Endangered Species: Should We Be More Concerned With the Current Rate of Extinction?
Should We Be More Concerned With The Current Rate of Extinction?
Preserving endangered species isn’t an unfamiliar concept – everyone has seen the tiger commercials looking for donations, and most people are familiar with the “Save the Whales!” ballyhoo, but the question is: is it as big of a concern as people make it out to be? Some people think no, it’s not because extinction is a natural process that has been occurring since life existed on Earth and that the issue is being exaggerated. However, some people believe it to be one of the major global concerns that we are being faced with today. We rely on plants and animals to clean our air and regulate weather, as well as help to control pests and diseases that infest our crops. Because of our dependency on Earth’s species, people are concerned about the high fluctuation involving the extinction of species and the affects that it will have on in the future.
The extinction of animals occurs from change in the environment. All species are bound to go extinct eventually; however, the rate of extinction has risen drastically past natural tendencies over the years. “Scientists from around the world published the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, estimated that the current annual rate of species extinction is a at least
100 to 1,000 times the background rate of about 0.0001% which existed before modern humans appeared…” (Hartley) The background rate refers to the standard rate of extinction before human involvement. So the question is: why are we seeing such a high fluctuation is animal
extinctions and what affects will it have on us in the future? Also, are we to blame? And what are we doing to save the species?
Global warming has recently become a significantly universal concern for most people in the world. However, we aren’t the only ones suffering from the climate change. The increase in temperature around the world is disrupting habitats and killing off plants and animals unable to adapt to
Preserving endangered species isn’t an unfamiliar concept – everyone has seen the tiger commercials looking for donations, and most people are familiar with the “Save the Whales!” ballyhoo, but the question is: is it as big of a concern as people make it out to be? Some people think no, it’s not because extinction is a natural process that has been occurring since life existed on Earth and that the issue is being exaggerated. However, some people believe it to be one of the major global concerns that we are being faced with today. We rely on plants and animals to clean our air and regulate weather, as well as help to control pests and diseases that infest our crops. Because of our dependency on Earth’s species, people are concerned about the high fluctuation involving the extinction of species and the affects that it will have on in the future.
The extinction of animals occurs from change in the environment. All species are bound to go extinct eventually; however, the rate of extinction has risen drastically past natural tendencies over the years. “Scientists from around the world published the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, estimated that the current annual rate of species extinction is a at least
100 to 1,000 times the background rate of about 0.0001% which existed before modern humans appeared…” (Hartley) The background rate refers to the standard rate of extinction before human involvement. So the question is: why are we seeing such a high fluctuation is animal
extinctions and what affects will it have on us in the future? Also, are we to blame? And what are we doing to save the species?
Global warming has recently become a significantly universal concern for most people in the world. However, we aren’t the only ones suffering from the climate change. The increase in temperature around the world is disrupting habitats and killing off plants and animals unable to adapt to
Cited: Geographic, National. Modern-day Plague. 2013. Pimm, Stuart L. "Biodiversity: Extinction by Numbers." Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science (2004): 843-845. Science, Truth in. The Peppered Moth. 2005-2013. Taylor, Lisa. Rainforest facts. 21 December 2012.