The Sixth Great Mass Extinction

In September 1998, Worldwatch Institute reported that 7 out of 10 biologists believed the world was in the middle of the fastest mass extinction in history. Faster than five previous extinctions including the one that got the dinosaurs. More serious than the ozone layer problem, global warming and pollution.

A poll conducted by the American Museum of Natural of Natural History and the Louis Harris survey research firm found that 70 percent of the biologists polled believe that within 30 years up to one-fifth of the species on earth will become extinct. A third of those polled are more pessimistic. They think up to half the species on Earth will be gone. Where is Noah when you need him!

At the same time the biologists were polled, 100 middle-school and high-school science teachers, and 1,000 members of the public were given the same poll. Guess what. More than half of the science teachers didn't think there was an extinction problem. Guess what they're not teaching their students! In fact, fewer than half feel familiar with the concept of biodiversity.

Now guess what. Studies presented at the 16th International Biological Congress in early August 1999 say we're in the middle of the greatest mass extinction of all time. Greater even than the one that got the dinosaurs. These studies show that the human impact on earth could lead to a loss of up to two-thirds of all plant and animal species by the middle of the 21st century.

Dr. Jane Lubchenko of Oregon State University and coauthors Harold Mooney and Peter Vitousek of Stanford University say the signs of pending extinction are there for us to see: toxic algal blooms, bleached corals, depleted fisheries, coastal oceanic dead zones, lost mangrove forests, invading alien marine species, deforestation, overgrazing and lots of other evidence. Reported as isolated news events by themselves, one at a time, these issues just don't make much of an impression in the media. What can you possibly cover in a few seconds on the evening news and who is interested anyway?

Well get this. Dr. Peter Raven reported at the Botanical Congress that current trends will leave us with only five percent of the tropical forests. Then, he says, you'll really see what the word extinction means. Go look in a field guide to animals or birds of fishes or whatever. Which half would you pick to kill off?

Meanwhile, my local newspaper carried a story about how the state highway department would have to put off construction for a year because of two rare little two-inch fish, ironcolor and bridle shiners. The ironcolor was thought to be extinct in the state for 20 years. The report said there were an estimated 1,000 in this particular creek and only two or three other creeks in the state where they are found. Motorists in the town where the highway project was to take place to reduce congestion are going to be furious. Would you be mad?

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