For example, humans sustainably caught fish for millennia without exceeding the ocean’s seafood supply but with the advent of industrial fishing, humans started extracting more fish than the sea could provide, causing fish populations to crash.ģ. That includes overharvesting plants for industrial agriculture, and overfishing. The second driver is what scientists call overutilization: humans exploiting natural resources for mass consumption, faster than the earth can replenish them. Real-estate development in places that have been off limits before is also causing populations to drop.Ģ. Resource-extractive industry practices, like clear-cutting trees, drilling for oil and gas, and mining, destroy habitats. The biggest driver is habitat destruction: humans transforming habitats for their own purposes. Ours could be the first generation that fails in that stewardship duty.įailing to protect all species is a planetary injustice, in addition to being potentially lethal.ġ. They are species that our parents and their parents stewarded and cared for, looked at in wonder, and enjoyed. They have just the same right to existence that we do. These are living beings that we have shared the planet with for millennia. There’s also the intrinsic value of non-human life. Say there’s a species of insects that eats pests on our crops - if you destroy half the individuals of that species, you’ve got a whole lot less pest control going on. Other species make the earth habitable for humans. Scientists estimate that vertebrate species have declined by an average of 70% in the last half century. Even species that aren’t at immediate risk of extinction are thinning out, and that imperils other species that depend on them.
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