similar to what you'd like to see. Beautiful gardens!

The longer I live the more I love the beauty of Mother Nature and the more I mourn what we have done to her. We will pay. And the pain to those who don't see the damage that has been done are going to suffer mightily. Karma.

Take care. I bet you have a fabulous garden. It's been so rainy here I haven't been able to get the vegies planted yet...delaying corn crops as well.

[tidy_bowl]

72. Please, and just how much pollution is directly...

.....Gucci bags, hair dyes, lipstick, makeup, etc.? You really need to get over your bitterness. Not everything 'male' caused in this world. Women have equality in it as well.

[femrap]

92. Did I say everything?

Maybe you need to get your head out of the toilet and go read a book on feminism? Makeup...we don't need no stinking makeup.

Who makes the makeup? Who tells women to be pretty, dress up, smile? Patriarchal advertising firms...create the need and we will fill it! Go read some history on feminism and consumer cultures.

I don't have the desire or time to deal with those who are willfully ignorant. buh bye. Oink off piggie.

[Megahurtz]

132. Ha ha ha!

Perfect response! :thumbsup:

I swear some people cannot handle simple factual truth.

[crikkett]

85. matriarchy = patriarchy. Democracy is the solution.

And I invite you to take your noise somewhere it will be appreciated. Like an echo chamber.

[femrap]

91. Hey, jiminy....who said anything about

a matriarchy....I mentioned consensus building (democracy)...a typical management style used by women.

Feminism means no hierarchies...probably too utopian, but nonetheless a goal.

Hey...I decline your rude invitation. Oink off, piglet. buh bye.

[crikkett]

116. After carefully re-reading your posts

you're still way too generalized and way too down on the male of the species for my comfort, which motivated my reaction.

The 'women rule better than men' and 'women are more fair' arguments set me off, for being SO DAMNED SEXIST AND BLATANTLY WRONG. They're used by people who defend the virtues of matriarchy and that you were doing the same, could be a conclusion I jumped to prematurely.

SO.

If I overreacted to weasel words like
"I mentioned consensus building (democracy)...a typical management style used by women"

when your obvious and aggressively defended message was that women were more fit to rule,

then I'll apologize sincerely, and bug off.

C

[CaptJasHook]

94. Site your sources.

You claim our culture is Macho. Our culture is less macho than many. Additionally, there is a mix of many different types of culture in this country. For every hour of sports programming, there is an hour of self-obsessed talk shows and melodramatic soap operas. That has more to do with ALL Americans need for vacuous entertainment.

Violence inherently male? That depends on what you call violence. I teach in a highly female middle school and I see just as much aggresion amongst females as I do males, it just takes a usually less physical form. Oppresion? Women are just as oppressive of men and each other as men are. Greed? Suburbia, nuff' said. Acquisition? Why do you think that most advertising targets women? Traditionally, women have done the majority of the household shopping and taken care of purchasing for the kids. Though it is preposterous for me to say such a thing in modern America, those trends still exist.

You act as if women have no control and have had no participation in the raping of the planet. Just because, traditionally men have been the ones who had to go out and shoot the deer, cut the wood, drill the oil, mine the iron, somehow women are excused from blame. Women ask for something, man goes out and gets it, therefore it is man's fault. My guess is that you don't take much ownership over any of the problems in your life. Just blame others.

Personally, I wish that women would take over and rule the world. I will bet you any amount of money...any amount that things will be the same, only the specifics will be different. If you look at ratios, I will bet that examples of female leadership turning into tyrants are on par with male examples.

[Name removed]

96. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hannah Bell]

108. Like margaret thatcher. like indira gandhi. like golda meir.

i'm a woman, but women have no monopoly on wisdom, gentleness or attunement with nature. i find them men's equals in consumption, aggressiveness, competitiveness & stupidity, just in somewhat different ways.

some women lead by consensus. some men do too.

[nicholas9999]

111. a logic problem

Do you also believe that terrorism is about Islam? That is,
there are 900 million peaceful Muslims in the world, all of
whom read the same book as do Middle Eastern terrorists.
Therefore, there are other antecedents or causes for terrorism
that have nothing to do with Islam.

In the same way, while all planet destroyers may be male, all
males are not planet destroyers. Actually, the vast majority
of us would prefer to work collaboratively with other males
and females in solving the major problems that we have.
Emphasizing our differences ends up creating divisiveness
and/or confrontation, and is therefore antithetical to
problem-solving. You seem to be against violence,
exploitation, oppression. That's cool, and you have plenty of
company, both male and female.

[Bake]

112. Why don't you wander off into the wild

and see just how nurturing "Mother" Nature is ... you might last a day or two.

Bake

[LanternWaste]

127. I would agree that our culture

I would agree that our culture has attributes that hurt the planet-- exploitation and greed being the worst of your list. But it seems to me that male and female alike are both exploitative and greedy-- consumerists on a grand scale in other words.

Madison Avenue markets to particular demographics depending on the product, but I think it would be the height of absurdity to lay the lion's share of both exploitation and greed at the feet of any one sex, race or religion.

For all intents and purposes, we are all-- regardless of gender, guilty of demanding and consuming those things which are not tantamount to our survival.

[Speciesamused]

20. Right on femrap....

It is called local foodisum. In Europe they have community gardens
and local food always. Oh how nice to have fresh food. Peace.

[raystorm7]

27. Its the womens fault. They keep making babies or letting em live. I blame Hitler and Bush's Moms :p

[femrap]

50. Vasectomies for All! nt

[Robb]

99. What are you, 12?

You're giving feminists (of which I are one) a bad name with the "piggie" crap.

Responsibility for the message, and context, are critical tenets of feminism.

[femrap]

110. "I are one."

"(of which I are one.) We don't want you!!!! Go away...like to the library. Learn to write.

Buh bye you little porker.

[Bake]

113. More of that "consensus building," Riiiight

Bake

[Robb]

115. And welcome to DU. /nt

[Megahurtz]

133. www.fixthedix.com

!

:7

[RadiationTherapy]

29. And another thing!!! (faux outrage)

I have to intimate that, in my experience, women are much more needy for trinkets and whatnots. They contribute as much to the consumption issue as men do, but you already knew that.

[femrap]

51. I would say some women may be complicit in

their desire for gems, but once many of them know of the treatment of the miners...they can do without. Funny how you say women just need little 'trinkets and whatnots.' It's the boys who like the big toys, right? The Hummers, the big TVs, the jets...'Whoever dies with the most toys, wins.' Right?

I'm not talking about consumption...I'm talking about DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET. I don't know too many women willing to use nuclear bombs. I don't know any violent women...after all 95% of prisoners are male.

Given the planet's precarious situation, I believe it's time for this machismo culture to stop. We are running on a masculine overload.

[Zhade]

105. "I don't know too many women willing to use nuclear bombs."

clinton.

[FarCenter]

32. The problem is our excessively complex and expensive nesting habit

6+ billion medium-sized primates would be too many, but the ecological impact is made even more dire by our extraordinarily complex and resource-intensive mating ritual and nesting habit.

It is far worse than the bower birds' or the pack rats'.

[femrap]

52. We need to go backward toward smaller homes that use

straw bales for insulation, geothermal, solar, or wind for power. We really have no choice. I can't wait to get off of the gird.

I guess I didn't get any of that complex and resource-intensive mating ritual...just some co- generation of chemistry interaction! lol.

One big plague or massive land-mass changing earthquake and millions of people are gone. Mother Nature will kick our ass if we don't stop treating her like crap.

[Creideiki]

70. I'm with you on alternative fuel sources and going off the grid

Straw bales for insulation? Seems like a fire hazard. Just saying--there's got to be a better insulation that won't take everyone out with a stray spark.

[femrap]

87. Google it...it's highly rated for

its insulation and I've been to homes that use it. It's encased with another substance such as stucco. Even Jame Dooley, the syndicated know-it-all about home repairs and building recommends it.

[FarCenter]

71. It's the girlfriends and wives that drive men's consumption

Gotta have the hot car, or you won't be able to pick up chicks!

When I was a boy growing up on a farm, my father insulated the foundation of the house by banking it with straw and manure from the dairy barn. The straw provides some insulation, and if you start early enough in the fall, the mixture begins to rot and give off heat that keeps it from freezing all the way through until it gets really cold.

I can't see the wives in my current suburban community allowing their husbands to do this kind of thing.

[femrap]

88. Everyone, male and female, are

going to have to TRANSFORM their living....Mother Nature is running out of oil. Either plan for it and adjust or be slapped in the face with unwelcome change.

Lots of women in the suburbs are getting into recycling....a baby step toward the Big Change coming.

Hot cars may get a shallow, materialistic chick...those chicks will probably be slapped in the face with the Big Change coming.

[Zhade]

106. Nature is not concious - it does not "feel" us treating "her" badly.

NT!

[Name removed]

109. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Megahurtz]

45. You do have an important point. n/t

[gtar100]

54. I agree. Very well said.

We are so damn backwards with the dominance of greed and power by brute strength. And it is a result of male dominance of the species. There are plenty of women who follow along but that's only because they've bought into it. A higher intelligence is not respected or given precedence. Balance doesn't fit into the equation these days. It's all about taking and dominating through brute power. Ego run amok. We are on the verge of failing as a species because of our lack of respect for the natural ways of life.

But if you stop, just stop, the insanity will flow around you like a wave. You don't have to participate in it.

[femrap]

101. I'm looking forward to somehow getting off

of the grid...it's possible. Those darn waves keep hitting me...and I'm experiencing some erosion...LOL!

Take care.

[judasdisney]

60. Someone's got issues

Replace "males" in Femrap's statement with any other subgroup of humanity. That would be a clear example of bigotry, no matter whom it's directed toward.

[femrap]

126. It's the testosterone, stupid!

Women have some, but nothing close to male's levels. Estrogen is a mellowing hormone....same with progesterone.

Of course our environment/culture has a lot to do with it as well.

[Megahurtz]

131. "Bigotry" or no "bigotry" it's The Truth.

Open your eyes! :think: Who is causing all of the Wars? Who rapes? Who runs the huge Corporations?

It sure is not the Women. Dude, wake up!!! :think:

[theHandpuppet]

65. When? When we can rationally address the issue of creating fewer consumers

Since I don't believe the day will ever come that humans willingly and as a species curb their ballooning population, we can kiss Mother Earth and all her many children on land and sea goodbye. By all means, let's not infringe upon anyone's right to reproduce over... and over... and over... and over... until every last inch of the Earth has either been stripped clean or has a human footprint on it.

[femrap]

125. I'm so grateful that I didn't reproduce....I'd be

sick if I had considering what the next generation is going to face. I've never understood why folks believe their egg/sperm is so special and/or important....while so many kids desperately need homes and some kindness.

[pipoman]

69. Yea, it is the males who want heat

in their homes, transportation, and indulgent lifestyles. Females are more inclined to live in tents, wear fig leaves and stay in one place. :sarcasm:

I'll just bet that your home has heat/AC, that you have a vehicle or utilize fossil fuel transportation, obviously use electricity, wash your clothes, watch teevee.

[GliderGuider]

76. It's just one facet of the Converging Crisis

Extinctions
Climate Change
Peak Oil (oil and natural gas depletion resulting in rising energy costs)
The death of the oceans
Loss of fresh water
Loss of soil fertility
Limits to food production
Excessive social complexity, leading to increasing hierarchy and income disparity
Financial destabilization

All of these factors interact and amplify each other. "Solving" one may make others worse. They are all converging on us right now. the effects are already visible, and within a decade will be causing various kinds of grief all over the planet.

It is far too late to stop the process, or even slow it down. The global decision-making processes we have available are dysfunctional, and cannot produce the sorts of behaviour changes we would need to solve the problem, even if we did have enough time left.

We're fucked.

The only realistic responses left to us in the time remaining are personal ones. They should be oriented towards increasing our awareness of the situation, in order that we can make sensible, effective decisions about how to adapt to our changing local circumstances.

[Zhade]

107. In other words - do we go with the arsenic or the sleeping pills?

I'm not sure I'm joking, either...

: (

[femrap]

124. Unfortunately, I think you're right.

I want off the grid...while there is a grid, that is.

[NBachers]

78. Flame Here Now

It will happen when the rugged, nature-conquering he-men stop being the ones who get the women.

[Lorien]

120. 'Nature conquering" is done to impress other men

women hate it.

[Lorien]

119. Last week my two year old nephew found a caterpillar on the ground

he DESPERATELY wanted to squish it, but his grandmother persuaded him not to, telling him that it would become a beautiful butterfly someday and that it deserved to live like everyone else. Nephew pouted-he still wanted to squish it. At that age I would have gently picked up the caterpillar and taken it to a tree where it would be safe. I think that the need to nurture and protect is a fundamental part of female nature, while the need to destroy and dominate is a fundamental part of male nature. Some people reject their basic instincts while others never will.

[femrap]

123. In general, I think you're right....

of course there is an entire spectrum of nurturing and domination. Hormones play a big part, I feel. Testosterone blocks empathy to an extent as well as tears. Estrogen mellows.

Sometimes children remember those messages from grandmas.

[Megahurtz]

134. femrap, I love your posts!

You have it spot on!

Why other people are so blind I don't know! :shrug::banghead:

[femrap]

135. Thank you...

I'm not used to compliments! :blush: :hi:

[skoalyman]

74. while bush just blows lol

:toast:

[neverforget]

2. Man vs Nature The Road to Victory!

from Troy McClure of the Simpsons..........

We really do suck.

[flakey_foont]

3. That is really scary

and so unnecessary......thanks for posting that, the word needs to get out.

[magellan]

4. Enough people won't realize the importance of this

...until our own species starts going extinct as a result. Even though we've been warned time and again.

[Plucketeer]

5. Well, we think alot of ourselves.

By that I mean, we think that since we can behold what's going on, we can change it. Easy enough to conclude when you make your living tapping on a keyboard or some other clean hands pursuit. The trouble is, there's lots of folks trying to scrape the most meager existance out of some jungle acreage, and they only see the biodiversity as something to have to contend with.
Past waves of extinction have come and gone without ONE HUMAN'S hand involved. But now that we CAN perceive that we're having a hand in such, is it any less "natural" than previous waves???
If the ultimate result of our influence is our own demise, maybe the next round of life to evolve and flourish won't randomly see a thinking, perceptive brain as one of the niche developments. Then the fate of all the newly developed life forms will be at the mercy of the elements again.

[Dogtown]

6. Makes me cry...

:cry:

[balantz]

7. Aw, who cares!

It's just a bunch of bugs and monkeys and stuff!

What's on TV tonight?

:sarcasm:

[nam78_two]

17. And them damn nanny-staters want to impose on my freedums dammit with them environmental portekshuns

Don't tell me what to drive, what to eat or wear....humph...
Who do these elitist sientists think they are-its trees what cos all the pollution.
:sarcasm:

Sad isn't it :(...

[bdamomma]

9. we are on the road to hell, and pretty close going over the cliff

what kind of life are we leaving our children to those who have children. This really sucks.

[theHandpuppet]

66. Maybe if we stopped having so MANY children

There would be a future. And therein sits the 800 pound gorilla on the sofa.

[lovuian]

10. Pretty soon its the Bees and then we are on that list

this is so sad

[nam78_two]

14. This is so sad-K&R

:(

[pleah]

15. K&R

We have become lemmings running toward the edge of the cliff.

[CGrantt57]

16. BFD

90% of all the species that have ever lived on the planet are extinct.

No species, not even humans, are exempt from the number one rule of nature: Adapt or die.

Personally, I hope we do die out and leave the planet to some organism who knows how to live with it and respect it.

Regards,

[Zodiak]

23. That may be true with the 90%

But you are discussing the overall extinction over 1.5 billion years, not the paltry 100,000 years that humans have been fucking things up. Nor the last 100 years where the pace has been greatly accelerated.

The rate of extinction is the important issue, not the overall level of extinction over geological time. That would only give the natural rate of extinction, which is much much lower than humans have brought. We are like a KP event.

[CGrantt57]

36. Good

The sooner we go, the sooner the planet can get back to normal.

Whatever that is.

[tabasco]

77. Idiotic right-wing talking point alert.

[NM Independent]

18. Every once in a while...

I find myself praying for the end like some of the nutcase evangelicals, but only so that the world may live. However, unlike them I don't believe that "God gave us the world and everything in it to use, and God wouldn't give us a world that couldn't provide for everyone."

There are TOO MANY of us, and something has to happen to drop our population, or the world is doomed.

[Baby Snooks]

25. The American mindset...

"There are TOO MANY of us, and something has to happen to drop our population, or the world is doomed."

There are not too many of us. There are too many of us consuming far too much of the natural resources that are necessary to sustain life. Our lifestyle in the West is wasteful and selfish. We like to run the dishwasher for two plates. We like to water our little gardens every day to keep them perfect and pretty. We like the convenience of our cars. Even as gasoline approaches a national average of $4 a gallon. We like to be able to run back to the store to pick up the chips and dip that we forgot. And then run back again when we realize we forgot something else. Three trips in an hour. Just so we have something to munch on before we go to bed. We like to take 15 minute hot showers in the morning and then some us like a nice hot bath in the evening. We like to "multi-task" so most of us sit at our computers with the stereo on and the television on and like to look outside at our perfect and pretty little gardens that are all lit up at night. All night long. We like to keep our homes ice cold in summer and hotter than hell in winter. We like our lives. And see nothing wrong with our indulgences.

We are destroying the planet. Not the population in Africa or India or China although they are now enjoying the same indulgences and turning a blind eye to their own, as we do, who have no food, no water, no lights or even a home to enjoy them in.

We are destroying the planet. The West. We are a selfish society.

[Goodnevil]

39. Meh

If not us, the Chinese will do it or the Indians. Hell, the Chinese and Indians are already contributing more and more each day as they enjoy more and more Big Macs, etc. It's not just "the West." Perhaps just the current western mindset.

We won't destroy the planet, anyway, as my old astronomy professor was keen to say, "oh we can't destroy the Earth, we'll just all die and it will go right back the way it was before we ever existed."

I'm sure we're at an evolutionary point where we either sink or swim. I'm sure that all the Grays are studying us at this moment for their Human History exhibit on Gorgoz VII (their Gaian homeworld).

I'm sure Klaptos and Meego have a right jolly wager about whether we blow it or not. 50 ulltars says we all die!!!!

[Megahurtz]

46. "There are not too many of us" WTF???

:wtf:

Been out and around much?

[raccoon]

129. Exactly!! An American citizen who has even a modest lifestyle by

American standards consumes much, much more than the average Third World citizen.

"There are too many of us consuming far too much of the natural resources that are necessary to sustain life. Our lifestyle in the West is wasteful and selfish."

[Speciesamused]

19. As we do absolutely nothing.

Great for the future of our children and grandchildren too.
We see fishing so unregulated for so long they have depleted 90%
in some countries of the worlds fish. Japan is one. Now all they have are giant
jelly fish taking over their waters. Yummy.
Beyond me how they do not understand you must leave some to reproduce.
I am an animal lover so I do what I can to preserve what little is left.
The circle of life has been broken. The question is what will we as humans do to fix it?

:wtf:

[Reterr]

21. Recommended with a heavy heart.eom

[ramapo]

22. We suck...this didn't have to happen

The worst part of this news is that 35 years ago we had a very real awareness of the environmental/ecological problems being caused by mankind. Back then there was some hope that these problems would be addressed in a progressive way but just the opposite happened. This is the part of growing older that really sucks. You see the consequences past actions (or inactions).

[Zodiak]

24. Humans are an extinction event

We've been doing this sort of thing for thousands and thousands of years, but it is only in the last century or two that we have greatly accelerated the pace.

I have one beef with the article...."decimate" actually means destroy one-tenth of something.

If the average loss of species or total animal population has been 25%, then it is twice or thrice decimated.

[FourScore]

26. That's only one meaning.

Dheck out number 3:

Main Entry: dec·i·mate
Pronunciation: \ˈde-sə-ˌmāt\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): dec·i·mat·ed; dec·i·mat·ing
Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten
Date: 1660
1: to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
2: to exact a tax of 10 percent from <poor as a decimated Cavalier — John Dryden>
3 a: to reduce drastically especially in number <cholera decimated the population> b: to cause great destruction or harm to

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate

[Zodiak]

28. I stand corrected

damned third definitions!

[FourScore]

81. In all honesty, I never knew the first two definitions.

So I learned something new as well.:toast:

[RiverStone]

30. Until human arrogance becomes extinct...

...other creatures great and small will suffer.

How sad.

I wish I could fathom a solution, but greed will prevail most likely.

[fascisthunter]

31. Where are those "Pro-lifers" When it Really Matters?

[DU GrovelBot]

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[bronxiteforever]

34. Carl Sagan's "Contact" Question kinda of revised

Can we break out of our tribes to save the children and the planet? and survive to adulthood?

K & R

[laylah]

35. I don't WANT to read

more:cry: The two-leggeds, forked tongues have messed it ALL up! May Mother Nature forgive us.

[ann_american2004]

37. Aw heck

All we really need are chickens and bees. Just kidding JUST KIDDING! This sucks
-hello

[laylah]

38. Welcome

however, for me, this is not something to be so glib about. The two-leggeds, and the forked tongues have ruined this great country, and have violated ALL treaties. Mother Earth weeps! :cry:

[ann_american2004]

41. Hi right back! =)

Yeah I know, it sucks, really. Seriously sucks. It is happening so fast. But then you know there are people like you who care a great deal. You will make a difference and Mother Earth gives you a big hug of hope! Because of awareness there is so much recycling going on and focus on green days and green projects. The ball is really rolling, before it was barely moving. As people become more aware, they sort of wake up to it. Not everyone is a fast learner or worldly aware. Hopefully we all will become like that--that it will be the norm very soon. That there will be enough time to bounce back.

[Submariner]

40. Not making excuses, but it's due in part to our higher biodiversity

[DaveJ]

43. The chart is sort of deceptive since it's in reverse...

For the first few minutes I thought it showed species going extinct for millions of years, but the opposite is true.

Now that humans are around species are becoming extinct, by a huge amount!

If you notice the decline 50 million years ago, when dinosaurs became extinct, that represents LESS than what's happening now. They speculate that a meteor may have struck then or something. Well, no meteor has struck recently, it's just human impact.

I don't think we want to go back to a time with genera 200 million years ago... I suspect that will not be an environment very hospitable to human life.

[baby_mouse]

53. errrrrrm....

How do they know all that information?

[Submariner]

58. The study of the fossil record encompassed in the geologic strata

provides the information for charting species occurrence. The extinction events are determined when the species disappears entirely from the next level (or younger) geologic strata.

[NickB79]

61. That really seems to be stretching our grasp of paleontology though

The vast majority of species currently alive on the planet are invertebrates such as insects, and those have notoriously poor fossilization rates. Furthermore, in many tropical areas of the planet covered in rainforest, an entire species can inhabit no more than a few square miles of land. This further limits their chances of entering the fossil record. Even today, the number of species present on our planet is still unknown; estimates vary wildly from under 1 million to over 10 million.

I see no reason the same things weren't true however many millions of years you want to go back in time. Trying to extrapolate the number of species found 65 million years ago and comparing them to today's numbers seems like an exercise in futility.

[baby_mouse]

73. Yeah, that's what I think.

I wonder if that graph isn't demonstrating biodiversity rather than the sensitivity of perceived biodiversity data to fossil record selection artefacts.

[MisterP]

100. but that would have nothing to do with the percentages, just raw numbers

it's not like they're defining genera more finely, or the Cenozoic bird and mammal genera count less

[DaveJ]

42. (self delete)

...

[Megahurtz]

44. But, but, the "Sanctity of Human Life"

comes before Animals! :sarcasm::puke:

And if we do not CHANGE we are going to extinct ourselves because We Suck.

God this is depressing.

[galledgoblin]

55. I don't understand how anyone cannot see this as a terrifying issue we need to deal with NOW

Christ, if nothing else, we are all taught about the food chain in science classes still, right?! and how those at the top (ie, US) need a rather substantial network of supporting critters?!

you want to talk "evolutionary selection", what about our lack of self-preservatory instinct?!

:scared:

[Snarkoleptic]

56. K&mnfR

Must we deplete and destroy everything we touch.
The rapture-ready deluded do this with such ease.
These are the same people that pee in the pool...it will be redeemed- they say.

[judasdisney]

59. Many DUers, it seems, want to appease wild animals and trees

It's clear that trees must be stopped from their relentless onslaught against humans.

Much like the wild animal kingdom, trees hate us for our freedoms. Trees have total disregard for our greatness, and they do not share our values.

Many here at DU seek to appease or even openly sympathize with the trees. Such blatant attempts to weaken and demoralize the human race will not be tolerated.

Fortunately for us, the appeasers are few in number, and the progress against the animal kingdom shows that we can prevail against the trees. The trees must be stopped, so that our children can live safely in a world without trees, where humans can be assured that God does not give His blessings to the lawlessness of hateful, spiteful arbors but to the strong and triumphant will of Man.

[Double T]

62. Human extinction will soon follow. The extinction of 'man' will be

the ONLY hope of survival for the remaining living species on this planet.

[OneBlueSky]

63. thanks largely to religion, humans have forgotten their place in the web of life . . .

and forgotten that if you start unraveling its threads, the entire quilt is at grave risk . . . religion and capitalism are the two primary culprits in humanity's gross neglect of the natural world and the catastrophes that are resulting . . .

if the Europeans who came to America had had enough humility to learn from the natives they encountered, we'd live in an entirely different world today . . . but instead of learning and appreciating the magnificence of this new land, they took inventory -- and the results have been disastrous for all of humankind and especially for other species . . .

[OneBlueSky]

64. thanks largely to religion, humans have forgotten their place in the web of life . . .

and forgotten that if you start unraveling its threads, the entire quilt is at grave risk . . . religion and capitalism are the two primary culprits in humanity's gross neglect of the natural world and the catastrophes that are resulting . . .

if the Europeans who came to America had had enough humility to learn from the natives they encountered, we'd live in an entirely different world today . . . but instead of learning and appreciating the magnificence of this new land, they took inventory -- and the results have been disastrous for all of humankind and especially for other species . . .

[Kablooie]

67. Yeah? And good riddance, I say! People RULE! Whoo whoo whoo!

I'm a Republican moran and I approved this message.

[darue]

103. yeah, we'll just use cheap labor, dressed in animal costumes if we need any of those extinct ones

there's always a market based solution

[bean fidhleir]

68. We're faced with mass extinctions, including our own, yet look at what DUers concentrate on.

Trivialities. By any rational comparison, they're trivialities.

What's going on? Is the problem so bad that nobody can believe it's not a film on tv? Or are people so young (in mind if not body) that they can't imagine the problem threatening them personally? Or is it something else?

What's going on?

[tidy_bowl]

75. I agree....

...there are far too many humans on this planet causing untold harm to animal and plant life. Time to organize and give back to the Gaia what we have selfishly taken all these years. We should began a movement to the woods, streams and mountains and strip off the vestiges of modern living and expire where we are, not taking further sustenance allowing instead our bodies to feed the earth and give back the precious minerals of life back that we have so selfishly taken so that other, more deserving organisms can live. It's the right thing to do. It's the only thing to do.

[dger11]

102. you first. n/t

[FourScore]

82. I ask myself this all the time. Denial, I guess.

As a species, we're in for some hard times.

[bean fidhleir]

84. Do you really reckon it's only going to be "hard" times?

I'm not trying to be snarky here - to me it truly looks like we're in for something with effects like a nuclear war on our landmass. Not "we" personally, probably, but I'm sure my great-grandson, now 12, and his kids if any will be at what amounts to Ground Zero with no escape possible. Unless those of us who are adults now get off our asses and start working the problem before it's too late. If it's not already too late.

[cstanleytech]

114. Umm given enough time

every species faces extinction, that aside its pretty dang stupid to not be willing to try and halt manmade caused ones and not to be willing to keep the planet clean from pollutants we cause.

[Lorien]

121. Hell, post a thread about a beautiful woman getting thrown off an airplane

for being too sexy, or an old man thrown out of a mall for wearing an anti-war t-shirt, and DU goes NUTS! America has been taught to focus on the trivial by our MSM. It leaves our corporate overlords free to do as they please. People can be whipped into a frenzy by Ashlee Simpson's lip synching, but a story like the OP gets a yawn. It's madness. To make matters even worse; NONE of the presidential candidates seems to give a rat's ass about mass extinctions, which is why this years election leave me numb and hopeless.

[bean fidhleir]

122. Exactly! DU is supposed to be the home of liberal activism, but

the reality is more like jr. high. People spending their time viciously attacking one another for not crushing out on the "right" candidate when there's so little substantive difference that no matter which of them wins, we lose. And others yapping themselves into a delighted frenzy over concocted brain-rot like Simpson, or getting all indignant that anyone would dare to point out how millionaire Teddy gets the best of medical care at our expense while many of us can't afford any.

"Numb and hopeless" about covers it, though I haven't quite lost all hope yet. I still have scrapings under my fingernails.

[earth mom]

79. This is EXACTLY why we needed Gore in office!

:cry:

[FourScore]

80. *sigh*...If only... n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

95. The majority of humans will not care until it's the human population on the verge of extinction

Until then greed and a false sense of self entitlement will remain the norm. Even as many in the poorer unindustrialized regions are dying due to a lack of food and/or water. Most of the world turns a blind eye to their plight. However, put out a new gadget phone and watch how quickly they become interested.

We're shallow and we're selfish. In the end we'll be our own demise.

[FarCenter]

97. The leadership elites, in particular, resist change

The just redouble efforts using the same old failing strategies.

This is one of the points made in Jared Diamond's book, COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED. It is a "must read" for anyone on this thread.

[Lorien]

118. That is a great book-though certainly a depressing one

HRC and Obama should read it. Neither has ANY significant plans for saving us all from extinction. Just business as usual. :-(

[bean fidhleir]

98. I'd recommend your post, if I only could. Well said!

If DUers are truly the "politically aware" as they like to think they are, then we're totally fscked, because (I'm sure this is no news flash) the majority seem to be committed trivialists.

[Lorien]

117. Yp. The majority of our species sees itself as separate from the earth

and from all other species. They can't see that everything is interconnected and that we need millions of other species to survive - let alone intrinsic worth of all other living things. Even many DUers are blind to the necessity of biodiversity. I once mentioned that many of the trees in the world's lungs- it's "emerald necklace" of rain forests-depend on bats for their survival. The seeds of these trees must go through a bats digestive system to germinate. A DUer replied "we don't need other animals. If bats go extinct then we'll just build artificial bats with artificial digestive systems". This idiotic view of mankind as the ultimate self sufficient God is a total delusion, as people will discover far too late.

[kineneb]

130. trees, forest, trees

(a Zen meditation exercise) one first just sees "trees"; then looking closer, sees "forest"; and finally sees the "trees" for what they are, beyond words or definitions.

We are all part of the earth. Ashes of star stuff to ashes of life, dust of the earth to dust once more. Kill off too much, and we too, will die.

(and now back to the regularly scheduled drivel)

[riverdeep]

128. And yet, what is the number one issue according to polls?

The economy. Or, "How come I can't get my stuff as cheaply as I used to?"

Terrorism, the economy, jobs, immigration, abortion, etc. All these issues that Americans think are so vital, are actually insignificant compared to environmental issues. This reality isn't reflected in our conversation, however. Every once in a while an announcement is made in between the clatter of Britney, and Obama and Hillary, and baseball and steroids, like some unholy countdown. "Oceans dying". "Rainforest in danger." "Soil erosion aids catastrophes." "Mutations occurring in species of amphibians." All these and many more go shooting out, and if they are heard at all above the din, they are summarily ignored while we go back to our consumptive ways. "It can't be that bad, or someone would tell us, everybody would be panicking." But that isn't the way these things go. Denial and delay is the name of the game. When it becomes obvious to even the masses, it's too late.

But I'm not going to revel in our predicament and with glee hope for the extinction of our species (along most of the other species). We have a struggle going on here. An ancient struggle between our best and worst selves. It will come to a head in about ten years. If we make it, we will experience an evolutionary leap in culture. If we fail, we'll take our selves down and most others with us. Unfortunately, we don't have a great history of acting in our best long term interests, but we'll see. Maybe there is something about this time that is different. Maybe not.

[and-justice-for-all]

136. Either get off our ass and remedy this travesty..

or Mother Nature is going to do it for us. Either way, it will be done and I will bet on Mother Nature because their is not enough people who give a shit. Especially rethugs, they are the core of the problem because they think that everything is in abundance and its all theirs. The world/universe revolves around them.