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Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds.
Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world's foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.
The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else.
"We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff" said Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF. "If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done."
"This is far more than just being about losing the wonders of nature, desperately sad though that is," he said. "This is actually now jeopardising the future of people. Nature is not a 'nice to have' – it is our life-support system."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 01 2018, @01:51AM (1 child)
The thing that skewers skateboards, bicycles, and all other manner of "ecologically friendly commuter transportation" is: rain, sleet, snow, blistering hot days, plagues of biting insects, and all the other times when people would just rather travel in their cocoon. Sadly, most people choose not to afford multiple commute options so they just use the three ton SUV all the time.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01 2018, @02:14AM
I don't see why anything "skewers" human powered transport?
I bicycle when the weather is nice and use a car when it's not. As a result I save perhaps a thousand miles on my car every year, mostly short trips (which are alleged to be not so great for the car anyway). I still need all the infrastructure (roads, etc), but at least I use a bit less gasoline and my car might last a few years longer. I also get some exercise and save the cost (and the drive) to a gym...
Even though I work in the automotive industry, it's kind of fun to thumb my nose at a gas station when I ride by on a bike--you aren't getting my money today!