Our planet's 6th mass extinction event

[NikolaiI]

Few things could be more important, and yet few are talking about this, hardly ever.

We've increased the extinction rate of species by one to ten thousand percent. This is something that we are all directly responsible for, and which our actions directly affect. I was writing a thing for facebook, and it got a little long.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/


Not to alarm you, but we should all adjust our actions to affect this in a positive way.

[Dreamwoven]

This is a very interesting subject, well worth its own thread! If your piece is too long to fit in one post you could break it down into paragraphs and make several posts of it.

[YesNo]

This got me wondering how accurate is the background extinction rate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_extinction_rate

Apparently there is some data on this from the OP link: "In the past 500 years, we know of approximately 1,000 species that have gone extinct...." http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/p...nction_crisis/

I also wondered what sort of data is available on the speciation rate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciation

How many new species have come into being over the past 500 years?

Considering our changes to the environment, the last 500 years may be a period where the "equilibrium" is being "punctuated".

[Dreamwoven]

What makes you state the number of previous mass extinctions as five? I assume one was 500 years ago, what was that caused by? And the remaining four? I don't expect exact dates but the reasons for the 5 previous mass extinctions.

[NikolaiI]

A good beginning would be to read the article.

[Dreamwoven]

I had read the article several times, and am none the wiser. Why 6? Why not 8 or 4, or if it so vague why not just "several"?

[YesNo]

It seems like the number of extinction events depends on the researcher. The range seems to be from 5 to 20 (not counting the apparent current one that we might be causing): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event

We are also selecting species that tag along with us: pets, farm animals, wild animals that are harvested, insects (bees) and probably many that I am unaware of.

What I don't see is the creation of any new species and I don't think it would be easy for us to tell how old a new species was even if there were a candidate for one that arose in the last 500 years. Neo-darwinism wouldn't be making these species differentiations since the evolutionary change is at the level of genes and chance. It does not rise even to the level of a cell, let alone a more complicated organism on which one could base a claim that the organism represented a new species.

[NikolaiI]

A good second step would be to type in something like "6th mass extinction?" into Google.

Dream, if you have a genuine desire to learn and help, then do a search like this.

[NikolaiI]

If you do that search, it comes up with this.

https://www.google.com/search?q=6th+mass+extinction+event%3F&oq=6th+&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j69i61j69i60.815j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

I wouldn't go to the Time .com one - very gaudy.

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=9&secNum=6

This one looks helpful.

[Dreamwoven]

YesNo hit the nail on the head. Normally I always look up Wikipedia for answers. This time it didn't occur to me. If that needs an apology, then I give it gladly.

NikolaiI can we put the nonsense of the Theosophy business behind us? I would much prefer for us to be on friendly terms.
:)

[NikolaiI]

[edited]

A thought of a monk who lived through the Vietnam war has been very interesting to me lately. . Last night I spent a while meditating on it, and realized some of its truth and power:


“We who have touched war have a duty to bring the truth about war to those who have not had a direct experience of it. We are the light at the tip of the candle. It is really hot, but it has the power of shining and illuminating. If we practice mindfulness, we will know how to look deeply into the nature of war and, with our insight, wake people up so that together we can avoid repeating the same horrors again and again.”

-Hanh (http://www.uth.tmc.edu/pathology/hematopathology/Nguyen/TNH-Quotes-2.htm)

[Sancho]

Did anybody read Elizabeth Kolbert's book with almost that exact same title? I haven't, but I've heard good things.

[NikolaiI]

I haven't, but I'll remember the title - thank you. I'm reminded of a book on my to-read list. . my dad gave very high praise for it, not specifically about this topic but related - Jared Diamond, Collapse.