Learning With: ‘Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace’

I always like to think I’m not to blame, but the more I think about it, the scarier it gets. Businesses, producers, corporate companies, whatever you want to call them, they have us hooked. Addicted to scraping the earth to its bare bones of all the resources we can get our hands on. Every second I’m sitting at my desk in this air-conditioned house, with this computer plugged in, wearing clothes made at factories in far-away countries, eating peanut butter with palm oil in it (a horribly environmentally harmful thickener ingredient), I realize that I am part of the problem. And probably, you are too. Reading little bits from the report by the UN confirmed what I was hoping wasn’t true. What we all wish weren’t true. What we all subconsciously know every day. “[It] also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global.” says IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson about the UN’s report. If everyone was aware of the severity of this problem, it wouldn’t exist. But, because of the industries creating all the things fueling our everyday needs, it is a problem. I hope more and more reports come out teaching us about how greatly we are harming our planet and slowly creating a 6th mass extinction, because maybe then we’ll make changes to the way we treat our earth.

Humans are indeed speeding up the extinction process. I believe this because of global warming, and other environmental changes have been caused by us. It's always been because of us. If we don't find a way to live along with nature, then I predict we ourselves will go extinct. If we keep burning follicle fuels if we don't find a way to recycle properly and handle our plastic problem and clean up. Then I believe that we will be gone in a century or two.

Endangered species are many types of living things that only have a few existing on earth. The world right now is affecting many wildlife and the oceans around us. There is a major loss of habitat for species in each of the seven continents. For example, glaciers are melting which puts polar bears at risk of living. The few that are still alive today can barely walk and have lost the white,big and furry appearance. They are now skinny and are fighting to live. We are constantly trying to find ways to stop hurting and damaging wildlife. One major factor that plays a role in the decline of wildlife is Global Warming. Forests are being torn down as well as Antarctica melting. It has come to attention that setting up wildlife refuges will no longer be sufficient. Our generation is so involved in creating new technology that they should be worrying about the loss of the world around them. There is still time to fix this mess humans have started. There might be a time when it is too late. This article interested me, because I grew up fascinated by the planet we live on and the wildlife that fills it. It's devastating to see a beautiful planet stripped away because of our actions.

The article, "Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an 'Unprecedented' Pace'", gives proof and evidence on how our earth is somewhat falling about. Our animals for example turtles are suffering today because of the human activity of littering and causing the animals, not just turtles, accidentally eat the plastic or get the plastic stuck in their body causing them to die. We rely on animals for food so we are not just hurting the animals but also ourselves. Not just humans are killing our animals but also climate change and global warming. These two things are also a major cause for most of our dying animals in the world, and this is all caused by the fumes we put out into the air and horrid gases. We understand that the things that we are doing to the earth are not good but we still continue to not fix things to make the world a better place. According to the article it states, "Of the 6,190 domesticated mammal breeds used in agriculture, more than 559 have gone extinct and 1,000 more are threatened. That means the food system is becoming less resilient against pests and diseases." This is mind blowing on how many animals are dying more and more every single day and it is scary to think about what animals will still be alive in the future. We need to change the world by making it a better place and environment for not only humans but animals and plants.

Human activity is causing many problems for the Earth. Not only are we affecting ourselves, but the various species of different plants and animals we share the Earth with. Climate change and global warming are a major cause for most of the endangered animals in the world, and this is all occurring because of all the dangerous gases and fumes we release into the air. We know the terrible things we are doing to the Earth, yet, we’re not doing enough to fix it while we can. This isn’t the only reason animals are going extinct however, humans also kill these animals for their own use, which isn’t right. Along with that, we also destroy their habitats. Who knows what the world will become if nothing is done now. What will become of all the living organisms on this Earth? Because of increasing temperatures in their cold habitats, polar bears struggle to survive. The population of tigers in the world is also decreasing because of deforestation and poaching. We know what we have to do, and we need to do it now. Change begins now. If we wait any longer, it may be too late to fix our mistakes, to save life.

It sucks how our Earth is becoming too, Brad Pulmer, the author of 'Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Alternating The Natural World at an 'Unprecedented Pace' says: "Global warming has become a major driver of wildlife decline, the assessment found by shifting or shrinking the local climates that many mammals, birds, insects, fish, and plants evolved to survive" This shows that global warming is ruining the planet, but we aren't helping with our problems, we just dump it all on the Earth. The Earth is that one friend you have which you dump all your problems on, and hope that they will fix it for you. I just think it's awful what humans have done to this earth to suffice their selfish ways. I think if people actually knew what we were doing to the Earth, some people would care and help our, or people won't do a thing. I think if people stopped using things like straws, plastic, plastic bags, etc this world would be a lot cleaner than it is now. If people saw trash on the floor, they should pick it up, honestly, we should get rid of cars. They release gas into the air, they can kill people and animals, even if the diver didn't mean to hit anything. Do you know those walkways in some airports? We should use those instead, it could help out the Earth, you never know. This whole topic is so troubling to me, I think if humans saw what they were doing to this planet it might change their ways.

I have heard this many times before that it is a huge problem that animals are going extinct. I think that it is a tragic thing that many species of animals are becoming endangered. In my opinion the best things to do would to make laws or sign contracts not allowing people to cut down forests and make laws prohibiting people from killing tons of animals. The only problem with this approach is that people don't listen. Another option is to keep them in controlled environments such as zoo's. I have thought about this being an option, and I think this is one of the more problematic ideas because if we keep endangered species in controlled environments then they will lose the ability to live in the wild. This is a huge problem that doesn't have a simple solution, but it can never hurt to donate to companies already protecting these animals. The last huge problem for animals is global warming. Written on The New York Times, "Roughly 5 percent of species worldwide are threatened with climate-related extinction if global average temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, the report concluded"(Plumer). Global warming is one of the problems that was formed by humans, but now since it has been formed there is no way to stop it.

With this 6th mass extinction there is only so much we can do, not a lot of people know about his and some don't care.Plumer wrote in his article Humans Are Speeding Extinction and altering the natural world at an unprecedented pace," The amazon rainforest absorbs immense quantities are carbon dioxide and slows down the pace of global warming." Carbon is the lead to the global warming but what about the animals that live in the amazon rainforest if you inhale to much carbon dioxide you could die. People are trying to spread the word on saving animals and our planet and barely any people care . I was on instagram the other day and saw on add about all the plastic in he ocean and how many of them were plastic toothbrushes so i bought a new wooden toothbrush thats eco friendly. Before i read the article about all the plastic my mom and I already knew how a lot of the plastic was straws which my family has stopped using. In some states they no longer carry plastic bags. We as a population need to work together to keep out earth beautiful clean and safe one day at a time.

An endangered species is the Pacific Salmon. Located in the North Pacific Ocean, near Alaska and Northern Canada, they are slowly becoming extinct. They are a primary source for the natives in Alaska and are hinted to feed them through the winter. When born, the start their life in fresh water, then migrate to the salty ocean. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), known for donating money to help endangered animals out, states the saltwater Alaskan salmon fishery is, "responsible for around 90% of wild caught salmon in North America." This is a problem because if people in North America only rely on the salmon from Alaska, then they will become extinct quicker. Also, the problem with global warming is slowly becoming a threat to every organism on planet Earth. With rising temperatures, animals are slowly losing their habitats. Brad Plumer, a writer for The New York Times, says humans are slowly killing "wild bees and other insects that help pollinate fruits and vegetables is putting up to $577 billion in annual crop production at risk." This is a problem because many fruits are dying and this could lead to extinction. If humans don't change their behavior towards the environment, the world will die out and everyone will have to suffer the consequences.

Humans affected the animal and plant species a lot. Humans especially affected bio diversity. Bio diversity is the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. One way humans affected bio diversity by destroying mangrove forest and by destroying coral reefs. In the article it saids, "The loss of mangrove forests and coral reefs along coasts could expose up to 300 million people to increased risk of flooding." This shows that the destruction of both the forest and the coral reefs is not only affecting animals, but also affecting humans. Another way humans are affecting biodiversity is by building factories and plantations. This is affecting the animal population because it giving less land for animals to live in. Humans burning fossil fuels is also affecting bio diversity. Burning fossil fuels is creating climate change, and climate change is changing land features all around the world. Humans have to start understanding what they are doing because their actions are leading to the extinction of many animals.

I have heard of many animals on the border of becoming extinct or who have become extinct, but I never thought of it hard enough to realize a whole species is dying off because of humans. "Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace", an article posted by the New York Times says, "...the average abundance of native plant and animal life has fallen by 20 percent or more, mainly over the past century." I know at this rate bees are on their way to the endangered species list, and we are questioning whether or not life can go on without bees. It's crazy to think about how one species can make a huge impact in the world, not only for humans but for wildlife as well. Some things we do that harm the earth is when we continuously use fossil fuels for energy. This impacts climate change deeply which then harms around 5% of species. I think the reason why a large population of the world doesn't care about extinction is that they think it won't impact them in any way. In my opinion, not many people realize that any extinction to any animal impacts everyone, it may not be direct, but it will have an effect. With the extinction of bees, there would be no honey but more importantly, there is no bee pollination. Change can only happen if we all try and help. If we don't take actions regarding the environment, humans are next on the extinction list.

I think that we as a country should take the United actions report very seriously, for the safety of the animals and our own. In the future if we don't start take action against these problems we can lose 40% of amphibians, 1/3 of marine and reef corals, and over 500,000 land species. Your probably thinking "we must do something right away" or "who is doing all these horrible things to make the animals go away?" And to answer that, it's us. Our doings are causing the destruction of habitats and species all over the world. For example, clearing forests for farmland, expansion of roads and cities, hunting, and etc. However these are actions that aren't necessary for us to do, we can find a different way so we don't harm the environment or any species. Quoted from "Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace" they state, "Of the 6,190 domesticated mammal breeds used in agriculture, more than 559 have gone extinct and 1,000 more are threatened. That means the food system is becoming less resilient against pests and diseases. And it could become harder in the future to breed new, hardier crops and livestock to cope with the extreme heat and drought that climate change will bring." This passage caught my eye, for I didn't know that the loss of species could alter the process of making crops fit for the climate change. And causing the food system to be less likely to bounce back from diseases and pests. Humans need to start change.

I think that it is troubling the amount of damage that we are doing to our environment. We are not only harming wild animals. We are also harming plant that are used for medicines or animals that we eat. The New York Times article Humans Are Speeding Extinction And Altering the Natural World at an 'Unprecedented' Pace says "Today of the 6,190 domesticated mammals breeds used in agriculture 559 have gone extinct and 1,000 more are threatened." This shows that we are also hurting our food supply and our farm animals. Also with the loss of species such as bees we could being to lose more and more plant species due to lack of pollination. Most of this loss is stemming from fossil fuels. We also are losing more and more wild life to logging and the creation of more cities. As our population grows the wild life decreases. Overall its proven that if humans dont change our ways forests will be gone and villages will be under water for lack of a way to hold our houses into the ground.

I heard Pandas were endangered but when I looked them up it seemed there was a lot more then it sounded like. I think we don't care as much about animals or nature in general which leads into all these endangered species. People hunt animals for fur or special horns. People litter into the oceans and the forest. In all it ties together global warming caused by us makes animals migrate to different areas. Even since the beginning of time, making civilizations drived animals away from where they started. We also have people who "Trophy hunt" which is hunting the big animals such as Rhinos, lions, leopards etc. So all in all animals aren't respected at all even though they have lives too and people dont understand animals value.

The current age is very tough for all the different species in the world. According to a United Nations report, "The average abundance of native plant and animal life has fallen by 20 percent or more...(Plumer 1)."I believe that people should take action to oppose the extinction of plant life and animals. To do this, in my opinion, people should donate at least a little bit to organizations like the WWF. Even if that money may be little, if many people donate little money then it can be a fortune in total. However, instead of an individual giving up the little he or she has, a country helping the multiple species of life is more effective. I personally believe that the United States should work hard in order to preserve the endangered animals and protect them with everything they can do. For instance, they can pay a little of their budget which is towards their military or government activities. However, I understand that that is highly unrealistic. In the current age, although there aren't any great wars like the world war, there are little or medium-sized wars going on all over the world. Additionally, asking the United States, which spends the majority of its money for military purposes to spend some of that money for other life forms is a tall order. Therefore, I believe that realistically, the US and the other countries of the UN should try to pass laws protecting the animals and try to stop poachers the best they can.

Humans have done many bad things, for example, kill other creatures, used slave, racism, and even caused wars. People have done so many bad things that it affects the wildlife that surrounds them. They traded, which does help the economy but destroy the natural marine life in the ocean. In an article (Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace) stated," Humans are transforming Earth's natural landscapes so dramatically that as many as one million plants species and animal species are at risk"(Plumer 1).

Humans have done many bad things, for example, kill other creatures, used slave, racism, and even caused wars. People have done so many bad things that it affects the wildlife that surrounds them. They traded with boats, which does help the economy but destroy the natural marine life in the ocean. In an article (Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace) stated," Humans are transforming Earth's natural landscapes so dramatically that as many as one million plants species and animal species are at risk"(Plumer 1). Also, pollution was caused by humans. The pollution has destroyed the air and the life of humans and animals. Another example, poachers have killed thousands and thousands of special animals. Poachers even killed rhinos only for their trunks. Rhinos are now one the most endangered animals the planet. This is an example of how people have caused endangerment to the animal.

I think that people should create laws against poaching to help protect animals. The laws would fine hunters for killing animals, and the fine should be a large amount of money so that the animals won't be killed. Another thing that needs to be changed is that people need to stop littering. Littering can cause some animals to die. For example: Sea turtles die from plastic bags that get thrown into the water. I think that the united states can't do much about the animals in Africa and Asia, but they can help improve the quality of life for the endangered animals. As an individual I can do things like picking up trash and always recycling when I can. Me recycling and cleaning up garbage would help the animals survive because they pollution won't be as large of a issue if everyone cleaned up. In Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an Unprecedented Pace it says "Extinction rates currently are tens to hundreds of times higher than they have been in the past 10 million years. This shows that animals are dying rapidly and humans need to make a change quickly.

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