Whole Systems Foundation

Outside The Box

A place for opinions that may not fit neatly in the scope of the Foundation.

The Sixth Mass Extinction

The 6^th extinction is already well underway.  Remember the old days of bug splats on the windshield when driving in the country?  Where are they now?  An article in the Guardian reports;

“More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.”

A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves.

Frogs are also in danger.  Sixty seven percent of the 110 or so species of Atelopus, which are endemic to the American tropics have gone extinct due to climate disruption.

The extinction of larger animals and especially the massive die off of frogs has received more attention, but insects are an essential base to the terrestrial food chain.  Plankton fills that role in the ocean and there too die offs are occurring as the oceans warm.  Krill in the waters off Antarctica are predicted to decrease by 40% over the remaining century.  In another example, oceanic heat waves have devastated the ecosystem in the Bearing Straits causing blooms of toxic plankton that caused die offs of birds, seals and whales.

We must face the fact that this human experiment of attempting to control and over rule nature is ending.  It will involve massive changes in our lives and those of our children.  What they are will depend on how we adapt in the next few years.