Half the world's animals disappeared since 1970

[LONDONER]

Man's greed will kill this planet:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlif...-1970.html

[Virge]

I STRONGLY suggest anyone who's outraged by this article practice a bit of skepticism and ask "who benefits?" You can go around the internet and catch other WWF stories about doomsday for wildlife and there's *almost never* any citations of scientific studies.

Here's criticism of WWF off Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_...#Criticism

And here's SHOCKING reports of the salaries paid to WWF officers in nations that require records be made public. http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/03/2...arth-hour/

So... ask yourself, "who benefits?" before letting your outrage take over.

[palbert]

Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF

The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2...-years-wwf

Even if one doubts the messengers, their methodology, or their numbers, it cannot be denied that man is having a demonstrable impact on the sustainability of other species. One need only be aware of the occasional, but growing more frequent, news reports of the decline of specific species. The 50% figure may not be accurate. What if it's 40%, 30%. 25%? What comfort should the smaller number bring us? It may be time for alarm. It is certainly time for concern.

[LONDONER]

Thank you palbert, a sane and measured reply.

[palbert]

I had to make a road trip today and it gave me time to reflect on this. Forget elephants on Africa. I am sure most people on the Board know of restricted hunts, restricted catches, and other evidence of unsustainable animal populations. Where culling (read, catching) is allowed or encouraged it is because something has gone wrong in the normal animal population. Here, at the Gulf of Maine and along the Northeast seaboard, catches of cod, haddock, northern shrimp, and other marine life is being restricted. The Northeastern lobster catch is maintained in a sustainable way which is why it is still affordable. The clam flats are being decimated by pollution.

50% may be an exaggeration but it's close enough for me.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Big-Fish Stocks Fall 90 Percent Since 1950, Study Says

Deforestation
[URL="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140820-extinction-crows-penguins-dinosaurs-asteroid-sydney-booktalk/"]
How the Current Mass Extinction of Animals Threatens Humans[/URL]

Mind Virge these are all from National Geographic.

Mass Extinction Underway

This last has lots of link and has kept a history of news items from many different sources. Its been a record since 1998.

We elves are well aware of the extinction level event going on, and have been for a very long time. The predictions were dire and I hate to report this but those dire predictions were uncannily spot on as the current extinction level event has keep rather close to the predicted outcome.

Back when I was a kid people were already in a panic. Which is one reason why I planted thousands upon thousands of seedlings without being paid for it. Sure this has helped with restoring forests in North America (Europe has recovery as well), but the rest of the world is more than making up for all of the planting done in the north.

Extinctions:

There are plenty of species that have gone away since 2000.

How was your last visit with the West African Black Rhinoceros? Well I hope you enjoyed that visit, they went extinct in 2011.

Pyrenean Ibex? that went extinct in 2000

More critters that have gone the way of the Dodo in just the last decade: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals...f-the-dodo

And I fear that is the most notable cases. This doesn't include the uncomfortably large number of plants and small critters that no one cared about, or fish and reptile and birds and other 'useless' critters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_extinctions is a simple list (not complete) and you can see how with each passing century the number of species that decide to go away forever grows larger. The 20th century has seen the most extinctions in human history (written history) and we are well off to a good start on making the 21st century a far longer list.

Unfortunately Virge you have yet to hit that age where you find yourself telling kids 'I remember where there was nothing here - nothing for as far as the eye could see.'

And that 'nothing' means no buildings, tract homes, roads, you know human crap which has taken over woodlands, prairie and other untamed land.

When I was born the population of Earth was only 3.3 billion (US pop: 196.56 million). Today its 7.2 billion (US-316.98 million). The population has more than doubled in my life time.

When you were born the population was only 5.1 billion. When you hit my age (2036 is just around the corner) The population is estimated to be between 8.6 to 8.8 billion.

That is 3.5 to 3.7 billion humans to make room for.

The problem is not just 'What do we do with all of these extra bodies?'

The problem is where do we find the land to grow food? Where do we pump more oil from? Were do we strip mine for minerals and metals to meet the needs of these extra 3 billion people?

The oceans large fish stock is depleted horrifically, and there is no slowing down. Already the average size of fish being brought to shore has declined as younger, less mature fish is being used for food. Sadly that means that those fish are not being able to reproduce and replace themselves.

All seafood will run out in 2050, say scientists.

2050. I'll be 84 so I don't care. You however will be 62 and most likely will care. If you and your partner end up having kids (or adopt) the world that they will live in won't have fresh fish at the store, or canned tuna or.... well anything that is fishy from the seas.

Perhaps no tigers, lions, elephants and other species which you can still see in zoos and can tell your grandkids all about but they won't ever be able to see a living specimen.

Ever wonder what happens when the oceans die?

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=wha...ocean+dies

Better get to studying there youngster, chances are real high you will be around to witness that and you should at the very least be knowledgeable enough to confirm just how well the dire predictions of dead seas was.

[CuriousPhoenix]

Most developed nations are actually have a declining population, because the younger generation no longer wants 3 or 4 kids. They want 1 or 2 kids. Now that doesn't mean that every developed nation is declining in population, usually just specific ethnic groups with in the country. Germany is a great example, ethnic Germans are declining while their immigrant population is growing. A lot of the developing nations are where the population boom is happening, like China and Indian. Those two countries combine make up about 1/3 or more of the worlds population, if you include the Pakistan and Bangledash you get almost 3 billion people. That's a lot of people.

A good book to read about the population problem is a fictional work by Dan Brown, Dante's Inferno. The whole book is about controlling the world population because by the 22nd century, the world will be unable to sustain the human population. It is fictional but he does research his books so they do have some basis on fact. It's an interesting read that gets you thinking about what will happen if we can't curtail our own growth.

[spilovn]

What a crazy world, I'm so sad.

[Virge]

good job guys! I was careful not to mention that I HAVE NO
Go back and read my 1st comment and you'll see I didn't say anything about doubting that animal populations are decreasing or that the most likely causes are related to human activity. All I did was SUGGEST everyone apply a degree of skepticism to the issue and the organization and investigate them.