Extinction – Next

“A critically endangered (CR) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. It is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species… As of 2014, there are 2464 animal and 2104 plant species with this assessment, compared with 1998 levels of 854 and 909, respectively.” Wikipedia. CR reflects species with the highest risk assessment on earth.

According to IUCN’s Red list, “Extinction is therefore a natural process. According to the fossil record, no species has yet proved immortal; as few as 2-4% of the species that have ever lived are believed to survive today. The remainder are extinct, the vast majority having disappeared long before the arrival of humans.

“But the rapid loss of species we are seeing today is estimated by experts to be between 1000 and 10,000 times higher than the ‘background’ or expected natural extinction rate (a highly conservative estimate). Unlike the mass extinction events of geological history, the current extinction phenomenon is one for which a single species - ours - appears to be almost wholly responsible. This is often referred to as ‘the sixth extinction crisis,’ after the five known extinction waves in geological history…

“[While it is impossible to state with any precision how many species may have gone extinct over the past century,] 16,928 plant and animal species are known to be threatened with extinction. This may be a gross underestimate because less than 3% of the world’s 1.9 million described species have been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. .. Only 1.9 million species have been described out of an estimated 13-14 million species that exist.”

 Mammals (the ones we think of as “cute”) fitting this list include varying species of gorillas and orangutans, black and white rhinos, polar bears, many categories of whales… all joining a list of 205 mammals (30 of which may possibly already be extinct) on that CR list. Loss of habitat is the leading cause of extinction, mostly land grabs for cities and farms by expanding human growth. Over fishing and hunting are clearly an issue as well.

But increasingly that habitat loss is also a product of another human activity: carbon pollution causing global climate change. Add hard, earth-surface pollution, creating the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean, oil spills all over the earth and dead zones near port cities to the waste and chemical effluents discharged into rivers, lakes and streams… well more species bite the dust. Are they sacrificial “canaries in the coal mine” to reflect the challenge of continued human existence as well?

Animal life often seems an inconvenience to humans hell-bent on extracting as much economic value out of this planet, without much in the way of responsible mitigation. Take for example whales: “Officials with the federal government say it’s time to consider the possibility that endangered right whales [a southern right whale is pictured above] could become extinct unless new steps are taken to protect them.

“North Atlantic right whales are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, and they have endured a deadly year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said there are only about 450 of the whales left and 17 of them have died in 2017.

“The situation is so dire that American and Canadian regulators need to consider the possibility that the population won’t recover without action soon, said John Bullard, the northeast regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries. The high year of mortality is coinciding with a year of poor reproduction, and there are only about 100 breeding female North Atlantic right whales left.

“‘You do have to use the ‘extinction’ word, because that’s where the trend lines say they are,’ Bullard said. ‘That’s something we can’t let happen.’

“Bullard and other NOAA officials made the comments during a Tuesday meeting of the regulatory New England Fishery Management Council. Mark Murray-Brown, an Endangered Species Act consultant for NOAA, said right whales have been declining in abundance since 2010, with females hit harder than males.

“The U.S. and Canada must work to reduce the human-caused deaths of the whales, Murray-Brown said. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are two frequently cited causes of the whales’ deaths.” Los Angeles Times, December 11^th.

The IUCN addresses why all this even matters to human beings: “Biodiversity - the variety of species and their habitats - plays an important role in ecosystem function and in the many services ecosystems provide. These include nutrient and water cycling, soil formation and retention, resistance against invasive species, plant pollination, climate regulation, and pest and pollution control. Escalating biodiversity loss has widespread implications for both human and environmental security.

“The monetary value of goods and services provided by ecosystems is estimated to amount to some 33 trillion dollars per year – nearly twice the global production resulting from human activities. An estimated 50,000-70,000 plant species are used in traditional and modern medicine worldwide. About 100 million metric tons of aquatic organisms, including fish, mollusks and crustaceans are taken from the wild every year and represent a vital contribution to world food security. Meat from wild animals forms a critical contribution to food sources and livelihoods in many countries with high levels of poverty and food insecurity. A huge range of species are involved including monkeys, tapirs, antelopes, pigs, pheasants, turtles and snakes.” And there, but for the grace of God, goes mankind. All those nasty things we are going to the environment to kill off all those species… we are also actually doing to ourselves as well.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the first two steps in reversing this problem are awareness and rapidly followed by caring about it.