… in fact, as the global maps below indicate, they may already be under way.
Whether were talking a true mass extinction or simply a precipitous drop in ecological diversity over the next 100 years, the fact is that according to a new study more than half of all species of vertabrates on planet Earth move one category closer to extinction each year. Declines are, of course, reversible, but in the scope of the study, 16% of those have already led to extinction.
The maps below, while showing that the greatest concentrations of loss of diversity are in the tropics, particularly in areas of heavy resource extraction, Vermont too is losing the ecological diversity that in many ways defines it:
(Brown and blue indicate increased die-offs. This next map uses this die-off data to make projections of the overall deterioration of biodiversity:)
A global problem, sure – but one that will only be solved by a full-court press of solutions from the global right down to the neighborhood level. Many Vermonters are stepping up and doing their part through initiatives such as VECAN’s community-by-community efforts to limit carbon emissions, but action at the statewide level could have so much more impact. We have little to no protection of our rivers (and amphibians in particular are facing a crisis), and have an a Governor in Jim Douglas who has left his own Climate Change Commission’s recommendations rotting on the shelf. Many of the environmental protections and energy initiatives we do have are either window dressing, or too-little-by-half solutions that have had to be clawed and scratched for.
The global crisis won’t fix itself, and the UN can’t just step in and fix it for everybody. That means our governmental institutions need to start taking it seriously. As the maps show, it’s no longer a faraway abstraction, if indeed it ever was. (See here and here for links to the study and a related piece, and ht to Annalee at io9… not a site I usually get my political links from!)
Visit votegreengov.org and take the pledge to vote green in 2010! (a reminder that the posts explicitly promoting votegreengov – and those posts only – are being done as part of my working with LCV for the tail end of the election season)
Go for a hike someplace, and take a close look at the trees. A really good look. You will note that the vast majority of trees, no matter where you go in the state (or New England, for that matter), are not healthy.
Almost universally, crowns are thin, bark shows signs of beetle infestation, trunks have split from excess rain, and so on. A typical mass extinction “event” isn’t sudden, it’s a multi-year process in which repeated stresses reduce a population to the point beyond which it cannot survive.