We know what this is. We’ve seen all the commercials containing graphic photos of slaughtered elephants and rhinos, bleeding from where their tusks and horns used to be. Species extinction is a serious problem today and while the world is trying to prevent this from occurring, we can’t prevent it at the speed it’s happening. 

It’s frightening but true: Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day. It could be a scary future, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century.

Unlike past mass extinctions, caused by events like asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions, and natural climate shifts, the current crisis is almost entirely caused by us — humans. In fact, 99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities, primarily those driving habitat loss, introduction of exotic species, and global warming. Because the rate of change in our biosphere is increasing, and because every species’ extinction potentially leads to the extinction of others bound to that species in a complex ecological web, numbers of extinctions are likely to snowball in the coming decades as ecosystems unravel. 

During my first semester, I took a seminar class dealing with the endangerment of elephants and rhinos primarily, as well as other species. We learned about their classifications on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and how quickly they are being wiped out by poachers and natural causes. Unfortunately it’s more than just natural causes and poaching that is killing these species. For elephants specifically, they need a lot of land to live and survive, and as more of their terrain is being taken up by humans, the environment isn’t sustainable for them to survive. Not only are humans taking their homes, sometimes farmers or locals kill them if their land or families are threatened. There is a huge debate going on in the world right now over the ivory trade and whether or not it should be legal in certain countries and even globally. I participated in a mock debate in my seminar about the ivory trade. It’s really interesting how truly controversial this topic is, because no matter what elephants are going extinct an we don’t know the right solution for it.

In the past 500 years, we know of approximately 1,000 species that have gone extinct, from the woodland bison of West Virginia and Arizona’s Merriam’s elk to the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, passenger pigeon and Puerto Rico’s Culebra parrot — but this doesn’t account for thousands of species that disappeared before scientists had a chance to describe them. Nobody really knows how many species are in danger of becoming extinct. Noted conservation scientist David Wilcove estimates that there are 14,000 to 35,000 endangered species in the United States, which is 7 to 18 percent of U.S. flora and fauna. The IUCN has assessed roughly 3 percent of described species and identified 16,928 species worldwide as being threatened with extinction, or roughly 38 percent of those assessed. In its latest four-year endangered species assessment, the IUCN reports that the world won’t meet a goal of reversing the extinction trend toward species depletion by 2010.

Species diversity ensures ecosystem resilience, giving ecological communities the scope they need to withstand stress. Thus while conservationists often justifiably focus their efforts on species-rich ecosystems like rainforests and coral reefs — which have a lot to lose — a comprehensive strategy for saving biodiversity must also include habitat types with fewer species, like grasslands, tundra, and polar seas — for which any loss could be irreversibly devastating. And while much concern over extinction focuses on globally lost species, most of biodiversity’s benefits take place at a local level, and conserving local populations is the only way to ensure genetic diversity critical for a species’ long-term survival.

Some major solutions of this issue would be protecting and restoring habitats, which goes along with what I talked about in my last post about deforestation. Another big solution would be efforts against poaching and wildlife trade. This should be done in partnership with the locals in each country, so that wildlife conservation is in their social and economic interest.

As for us as U.S. citizens, we can help in ways I described when discussing deforestation. We need to reduce our carbon footprint and we can do this in the easiest ways such as eating less red meat. We can also help out by spreading the word. Share these issues with other, get the conversations going. Avoiding the issue is not going to solve anything. I know some might think we can’t do much, but if we all band together and just change our daily lives in the simplest ways, we can truly make a difference.

10 Ways You Can Help Stop the Sixth Mass Extinction

Five of the World’s Biggest Environmental Problems

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use. Deforestation can include the conversion of land for farms, ranches, or urban use and it occurs when trees need to be used for building or sold as fuel and the land is needed as pasture for livestock and plantation.

Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter.

There are several problems that have occurred and increased throughout the decades due to deforestation. 

Problem. Forests around the world are under threat from deforestation, jeopardizing the benefits I mentioned earlier. Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. This impacts people’s livelihoods and threatens a wide range of plant and animal species. We’re losing almost 20 million acres of forests annually, this is equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute.

Species-rich wild forests are being destroyed, especially in the tropics, often to make way for cattle ranching, soybean or palm oil plantations, or other agricultural monocultures. The amount of the planet’s land covered by forests is about half as much as before agriculture got started around 11,000 years ago.

Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink, soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation.

Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rainforests because these forests are home to much of the world’s biodiversity. For example, in the Amazon around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching. Deforestation in this region is particularly rampant near more populated areas, roads and rivers, but even remote areas have been encroached upon when valuable mahogany, gold and oil are discovered.

There are many reasons that we cut down forests all over the world.

Causes. 

Wood and Timber. While this reason is an issue, it is considered permissible because we use the timber to build houses and other essential things that help us live our daily lives. What is not permissible is the illegal logging that is done everyday, stealing thousands of acres of land that for the most part will never get replaced.

Palm Oil. Palm oil that is not responsibly sourced has often come from a vast expanse of forest that has been cut down and not replaced with other trees or plants. Palm oil, as well as other consumer items, are harvested from huge areas of forest all over the globe and as the demand for these sorts of products grow so does the number of trees that are cut down.

Mining. Oil and mining companies require large amounts of land to build plants. These plants come at a cost of chopping thousands of plants and trees. Apart from that, roads and highways have to be built to connect cities and that requires trees to be cut down that come in the way.

Paper. Until we start making a huge effort to start recycling paper and go paperless, we are going to continue cutting down forests all around the world at an alarming rate. Paper is still common, even in today’s world packed with technology and paperless machines. We still demand books, toilet paper, paper towels and other products that require us to cut down trees.

While there are many causes that lead to deforestation, there are solutions that could at least partially fix the constant killing of plants and trees.

Solution. Ending deforestation is our best chance to conserve wildlife and defend the rights of forest communities. On top of that, it’s one of the quickest and most cost effective ways to curb global warming.

Deforestation and degradation are complex problems. We can put an end to deforestation ourselves by promoting sustainable choices and acting on them of course. We can use less stuff, eat sustainable food, and choose recycled or certified sustainable wood products. Some more solutions are:

• Make sure that the forest-derived products you buy are made from 100% post-consumer content materials.
• Make informed food choices. Eat plant-based diet or simply reduce the amount of meat you eat.
• Buy from companies that have a commitment to reducing deforestation through forest-friendly policies.
• Educate your friends, family, and community about how our everyday actions can impact forests around the world.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” In other words, we’re literally killing ourselves and the generations to come. Deforestation can be reduced, and it all starts with you. 

Solutions to Deforestation

How Deforestation Affects Climate Change

Overview of Deforestation

Throughout this blog I am going to try to cover some top environmental issues facing our world today. There is a lot to cover, and a lot to explain, but hopefully these blogs can give readers a nice overview of how truly daunting these issues can be.

Human overpopulation is among the most pressing environmental issues, but ecological issues it causes are just the beginning. Here are some of the effects of overpopulation.

1. Loss of fresh water. 75 percent of the planet is made up of water, and of that 97.5 percent is saltwater leaving 2.5 percent as freshwater. 70 percent of that freshwater is icecaps, and the remaining 30 percent makes up land surface water such as rivers and lakes. Most of the freshwater resources are either unreachable or too polluted, leaving less than 1% of the world’s freshwater, or about 0.003% of all water on Earth, readily accessible for direct human use. it is estimated that by 2025, more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability and human demand for water will account for 70% of all available freshwater. While this is happening, I just recently watched a video in my chemistry class that discussed the future possibility of transportation one day running on water. I’d like to know how that is going to work, when we barely have enough water to live our daily lives.
2. Increased habitat loss. This one is pretty simple; the more humans living on earth, the less room there is for any other life to live on earth. Human overpopulation is a major driving force behind the loss of ecosystems, such as rainforests, coral reefs, wetlands and Arctic ice. Rainforests once covered 14% of the Earth’s land surface, now they cover a bare 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years and certainly by the end of the century at the current rate of deforestation. Due mainly to warming temperatures, acidifying oceans and pollution, close to 30% of the ocean’s reefs have already vanished since 1980, including half of the reefs in the Caribbean and 90% of the Philippines’ coral reefs,  and scientists forecast that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may be dead by the year 2050 and all coral reefs could be gone by the end of the century. As human populations continue to grow, so will our footprint on the interconnected, ecological infrastructures of life.
3. Species extinction. Human beings are currently causing the greatest mass extinction of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago at rates 1000 to 10,000 times faster than normal. The 2012 update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species shows that of the 63,837 species examined worldwide, 19,817 are threatened with extinction – nearly a third of the total. If present trends continue, scientists warn that within a few decades, at least half of all plant and animal species on Earth will be extinct, as a result of climate change, habitat loss, pollution, acidifying oceans, invasive species, over-exploitation of natural resources, overfishing, poaching and human overpopulation. 
4. Depletion of natural resources. As the human population continues to explode, finite natural resources, such as fossil fuels, fresh water, arable land, coral reefs and frontier forests, continue to plummet, which is placing competitive stress on the basic life sustaining resources and leading to a diminished quality of life. A study by the UNEP Global Environment Outlook, which involves 1,400 scientists and five years worth of work to prepare, found that “Human consumption had far outstripped available resources. Each person on Earth now requires a third more land to supply his or her needs than the planet can supply.”
5. Elevated crime rate. As human overpopulation drives resources and basic necessities, such as food and water, to become scarcer, there will be increased competitiveness for these resources which leads to elevated crime rates due to drug cartels and theft by people in order to survive. As Aisha Tariq of the Pakistan Times states, “It has been observed that the countries which have balanced population, crime rate is very low in such regions. When people are not provided with the basic necessities, it elevates crime rate.”
6. Lower Life Expectancy in the Fastest Growing Countries. According to a Harvard study, “Over the next forty years, nearly all (97%) of the 2.3 billion projected increase will be in the less developed regions, with nearly half (49%) in Africa.” Already strained with relentless population explosion, many developing countries, such as in Sub Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, will experience a degradation of their quality and length of life as they face increasing  difficulties to supply water, food, energy and housing to their growing populations, which will have major repercussions for public health, security measures and economic growth. These situations are especially dire for populations in Uganda, Nigeria, and Bangladesh, which will double and, in some cases, even triple over the next 40 years.

There are many more effects that are caused by overpopulation, but the fact of the matter is that humans are reproducing way faster than they should and if we continue to grow as a population, everything else on this planet will slowly and surely diminish.
Overpopulation Effects – Everything Connects

Cause and Effects of Overpopulation

The Effect of Overpopulation