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Earth Science

Wildlife In 'Catastrophic Decline' Due To Human Destruction, Scientists Warn (bbc.com) 114

Posted by BeauHD from the we-are-to-blame dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Wildlife populations have fallen by more than two-thirds in less than 50 years, according to a major report (PDF) by the conservation group WWF. The report says this "catastrophic decline" shows no sign of slowing. And it warns that nature is being destroyed by humans at a rate never seen before. The report looked at thousands of different wildlife species monitored by conservation scientists in habitats across the world. They recorded an average 68% fall in more than 20,000 populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish since 1970.

Measuring the variety of all life on Earth is complex, with a number of different measures. Taken together, they provide evidence that biodiversity is being destroyed at a rate unprecedented in human history. This particular report uses an index of whether populations of wildlife are going up or down. It does not tell us the number of species lost, or extinctions. The largest declines are in tropical areas. The drop of 94% for Latin America and the Caribbean is the largest anywhere in the world, driven by a cocktail of threats to reptiles, amphibians and birds. Research published in the journal Nature suggests that to turn the tide we must transform the way we produce and consume food, including reducing food waste and eating food with a lower environmental impact.
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Wildlife In 'Catastrophic Decline' Due To Human Destruction, Scientists Warn More

Wildlife In 'Catastrophic Decline' Due To Human Destruction, Scientists Warn

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  • Dr William Rees thesis (Score:5, Interesting)

    by klipclop ( 6724090 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:40PM (#60498174)
    This guy was a professor of population ecology before he retired. After listening to some of his talks, he provided me a different perspective on how our civilization is impacting the environment so drastically. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • Reminds me of Planet of the Humans (Score:5, Interesting)

    by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:42PM (#60498176) Journal

    This kinda reminds me of a short film, Michael Moore presents Planet of the Humans. It's mostly by a guy who has worked with Moore for many years, Jeff Gibbs.

    Despite the fact that Moore can sometimes be a lying sack of shit, this week one is actually pretty good, and shows what might be the only way we can save the planet that can actually work.

    https://youtu.be/Zk11vI-7czE [youtu.be]

    For any film with Moore's name on it, don't go quoting anything you see as fact because he has been known to stretch the truth on particular details, but the overall film is insightful.

    • Not famiiar with M. Moore's films, but do you have any links to credible studies or sources to the claims that his films canot be trusted? Legitimately curious and interested to sÃe the whole picture and/or debate.

      • I don't think he lies but he cherry-picks the data.

      • Normally I'd cite authoritative sources and all, but this morning I'm kinda busy, so here is one article that seems to do a decent job of covering one of this films, as an example:

        https://whatculture.com/film/5... [whatculture.com]

        I'm sure there are more rigorous treatments around if you Google for them, but that's a start to get the idea.

    • A cool idea, this film. One just wishes that it weren's so full of bullshit and misinformation.

    • I thought that it was a comedy where Dr. Zaius, the orangutan, got his ass kicked. I guess he found his destiny.

    • For any film with Moore's name on it, don't go quoting anything you see as fact because he has been known to stretch the truth on particular details...

      Are you trying to tell me that Canadian Bacon was NOT a documentary???

  • Why surprised (Score:4, Informative)

    by stabiesoft ( 733417 ) on Saturday September 12, 2020 @12:03AM (#60498218) Homepage
    A top line predator (people) continues to have larger and larger populations. The only solution is birth control. We will trample the earth with our numbers.

  • Crickets (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pbry4n ( 7208566 ) on Saturday September 12, 2020 @12:03AM (#60498220)
    Compared to a pound of beef, to produce a pound of crickets: 0.03% the amount of water, 8.00% of the amount of feed, 9.96% of the amount of land. https://www.alux.com/wp-conten... [alux.com]

    • Crickets are great fish bait too.

    • You do realize there already are plant-based meat substitutes that are actually quite palatable? I’d gladly take a plate of Impossible burger before I’d ever consider chowing down on lawn pests.

      Not that I have any issues with eating the real thing (real beef still has the substitutes beat on price), but if cows disappeared tomorrow I still ain’t reaching for a crunchy pile of crickets.

      • Re:Yuck (Score:4, Interesting)

        by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Saturday September 12, 2020 @04:25AM (#60498466) Journal

        Impossible burger is ridiculously processed to the point where a lot of experts saying it's not healthy. For a reliable source of non-animal protein, go with the proven things: beans and nuts.

        Also, don't get hung up on all-or-nothing propositions. A 4 oz. burger can be quite tasty. If you were eating 8 oz. burgers every day, and you go to 4 oz burgers every other day, Bam! You just cut your beef consumption 75%, and you'll be a lot healthier.

        • Also, don't get hung up on all-or-nothing propositions. A 4 oz. burger can be quite tasty. If you were eating 8 oz. burgers every day, and you go to 4 oz burgers every other day, Bam! You just cut your beef consumption 75%, and you'll be a lot healthier.

          The population will have tripled by the time you convince everybody of that.

          Try imagining a 200% tax on burgers over 4oz. Would that work faster? It's the sort of thing that's needed...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by robi5 ( 1261542 )

            Or outlawing meat, or at least mammalian meat, period. But since when did legislation prevent people from eating all kinds of animals. Bats in China; cutting shark fins off and leaving sharks to die (or kill shark but only retain fins, plus the spine) also by and for the Chinese; hunting whales by Japan (science, yummy!). Therefore, controls on population size is key. Anything that ignores it is not realistic.

            • So what are you suggesting?
              [_] World war
              [_] Godzilla
              [_] Zombies
              [_] Deadly pandemic

              It seems at least one of these options is currently in its trial phase...

              • This is why the whole Climate Change thing is really just angels on the head of a pin, mostly pointless politics, and in some cases a dangerous "religion". We'll adapt one way or another. Paleo Indian: "Hey, put out that fire, or the ice will melt and we won't be able to walk to the Farallon Hills any more".

        • Or you could just eat a 4 oz. impossible burger... It's true that they don't appear to be much healthier than beef, but there haven't been many claims saying that they're worse. It's just that they're less healthy than existing veggieburger options, which are generally a lot better than beef.

      • You do realize there already are plant-based meat substitutes that are actually quite palatable? I’d gladly take a plate of Impossible burger before I’d ever consider chowing down on lawn pests.

        Not that I have any issues with eating the real thing (real beef still has the substitutes beat on price), but if cows disappeared tomorrow I still ain’t reaching for a crunchy pile of crickets.

        You need to get over you prejudices, if you ever try crickets you'll be converted instantly. They're damn tasty!

        Companies like Pringles will go bust overnight if word ever gets out about crickets.

    • Re:Crickets (Score:4, Funny)

      by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Saturday September 12, 2020 @01:44AM (#60498346)
      Sure but the line at the slaughterhouse would take forever.

  • Glad I don't have kids (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Saturday September 12, 2020 @12:04AM (#60498222)
    This is one of the big reasons I'm happy I don't have kids. The Earth is going to be a very unpleasant place for humans over the next few centuries, at least. I don't understand how/why people still have kids, knowing full well that not only does it further burdens what we have left of our fragile ecosystem, but those kids are going to have to contend with all of the fallout of a collapsing ecosystem. I'll be gone in the next few decades, and I'm not going to have to live through the worst of it, luckily.

    • I don't understand how/why people still have kids

      Because they either believe their kids will be successful enough to be among the privileged, or they believe skydaddy won’t let anything bad happen to the Earth if you pray enough.

      Oh, also there’s no shortage of folks who produce rugrats because the act of procreation is pleasurable and they’re not even all that concerned with the immediate consequences of caring for their offspring. It’s not as if conception requires that you Click here to agree to the terms and conditions of produ

      • It’s not as if conception requires that you Click here to agree to the terms and conditions of producing new life.

        Nobody reads these things anyway.

    • Stuck on Earth, yes. But aren't we going to Mars in a few decades.

    • We don't need the ecosystem .. we can chemically synthesize our essential proteins or food and use nuclear or solar energy. If we can live on bases on Mars and the moon we can live on Earth.

      • Is that all the word "ecosystem" means to you? Food?

        I think we found the problem.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 1s44c ( 552956 )

        As far as I know no sealed biosphere has ever worked in isolation. They all need regular top-ups from earth.

        • Biosphere is an experiment that has been tried only a few times. We can make it work. Humans tried to make flying machines for hundreds of years until now they are they safest form of transport.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
            Ah... the if A works then B, that is totally different, must also be able to work argument... In reality, you have to judge B based on the merits of B.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

        We don't need the ecosystem .. we can chemically synthesize our essential proteins or food and use nuclear or solar energy. If we can live on bases on Mars and the moon we can live on Earth.

        Do you seriously believe this? Do you really believe this is optimal and can scale and would be cheaper than maintaining the ecosystem?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by cats-paw ( 34890 )

      as are we. I think people are still having kids for a few reasons

      - they just want to, biological imperative and all that. the concious mind's interaction with the lizard brain is pretty complicated.
      - human beings are terrible at long term thinking. just awful. watch people drive and understand just how bad
      - "it won't be my kids". especially in the "developed" world, they think they're going to skate through while the rest of the planet suffers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      What drives me crazy is when people have many children. I knew a co(lleague/worker) who had ten! Sheesh.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by lorinc ( 2470890 )

      Most people do not chose to have kids, it's an instinct, a urge encoded deeply within the genes. You have to have kids because it's the sole purpose of life, the sole existence of your genes is to reproduce themselves. Then, you can find other bullshit explanation like "it's the greatest joy of your life", but the main reason is still an unexplainable urge.

      And since it's impulse over logic, the growing population is very likely to be an ecological catastrophe. People keep following their reproductive instin

      • Most people do not chose to have kids,

        Most pregnancies carried to term are voluntary, even though most pregnancies are unplanned. Almost all people have access to birth control, and most people have access to abortion. So most people definitely choose to have kids.

    • If all people that understand that don't have kids, only people that don't understand it will have kids. You're only making matters worse by not having kids. Idiocracy starts with you.

      https://youtu.be/sP2tUW0HDHA [youtu.be]

      • You are ignoring the large DGAF population which I consider myself a part of. Remember the cold war era when everyone believed a mushroom cloud might be spotted on the horizon at any time? People still had children. I want a child just because I want a human pet. That's what children are really. I will teach her to fetch and roll over and play dead. All that.

    • Nope. The population will level off in a few decades and then possibly decrease.

      Are you suggesting that we can't take another 50 percent increase before that happens?
      Since we've come so far?

      No way. The problem is mostly political and part time economics and you know it.

      I'm childless myself and that ain't gonna change, but your reasoning for it is flawed.
      To each their own and more power to you and everyone, but let's stop with the disproved stuff from decades ago.

      A species that brings its own extinction by c

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by robi5 ( 1261542 )

        Not at all. Human population *growth rate* is forecast to come down, hitting maybe a global zero sometime in the 2nd half of the century. With a LOT of ifs.

        But, as population growth rate results in compound growth, it means we're still probably adding more and more people per year in absolute terms, because the basis of the growth rate is increasing.

        Also, this totally ignores the fact that geographic distribution of population growth is very uneven. Global North has stagnant population; it would rapidly dep

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
          Grandchildren of migrants are pretty much down to the level of children of the general population.

    • The Earth is going to be a very unpleasant place for humans over the next few centuries, at least.

      historically, this aint shit.

      sit in your AC'd home and order crap from amazon. oh the humanity.

  • One thing for sure, it's good to be the apex predator.

    We need to gather up all the DNA, so we can recreate creatures when we need to.

  • No, that only pushes the problem further out! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Saturday September 12, 2020 @05:24AM (#60498578)

    We must stop being in denial about the actual.core problem:

    Us breeding more and more humans.

    No behavior and no veganism will prevent the apocalypse, if we're more than 100 billion people! It is impossible to sustain the planet with infinite growth. Any child trying to stuff more and more candy into its mouth understands that.

    We cannot do like China, and force people to have only one child. But let me be very clear: If you read this, and still go on to make more than two children... you are guilty of conspiring to mass-genocide. Not mass-murder... Mass-*genocide*!
    And if you actually want to do something ... don't become vegan or something, like a slacktivist ... but: Have only one child! (And to avoid developmental problems, make sure it has other children to play with every day and every hour, form the first day it is born.)
    We shoud reward that.

    (Funnily enough, the wealthiest, most developed states already have a low birth rate "problem". And poor people in war zones make lots of children. So you know what to do. ... Make sure everyone is well off. ... Redistribute that wealth a bit without taking anything from anyone: Support automation that is owned by the people, so the resulting wealth is too. [That's how you get a Star Trek society] ... Reduce overpopulation as a result ... Save the planet due to it ... Tadaa: Humanity can be sustainable ... in its continued survival.)

  • Anyone remember what butterflies look like? I can't remember seeing one for decades. Same with fireflies.

    • I saw a butterfly last week and a margarinefly yesterday.

    • I live in San Diego and I see butterflies they lay their eggs on my navel orange tree. Their caterpillars resemble bird poop, a kind of disguise. I didn't see the caterpillars at first. So be observant.

      I also went to Venango County, PA where fireflies, wild turkey and deer abound. The chipmunk population seems to be low this year. I believe that it's due to the trees. The following in parenthesis is from Wikipedia ( Mast seeding (or mast reproduction) is defined as the highly variable annu

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
      My garden is full of butterflies, but then I don't use herbicides or pesticides and have plants they like.

  • Will you please stop lying after November??

    • Now be fair, if you look at the graph in the actual article, the "decline" they cite was level during Trump's term in office (the decline ended), so they're obviously meaning this article to celebrate his stewardship of the environment and tell people they can finally stop worrying, right? Right???

  • On a positive note there will be less species for scientists to keep track of which will save tax dollars by requiring fewer species counters. It will also be easier for school children because there will be fewer species for them to remember. Farmers benefit by having less insects compete for their crops, reducing pesticide use and keeping the environment cleaner. Fewer insects means cleaner car windshields resulting in fewer accidents and deaths. Fewer animals means fewer road kill accidents. The list cou

  • Wildlife isn't profitable, it can't invest in stocks, and only stands in the way of the progress of Capitalism. It must be destroyed! Yep, absolutely no way that could go horribly wrong.

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