This Huffington Post article discusses a scary topic: Are We Heading Toward Extinction? The Earth’s species — plants, animals and humans, alike — are facing imminent demise. How we got here, and how to cope.
We are now in the midst of the sixth mass extinction with about 150 plant and animal species going extinct per day. Despite the phrase “the sixth extinction” making its way into mainstream awareness via the publication of Elizabeth Kolbert’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book of that title, most people still don’t realize that we humans are also on the list.
Of course, when we speak of overpopulation, we specifically refer to humans. In fact, human activity is causing massive die-offs of the other species. With overpopulation and pollution we lose habitats that sustain biodiversity and we have consequently lost 60% of the world’s wildlife since 1970. The United Nation’s intergovernmental report on biodiversity found that a further 1 million animal and plant species are now at risk for extinction.