Human-caused destruction of the environment is now so severe if it continues at the current pace in about 100 years there will effectively be no forests, no wildlife, no birds, no fish, and no insects. Sea level will be several feet or more likely meters higher, flooding coastal cities. Large parts of the world will be too hot for human or mammal habitation.
Take your time and go through these news stories from around the world from the BBC, National Geographic, the CBC, PBS, The Economist, NASA, The Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and others. They paint a very alarming picture.
13,535 scientists from 156 countries issue A Warning to Humanity, Nature Scientific Reports: 90% chance human society collapses within decades, Ghastly future of mass extinction and climate disruption
Forests are at the foundation of nature and life on land. If the current rate of deforestation continues in about 100 years the remaining forests will be completely insignificant.
Deforestation will lead to the collapse of human society within decades, World losing battle against deforestation, In 2 years the world lost enough trees to cover Spain, Huge wildfires in the Arctic and far north, and in Siberia, and in the Amazon, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Indonesia (and here), and in Angola, Worst bush fire season in Australia ever, Australia suddenly lost 20% of it’s forests, Nigeria has lost 96% of its forests, Germany’s forests on the verge of collapse, Amazon sees record deforestation, Consumption of meat driving Amazon deforestation, The Amazon fires in pictures, Amazon rainforests on track to be dry in less than 40 years, Forests in Brazil now emit more carbon than they absorb, Destruction of forests will result in more pandemics, Largest wet-lands in the world on fire, dwarfing California’s worst fires ever, Chinese loggers plundering African forests
Oceans are where life began, but life in the worlds oceans is already only a tiny fraction of what it once was
Worlds ocean’s in shocking decline, So long, and thanks for all the fish, Over-fishing continues, Tuna industry slaughter’s marine life, 85% of World’s oyster reefs are gone, About 30 years of seafood left, Foundation of the Ocean’s food web in serious decline, Coral reefs, critical nurseries of the oceans, disappearing, Criminals dump nuclear waste into the ocean, Japan to release a million tons of radioactive waste water into the ocean, 8000 square mile dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, Low-oxygen sites in the oceans increased from 45 in the 1960s to 700 now, Building blocks of ocean food web & Earth’s oxygen in rapid decline as plankton productivity plunges, Ocean’s becoming more acidic, hazardous to shellfish, Seafood in huge decline around the world, Fishing fleets still using banned drift-nets, Greenpeace fights illegal bottom trawling in the North Sea, Ecological disaster off Russian coast, Russia admits to world’s largest Arctic oil spill, Fertilizers choking the Great Lakes, Caspian Sea shrinking, Russians fishing in protected waters, Illegal Chinese fishing
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Species loss and population declines
Earth’s 6th mass extinction event under way and humans are the cause, One million species threatened with extinction due to human activity, After 450 million years of success the Horseshoe crab is now endangered, Almost half a billion animals die in Australian bush fires, Plants going extinct up to 350 times faster than the historic norm, Huge decline in songbirds linked to common insecticide, Birds are vanishing from North America, also here and North American bird populations have declined almost one third in the last 50 years, Unprecedented decline in plants and animals, Cheetahs on the verge of extinction, Animals across the planet dying from a Vitamin B1 deficiency, fish and birds populations collapsing, Peak Phosphorus (phosphorus is essential for all life), Human caused extinctions started thousands of years ago, 15000 year-old Woolly Mammoth trap found in Mexico, 250 whales slaughtered in barbaric hunt, Hundreds of dead dolphins caught in fishing nets wash up on French coast, Half the world’s forest wildlife lost in the last 40 years, Koalas functionally extinct after bush fires destroy habitat, Koalas brutally massacred in logging operation, Bears starving in Canada, Migratory freshwater fish species in major decline, Global wild-life populations in free fall, dropping by over 60% in just 50 years, World failing to stop the destruction of nature, 40% of plants at risk of extinction, Massive die-off of birds in American south-west as birds starve to death, UN warns humanity must end the war on nature
Pollinating (good) insects populations collapsing globally, Insects numbers decline 25% in just 30 years, Insects disappearing, Insect collapse, Insects could vanish within a century, Insect decline accelerating, Half a billion honey bees die in Brazil in 3 months, Earth losing 1–2% of insects annually, Fireflies facing extinction, Parasitic ticks thriving, Go dark to protect insects and the environment
Climate Change — much worse than you think
CO2 levels nearing levels not seen in 15 million years — when sea levels where 20 meters higher than today, The Great Dying 252 million years ago was caused by a global warming, High temperatures rendering more of the planet uninhabitable and will force millions to migrate, Summers in some areas of the world may become to hot for humans, Rising temperatures will cause more deaths than infectious diseases
Greenland ice melting faster than expected, Heatwave hits Greenland, Greenland loses 12.5 billion tons of ice in one day, Greenland melting away, Greenland losing 1 million tons of ice per minute, Greenland past the point of no return
Antarctica experiences heat wave, Ocean’s hit record temperatures, Methane is leaking from the sea floor in Antarctica, edging global heating to a point of no return, Record Artic fires, Northern Hemisphere’s hottest summer on record, Melting Antarctic ice will raise sea level by 2.5 meters
January 2020 record highest temperatures globally, Siberia hits 38 degrees Celsius, Arctic over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, Melting permafrost an environmental disaster in the making, Permafrost thawing and fires starting again in Siberia, Antarctica warming three times faster than the rest of the world, Last decade hottest on record, 11,000 scientist warn climate change will release “untold suffering”, Warming oceans will accelerate climate change, Sydney Australia may be too hot to live in within decades, Climate change: just the facts
Plastics
Micro-plastics found from Arctic ice to Marianas Trench, Plastic pollution doubling every 15 years, Worms can’t thrive in farm soil containing micro-plastics, Plastics found in the bodies of almost all children tested in Germany, Coca-Cola named world’s most polluting brand, Coca-Cola undermines recycling efforts, Millions of tons of tiny plastic fragments in the Atlantic
Humans
Human consumption of materials hits 100 billion tons in one year, Over 800 million people suffer from food insecurity and malnutrition, One third of people do not have access to safe drinking water, Billions of people to face food and water shortages over the next 30 years as nature fails, Half of the world’s drinking water threatened, Groundwater levels falling globally and becoming increasingly polluted, US drinking water contaminated, America’s breadbasket produces 1/6th of the world’s grain, depends on the Ogallala Aquifer which is in steep decline, Decline in topsoil means lower food production, About 60 years of farming left if soil degradation continues, 95% of tested baby foods contain toxic metals, Humans have altered the world so much they have set of a new geologic epoch, Serious brain diseases cased by pollution
Why should we care about nature?
I will never understand why some people don’t seem to care about nature. Everything that’s beautiful in this world comes from nature, a world without nature’s amazing creatures sounds like an apocalyptic phucking hellscape to me, a place completely devoid of quality of life.
For those who need it, here are some selfish reasons to care about all life:
- Bacteria found in ancient Irish soil halts growth of superbugs
- Microbe found in New Jersey able to break-down cancer causing chemicals
- What nature can teach us about drug-resistant microbes
- Fungus leads the way to a new class of pain killer
- Honeybee venom kills cancel cells
- 50% of approved drugs in the last 30 years originate from natural sources
- Tarantula venom may hold the key to a pain relief without addiction
- The Web of Life — all life on Earth is interconnected and interdependent
- Pollinators assist about 35% of the world’s food crop production
- Bees responsible for about 7% of the world’s food production
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