We are now officially entering Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event

[Amir0x]

For years now, there have been some studies done that have claimed we are either getting very close to being considered a mass extinction period, or are already in one. These studies have not been definitive, but they have been leading to many storm clouds in the ecological community about just how bad things are getting.

We all know how many people love to deny climate change science, because there are abstractions in the process that allow them to muddy the reality and interpret things in demonstrably false ways but which convince a lot of people.

How dare mankind have such hubris to declare they are responsible for such monumental change, after all!

Well about that

The oft-repeated claim that Earth’s biota is entering a sixth “mass extinction” depends on clearly demonstrating that current extinction rates are far above the “background” rates prevailing in the five previous mass extinctions. Earlier estimates of extinction rates have been criticized for using assumptions that might overestimate the severity of the extinction crisis. We assess, using extremely conservative assumptions, whether human activities are causing a mass extinction. First, we use a recent estimate of a background rate of 2 mammal extinctions per 10,000 species per 100 years (that is, 2 E/MSY), which is twice as high as widely used previous estimates.

We then compare this rate with the current rate of mammal and vertebrate extinctions. The latter is conservatively low because listing a species as extinct requires meeting stringent criteria. Even under our assumptions, which would tend to minimize evidence of an incipient mass extinction, the average rate of vertebrate species loss over the last century is up to 114 times higher than the background rate. Under the 2 E/MSY background rate, the number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have taken, depending on the vertebrate taxon, between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear.

These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way. Averting a dramatic decay of biodiversity and the subsequent loss of ecosystem services is still possible through intensified conservation efforts, but that window of opportunity is rapidly closing.

Extensive study led by experts at Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Here is a layman's break down at Live Science.

And the reason?

Much of the extinction is due to human activities that lead to pollution, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species and increased carbon emissions that drive climate change and ocean acidification, the researchers said.

We can count the losses. Actual, real species gone forever at 114x the background rate.

 

[Archer]

Jesus will save us, right?

 

[NexusCell]

Ehh, we've had a good run.

 

[Dishwalla]

uh oh, better go run out and buy some guns.

 

[subrock]

you expect me to believe some scientician waving around "facts"? Sounds like another scientific "theory" to me.

 

[bounchfx]

I for the life of me cannot understand how anyone could deny the effects shit like carbon emissions and pollution have on the planet. Even worse, is that it feels like we have plenty of alternative ways to live that could help prevent/reverse damage we are causing without dramatically interrupting our quality of life and yet for the sake of greed/profits of major corps they essentially give the middle finger to the rest of the world. It's gross.

even worse, all the money they want essentially just sits in big fat bank accounts doing nothing, instead of helping billions of people as it could. The world. All for a bigger number in a bank account. blah.

 

[ant1532]

the first 3 users to reply in this thread have fitting avatars for this bleak matter huh

 

[iMax]

Great, now I'm never going to finish my backlog. Thanks, Obama.

 

[wenis]

pray to whatever you believe in. we're toast.

 

[kinggroin]

For years now, there have been some studies done that have claimed we are either getting very close to being considered a mass extinction period, or are already in one. These studies have not been definitive, but they have been leading to many storm clouds in the ecological community about just how bad things are getting.

We all know how many people love to deny climate change science, because there are abstractions in the process that allow them to muddy the reality and interpret things in demonstrably false ways but which convince a lot of people.

How dare mankind have such hubris to declare they are responsible for such monumental change, after all!

Well about that



Extensive study led by experts at Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Here is a layman's break down at Live Science.

And the reason?



We can count the losses. Actual, real species gone forever at 114x the background rate.

When the bees are gone. So will we.

 

[Dice]

I've been saying this for years, and scientists have been saying it for decades. Always brushed off or even ridiculed.

Have fun with your barren earth for the next 400 million years.

 

[Clydefrog]

Fine. Orgy at my place tonight.

BYOB

 

[MrHoot]

Just wait for Last guardian, FF7 remake and Shenmue 3 to release first and then imma good. Will get my casket ready even

 

[J10]

What a time to be dying.

 

[Ahasverus]

Who's betting for next dominant species? I call the dolphins, those fuckers are evolving into some shit I tell you

 

[demon]

We turn rainforests into parking lots and scrape the bottom of the ocean floor 20 mile long fishing nets while polluting the piss out of it.

I don't see how we're at fault here.

 

[Not]

At this point I would love some overwhelmingly good news about the future of humanity, just to shake things up

 

[wenis]

Fine. Orgy at my place tonight.

BYOB

butter?

 

[Nozem]

I know it's mighty egocentric, but I don't give a fuck.

I'm only alive for another 70 years max, I don't have kids, I'll be dead and it will not be my problem.

Good luck guys.

 

[squidyj]

guys... it's not happening to us, it's us happening to everything else on the planet.

 

[Nerdkiller]

uh oh, better go run out and buy some guns.

*avatar quote*

I doubt that the general public will really pay attention to all the because...it's not exactly harming us in an immediate matter now, is it?

 

[kinggroin]

Just wait for Last guardian, FF7 remake and Shenmue 3 to release first and then imma good. Will get my casket ready even

It only makes sense that the fruition of those three improbabilities, happen to coincide with whatever the shit Amirox's post means.

Planets aligned and all that.

 

[Dice]

Who's betting for next dominant species? I call the dolphins, those fuckers are evolving into some shit I tell you

Well, we're collapsing the entire oceanic food web, so they are fucked. Humans too stronk pls nerf.

 

[Tagyhag]

I've been saying this for years, and scientists have been saying it for decades. Always brushed off or even ridiculed.

Have fun with your barren earth for the next 400 million years.

You've had this information all these years and you hadn't told us about it?! You madman! You doomed us!

 

[Not]

What a time to be dying.

heh

 

[Purdy]

butter?

Bees

 

[Einhander]

Just wait for Last guardian, FF7 remake and Shenmue 3 to release first and then imma good. Will get my casket ready even

This. We totally deserve it for all of the shit we've inflicted to this planet too.

 

[Puruzi]

We had an alright run, all things considered.

 

[jon bones]

we didn't listen!

 

[jb1234]

I know it's mighty egocentric, but I don't give a fuck.

I'm only alive for another 70 years max, I don't have kids, I'll be dead and it will not be my problem.

Good luck guys.

We don't actually know how much medical technology will evolve in the next seventy years. For all we know, you could be in a cyborg body and living through the decimation of the planet along with the rest of us.

 

[inner-G]

Just wait for Last guardian, FF7 remake and Shenmue 3 to release first and then imma good. Will get my casket ready even

The FF7 Remake is to inspire us to strike back at Shin-Ra for the planet

 

[Ville Pukema]

Thanks a lot cat people, its so nice to have your cats running all around free. You're big part of the problem. :|

Also cant wait to be old and even more grumpy and see how the new generations will be rolling their eyes for us because we just didnt give a fuck about our effect on ecologies and because of that they will never be able to experience the extict animals "IRL" but only in virtual realities and history books. :/

 

[Siegcram]

This means, for example, that under the 2 E/MSY background rate, 9 vertebrate extinctions would have been expected since 1900; however, under the conservative rate, 468 more vertebrates have gone extinct than would have if the background rate had persisted across all vertebrates under that period. Specifically, these 468 species include 69 mammal species, 80 bird species, 24 reptiles, 146 amphibians, and 158 fish.

Insanity.

Humans are a scourge.

 

[bazzaar]

The paper doesn't explain what's so bad about this. As long as humans and our food sources make it though the mass-extinction rate what's the big deal?

 

[CharminUltra]

I hope the world doesn't end til after Sunday. I really wanna go see Inside Out before I cease to exist.

 

[Jarmel]

Jesus will save us, right?

Jesus will save the dolphins not us.

 

[Rug Monkey]

The Yosemite super volcano is about 100,000 years past it's average eruption period.

On a lesser scale the North Anatolian fault has been too quiet for far too long meaning a (probably massive) quake hitting Istanbul in the next 30 years is a certainty

 

[Amir0x]

The paper doesn't explain what's so bad about this. As long as humans and our food sources make it though the mass-extinction rate what's the big deal?

ha ha ha

 

[dekline]

I hope I live to see the end of the world.

And then survive it

 

[kinggroin]

The Yosemite super volcano is about 100,000 years past it's average eruption period.

On a lesser scale the North Anatolian fault has been too quiet for far too long meaning a (probably massive) quake hitting Istanbul in the next 30 years is a certainty

100,000 years past the average? Something tells me they've not been measuring these accurately.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

uh oh, better go run out and buy some guns.

Should've been the first post

 

[Kittygirl]

YAY! This is Good News! Now God will step in, bring Armageddon around, and things will be PERFECT! And God will show everyone miracles, and who is BOSS!

(Raised fundamentalist, never believed.) We're fucked

Yes, too many people believe this.

 

[ugly]

I vow to only eat salad from now on.
If everyone made this one teeny tiny change the world could get more salad happening

(This thread shows that not many people care)

 

[Africanus]

Everyone, let us be honest with ourselves.

There is no method possible to avert the impending disaster, or to mitigate the damage already caused.

Yes, theoretically if the entire world banded together, there is a large chance of salvation. This event will never happen. The developing world views it as only fair, after years of subjugation, to industrialise, regardless of the ramifications. The developed world is mostly apathetic, used to the energy inefficient way of life. This does not take into account unstable regions.

I do my part because I at least wish to pretend as if there is a chance. But unless a technology is developed that is able to alter the world's chemical output, I imagine the rest of this century and beyond will fare poorly.

 

[Dice]

YAY! This is Good News! Now God will step in, bring Armageddon around, and things will be PERFECT! And God will show everyone miracles, and who is BOSS!

AMEN, Jesus come

Spoiler

save the dolphins from us.

 

[Septimus Prime]

To be fair, the last five major extinction events all happened with zero human intervention. I think it's fair to say that what we are doing is not good for the planet and that we are contributing to the current event, but I don't know if it's completely right to attribute it to us fully.

 

[Jarmel]

The paper doesn't explain what's so bad about this. As long as humans and our food sources make it though the mass-extinction rate what's the big deal?

Ecosystems don't work that way.

 

[bazzaar]

This also got me thinking, if its too late to reverse this can we at least prioritize what we make extinct?

Jellyfish, earwigs, pretty much anything originating in australia, cats would be high on my list.

 

[Nozem]

We don't actually know how much medical technology will evolve in the next seventy years. For all we know, you could be in a cyborg body and living through the decimation of the planet along with the rest of us.

Eh, I most likely won't be rich enough to afford it anyway.

 

[Amir0x]

To be fair, the last five major extinction events all happened with zero human intervention. I think it's fair to say that what we are doing is not good for the planet and that we are contributing to the current event, but I don't know if it's completely right to attribute it to us fully.

Every extinction event has different causes.

This one is ours.

Just like if ten murders happen on your block and they're all committed by different people, and then you commit an eleventh... you're responsible for that eleventh murder, but not the others.