‘A different dimension of loss’: the entomologists confronting the great insect die-off

Scientists have identified 2 million species of living things. No one knows how many more are out there, and tens of thousands may be vanishing before we have even had a chance to encounter them.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/14/a-different-dimension-of-loss-great-insect-die-off-sixth-extinction

#Insects #InsectApocoplype #extinction #MassExtinction #SixthMassExtinction #BioDiversity #BioDiversityLoss #EcologicalCrisis

'The sixth great #extinction is happening', conservation expert warns

“We’re in the midst of the sixth great extinction,” Dr Goodall tells me during our interview for BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science. “The more we can do to restore nature and protect existing forests, the better.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93qvqx5y01o

#MassExtinction #SixthMassExtinction #environment #nature #climate #ClimateChange

@marcowner

The scientific consensus is that the current rate of #extinction of all species is between 100 and 1000 times the background rate. That is the signature of a #MassExtinction event that has already begun, in this case, the #SixthMassExtinction on this planet. That is scientific fact, not a prediction.

Whether the human race becomes extinct as a result is less certain. The #collapse of civilisation as we know it much more certain, in my view.

#CivilisationCollapse #Collapse2040