Everything's dying :c

[Sufurin Scorda]

http://www.well.com/~davidu/extinction.html
(A bunch of links, not a news article...sorta.)

The Current Mass Extinction:
Human beings are currently causing the greatest mass extinction of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. If present trends continue one half of all species of life on earth will be extinct in less than 100 years, as a result of habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, and climate change.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Whet we need to do is build massive pillars and make a giant wildlife reserve up there. Solves all problems!

[Joe3210]

We just need someone to kill all humans.

Also, we need more misanthropes.

[Toric]

Yup, we're slowly encroaching on formerly wild habitat, bringing in pets and livestock that's never been seen in the area before, and polluting water sources. The good news is that we're (at least outwardly) more eco-conscious than in the past. We just have to hope the building-block "jenga" ecosystem model doesn't prove correct and things don't start falling apart when one more species goes bye-bye. Oh, and that we can get off our lazy bums and give up a few more things to give the other aminals a better chance.

[Alondro]

We just need someone to kill all humans.

*Charles merely grins... just grins...*   

[rabid_fox]

Adapt or lose. Rats are doing just fine.

[Alondro]

Humans must adapt or die as my hyper-mutated kind eliminate them to make room room for ourselves! 

All else must be exterminated!  My Charleks will become TEH SUPREME BEIIIIIIIINGSSS!!!   

[bill]

that doesn't look like a rly reputable web site tbh

[Brunhidden]

also keep in mind that the vast majority of these 'species' are things like the western wimbleton wailing walrus or other such subspecies that are identical to normal specimens of the same species but have a different skin pattern or something pointless.

seriously, the amount of subspecies you can find of bugs alone lets you fill an entire room floor to ceiling with identical insects that some nutjob entomologist decided were all so vastly different they deserved their own species.

i feel very sad for entomologists, for they are sad sad little people

[Valynth]

We just need someone to kill all humans.

Because clearly, there has never been a mass extinction without human intervention \sarcasm

[Reese Tora]

hmm... Wikipedia's page on extinction events corroborates the statement made by OP.
Rather, it states that 70% of biologists consider the present day to be an extinction event.  The article implies, but does not actually state, that that 70% of biologists all believe that half of species could become extinct in the next 100 years.  I rather suspect that this number is one of the more extreme estiamtes rather than the common view of those 70% that agree that there is an extinction event taking palce.

I read it on the internet, it must be true.
(aside from petty vandalism, the page appears to have been pretty stable for the last couple of weeks... hot button topic that it is.)

The talk page suggests that the current count for extinctions may be an overestimate compared to historical events, as it includes undocumented extinctions where historical extinction events base thier numbers on fossil counting.

While there's no doubt that humans are causing species to go extinct, I'm going to echo the guy on that wikipedia talk page, and say that evidence for both sides of the issue need to be expressed.

--edit--

ah-HA... that 70% figure is from a survey commisioned by the American Museum of Natural History.
The statistic is misleading, as the number if of polled scientists who believed that as many as 1/5 of species might go extinct in the next 30 years and one third think as many as the quoted figure in teh same time frame.

[Zina]

What we should do is shoot all the animals out into space.
Problem solved.

[Kasarn]

What we should do is shoot all the animals out into space.
Problem solved.

[RobbieThe1st]

also keep in mind that the vast majority of these 'species' are things like the western wimbleton wailing walrus or other such subspecies that are identical to normal specimens of the same species but have a different skin pattern or something pointless.

seriously, the amount of subspecies you can find of bugs alone lets you fill an entire room floor to ceiling with identical insects that some nutjob entomologist decided were all so vastly different they deserved their own species.

i feel very sad for entomologists, for they are sad sad little people

I completely agree - and I mean, who cares if we end up killing off 2,000 species of disease-infested mosquitoes? Sure, you might not want to kill off *every* type of mosquitoes, but that would be pretty much impossible.

Sure, intentionally destroying animals which aren't a threat to humans and which doesn't give any benefit is bad... but I say there's a limit on how eco-friendly you should be.

And, rabid_fox has a point - Humans have obviously adapted to be top of the food chain, and mice/rats have also... Quite a few species have adapted, so its not that unlikely for a good number of other species to adapt.


-RobbieThe1st

[Alondro]

I wanna weed out the stupid humans!

I mean, there's the whole bottom half of the IQ curve!

They're not useful for anything, are they? 

Then we get rid of the Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and all those pagan religions, cuz religions are for idiots and anyone who believes religion must be an idiot too!  And then we get rid of those atheists because they're gonna die and be forgotten and have no future anyway so they they shouldn't care.

Then on the superior race will remain.   

That'd be the dolphins.   

*Tanks fer all de fish, mon!*

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I wanna weed out the stupid humans!

Then we get rid of the Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and all those pagan religions, cuz religions are for idiots and anyone who believes religion must be an idiot too!  And then we get rid of those atheists because they're gonna die and be forgotten and have no future anyway so they they shouldn't care.

... you've listed them twice, Alondro. Not that I object to killing them twice, but wouldn't there be more effective ways of doing things?

[lucas marcone]

i say we get rid of all those incompetent people they find for commercials to make their product seem so easy a half brain dead monkey could use it.

[blood butterfly]

Meh, never did like humanity, but i can't blame us exclusively.  It's way of things to die, one way or another, and planets are no different.  Even if humans had never set the planet ablaze, earth would still die on it's own.  Maybe not as quick, but die off it would.  This rock has been around and being lucky for how long now?  Billions of years?  Hundreds of billions?  In the life expectancy of planets it hasn't been around long at all, but it's been around way longer than a planet that harbors life should have lasted.

mother nature hates us and she's PMSing...RUUUNN!!!   

[Sufurin Scorda]

that doesn't look like a rly reputable web site tbh

It's got links to CNN, National Geographic, etc. Shut your face, nascar breath.

What we should do is shoot all the animals out into space.
Problem solved.

But humans are animals too, and I don't think shooting them into space too would really help.

[Alondro]

Abortions for everyone!   

[Zina]

What we should do is shoot all the animals out into space.
Problem solved.

But humans are animals too, and I don't think shooting them into space too would really help.

Sure it would. Space for everyone!

[Kenji]

I call Mars.

[Zina]

You can have your Mars, I'm going to Europa.

[bill]

I'm staying here, so when all the cool ppl leave, I can rule with an iron fist

[Zina]

Not after I drive Europa into Earth.

Vroooooom.

[bill]

no that is cheating you cant do that

[Zina]

Try and stop me. Just try it.
You can't.

[bill]

it's your fault, you're the one killing everything

[Zina]

I am the cancer that is killing life on Earth.

[bill]

Ah, yes. Quite so.