Biological
Annihilation on Earth Accelerating
By Robert
J. Burrowes
July 29,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Human beings are now waging war against life
itself as we continue to destroy not just
individual lives, local populations and entire
species in vast numbers but also destroy the
ecological systems that make life on Earth
possible.
By doing
this we are now accelerating the sixth mass
extinction event in Earth’s history and
virtually eliminating any prospect of human
survival.
In a
recently published scientific study
‘Biological annihilation via the
ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by
vertebrate population losses and declines’
the authors Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich
and Rodolfo Dirzo document the accelerating
nature of this problem.
‘Earth’s
sixth mass extinction is more severe than
perceived when looking exclusively at species
extinctions…. That conclusion is based on
analyses of the numbers and degrees of range
contraction … using a sample of 27,600
vertebrate species, and on a more detailed
analysis documenting the population extinctions
between 1900 and 2015 in 177 mammal species.’
Their research found that the rate of population
loss in terrestrial vertebrates is ‘extremely
high’ – even in
‘species of low concern’.
In their
sample, comprising nearly half of known
vertebrate species, 32% (8,851 out of 27,600)
are decreasing; that is, they have decreased in
population size and range. In the 177 mammals
for which they had detailed data, all had lost
30% or more of their geographic ranges and more
than 40% of the species had experienced severe
population declines. Their data revealed that
‘beyond global species extinctions Earth is
experiencing a huge episode of population
declines and extirpations, which will have
negative cascading consequences on ecosystem
functioning and services vital to sustaining
civilization. We describe this as a “biological
annihilation” to highlight the current magnitude
of Earth’s ongoing sixth major extinction
event.’
Illustrating the damage done
by dramatically reducing the historic geographic
range of a species, consider the lion. Panthera
leo ‘was historically distributed over most of
Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East,
all the way to northwestern India. It is now
confined to scattered populations in sub-Saharan
Africa and a remnant population in the Gir
forest of India. The vast majority of lion
populations are gone.’
Why is
this happening? Ceballos, Ehrlich and Dirzo tell
us: ‘In the last few decades,
habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive
organisms, pollution, toxification, and more
recently climate disruption, as well as the
interactions among these factors, have led to
the catastrophic declines in both the numbers
and sizes of populations of both common and rare
vertebrate species.’
Further, however, the authors
warn ‘But the true extent of this mass
extinction has been underestimated, because of
the emphasis on species extinction.’ This
underestimate can be traced to overlooking the
accelerating extinction of local populations of
a species.
‘Population
extinctions today are orders of magnitude more
frequent than species extinctions. Population
extinctions, however, are a prelude to species
extinctions, so Earth’s sixth mass extinction
episode has proceeded further than most assume.’
Moreover, and importantly from a narrow human
perspective, the massive loss of local
populations is already damaging the services
ecosystems provide to civilization (which, of
course, are given no value by government and
corporate economists).
As Ceballos, Ehrlich and
Dirzo remind us: ‘When considering this
frightening assault on the foundations of human
civilization, one must never forget that Earth’s
capacity to support life, including human life,
has been shaped by life itself.’ When public
mention is made of the extinction crisis, it
usually focuses on a few (probably iconic)
animal species known to have gone extinct, while
projecting many more in future. However, a
glance at their maps presents a much more
realistic picture: as much as 50% of the number
of animal individuals that once shared Earth
with us are already gone, as are billions of
populations.
Furthermore, they claim that
their analysis is conservative given the
increasing trajectories of those factors that
drive extinction together with their synergistic
impacts. ‘Future losses easily may amount to a
further rapid defaunation of the globe and
comparable losses in the diversity of plants,
including the local (and eventually global)
defaunation-driven coextinction of plants.’
They conclude with the
chilling observation: ‘Thus, we emphasize that
the sixth mass extinction is already here and
the window for effective action is very short.’
Of course, it is too late for
those species of plants, birds, animals, fish,
amphibians, insects and reptiles that humans
have already driven to extinction or will yet
drive to extinction in the future. 200 species
yesterday. 200 species today. 200 species
tomorrow. 200 species the day after…. And, as
Ceballos, Ehrlich and Dirzo emphasize, the
ongoing daily extinctions of a myriad local
populations.
If you think that the above
information is bad enough in assessing the
prospects for human survival, you will not be
encouraged by awareness or deeper consideration
of even some of the many variables adversely
impacting our prospects that were beyond the
scope of the above study.
While Ceballos, Ehrlich and
Dirzo, in addition to the problems they noted
which are cited above, also identified the
problems of human overpopulation and continued
population growth, as well as overconsumption
(based on ‘the fiction that perpetual growth can
occur on a finite planet’) and even the risks
posed by nuclear war, there were many variables
that were beyond the scope of their research.
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For example, in a recent
discussion of that branch of ecological science
known as ‘Planetary Boundary Science’, Dr Glen
Barry identified ‘at least ten global ecological
catastrophes which threaten to destroy the
global ecological system and portend an end to
human beings, and perhaps all life. Ranging from
nitrogen deposition to ocean acidification, and
including such basics as soil, water, and air;
virtually every ecological system upon which
life depends is failing’. See
‘The End of Being: Abrupt Climate Change One of
Many Ecological Crises Threatening to Collapse
the Biosphere’.
Moreover, apart from the
ongoing human death tolls caused by the endless
wars and other military violence being conducted
across the planet – see, for example,
‘Yemen cholera
worst on record & numbers still rising’
– there is catastrophic environmental damage
caused too. For some insight, see
The Toxic
Remnants of War Project.
In addition, the
out-of-control methane releases into the
atmosphere that are now occurring – see
‘7,000
underground gas bubbles poised to “explode” in
Arctic’
and
‘Release of
Arctic Methane “May Be Apocalyptic,” Study
Warns’
– and the release, each and every day, of 300
tons of radioactive waste from Fukushima into
the Pacific Ocean – see
‘Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire
Pacific Ocean - And It’s Going To Get Worse’
– are having disastrous consequences that will
negatively impact life on Earth indefinitely.
And they cannot be reversed in any timeframe
that is meaningful for human prospects.
Apart from the above, there
is a host of other critical issues – such as
destruction of the Earth’s rainforests,
destruction of waterways and the ocean habitat
and the devastating impact of animal agriculture
for meat consumption – that international
governmental organizations such as the UN,
national governments and multinational
corporations will continue to refuse to
decisively act upon because they are controlled
by the insane global elite. See
‘The Global
Elite is Insane’
with more fully elaborated explanations
in
‘Why
Violence?’
and
‘Fearless
Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles
and Practice’.
So time
may be short, the number of issues utterly
daunting and the prospects for life grim. But
if, like me, you are inclined to fight to the
last breath, I invite you to consider making a
deliberate choice to take powerful personal
action in the fight for our survival.
If you do
nothing else, consider participating in the
fifteen-year strategy of
‘The Flame Tree Project to Save
Life on Earth’.
You can do this as an individual, with family
and friends or as a neighborhood.
If you are
involved in (or considering becoming involved
in) a local campaign to address a climate issue,
end some manifestation of war (or even all war),
or to halt any other threat to our environment,
I encourage you to consider doing this on a
strategic basis. See
Nonviolent Campaign Strategy.
And if you
would like to join the worldwide movement to end
violence in all of its forms, environmental and
otherwise, you are also welcome to consider
signing the online pledge of
‘The People’s Charter to Create a
Nonviolent World’.
We might
be annihilating life on Earth but this is not
something about which we have no choice.
In fact,
each and every one of us has a choice: we can
choose to do nothing, we can wait for (or even
lobby) others to act, or we can take powerful
action ourselves. But unless you search your
heart and make a conscious and deliberate choice
to commit yourself to act powerfully, your
unconscious choice will effectively be the first
one (including that you might take some token
measures and delude yourself that these make a
difference). And the annihilation of life on
Earth will continue, with your complicity.
Extinction
beckons. Will you choose powerfully?
Biodata:
Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to
understanding and ending human violence. He has
done extensive research since 1966 in an effort
to understand why human beings are violent and
has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is
the author of
‘Why Violence?’
His email address is
flametree@riseup.net
and his website is
here.
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.