The Sixth Extinction

The UN convention on biological diversity released a report today, stating:

"In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago,"

www.livescience.com...

Could these new findings finally be enough to bring attention to the problem in time to lessen the impacts, or will we continue to blindly along as we have been?

In a word, scary.

In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," the report states.

Funniest thing I have heard in a while, yet another blunder from the people who brought you food for oil


the link they give for there facts goes to a space site

and the extinction event has been going on for thousands of years….funny they didn’t mention that.

Time will tell

This topic was covered here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by engenerQ

In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," the report states.

Funniest thing I have heard in a while, yet another blunder from the people who brought you food for oil


the link they give for there facts goes to a space site

Are you purposefully misinforming ATS members and readers?

I checked ALL of the article's links, and NONE went to a space site.

Here are the five posted at the end of the article.


* Top 20 Extinction Hotspots
* Closest Human Relatives Face Extinction
* Global Warming Likely Cause of Worst Mass Extinction Ever
* Illegal Animal Trade at $6 Billion Annually
* Five Deep-Sea Fish on Brink of Extinction

like the site is trying to set-up the uninformed [ they're campaigning for support ]

about the coming [ out of the closet ] global government that wants to shove its' own ideas down our throats !

and they're actually, CRYING OUT LOUD [ the linked article ] for it ! oh please...[ yawn ]

is there a catastrophe coming ? maybe ! is that WHY they're trying to legitimize a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT ? is their intention to SAVE US ?
their methods seem pretty devious and the the new laws are fascist and oppressive...not exactly how a compassionate government concerned about its' citizens would act , to me.

more likely is that we have PATHOCRATS, trying to legitimize their plans [ whatever they may be ] by any means. the fact they are deceptive puts them in the bogus column and unworthy of our trust

the hopi say the 5th world is about to come , probably in our lifetime , it may even be the predicted 2012 event ! I dunno...

I just hope that I am free to see it come without a boot on my neck...

having just found this ;

www.2012.com.au...

if there is anything too it , is this the 6th extinction ? or just another well crafted red herring ?

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 report on Biological Diversity is legitmate. It reflects real scientific concerns that are decades old.

It's worth reading. And thinking about. And acting upon.

"In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," the report states. ...The wide-ranging report also states that demand for resources globally exceeds the biological capacity of the Earth by some 20 percent.

Among the findings:

* The average abundance of species declined 40 percent between 1970 and 2000 while species in rivers, lakes and marshlands have declined by 50 percent.
* Between 12 and 52 percent of species within well-studied higher taxa including birds, mammals and amphibians are threatened with extinction.
* In the North Atlantic, populations of large fish have declined 66 percent in the last 50 years.
* Since 2000, 6 million hectares of primary forest have been lost annually.
* In the Caribbean, average hard coral cover declined from 10 to 50 percent in the last three decades.
* 35 percent of the world's mangroves have been lost in the last two decades.

"Two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are in decline, worldwide," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity, in an open letter to all of the planet's citizens. "Humans have made unprecedented changes to ecosystems in recent decades to meet growing demands for food and other ecosystems services." ...The report offers simple economic logic for maintaining biodiversity: "Biodiversity loss disrupts ecosystem functions, making ecosystems more vulnerable to shocks and disturbances, less resilient, and less able to supply humans with needed services."

Biodiversity loss has "weakened nature's ability to deliver its vital services," Djoghlaf writes. "Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted."

Current ostrich policies try to have it both ways. They deny the legitimacy of this kind of research, but at the same time, blame human overpopulation and support eugenics solutions for the problem that "doesn't exist."



What's with the hypocrisy? Disinfo so corporate plundering can continue unhindered.

Originally posted by engenerQ

Funniest thing I have heard in a while, yet another blunder from the people who brought you food for oil


the link they give for there facts goes to a space site

and the extinction event has been going on for thousands of years….funny they didn’t mention that.

Time will tell

Well the dinosaur extinction did not take place as rapidly as thought. That event lasted (at various times around the K/T boundry) from several thousand years to over 2 million. Check out this site for some good info on this.

www.isgs.uiuc.edu...

Which leads me to believe that maybe not one event could lead to worldwide extinction, but a series of events over a large period of time (relatively speaking)

Well the dinosaur extinction did not take place as rapidly as thought. That event lasted (at various times around the K/T boundry) from several thousand years to over 2 million

Well of course your going to find dinosaurs after the KT impact because dinosaurs never really went extinct. There all around us we just call them birds the ones that survived the mass extinction.

Im sure there was other factors at play but the KT impact still stands out as the lead factor IMO. For example the impact could have directly wiped out a few Key species that others were dependant on. Starting a domino effect the death of those animals dependant on others could have been a much slower and drawn out affair.


I have seen some new reports that suggest mass exinctions may actually increase the Bio diversity of lifeforms in the long run. After mapping and dating impacts on the moon (the moon is thought to be perfect impact indicator for earth) we have discover impacts event didnt decline in time as people once thought. There was infact a rather large spike starting 400 million years ago at levels which havent been seen for billions of years before hand.

If you map that increase of impacts with the number of species on earth they both shot up at the same time.

Mass extinction cause less adaptive species to die out while stronger more adaptive ones fill that space. If it wasnt for mass extinctions we wouldnt even be here mammals would likley still be little creatures hiding in the trees at night from dinosaurs.

99% of all life that has ever lived on earth is now extinct the mass majority of which lived and died long before man was even around. Im sure many died because of other more adaptive species over took them. Another mass extinction event is going to happen no matter what we do.

I essentially agree with everything you pointed out. My only argument was the length of time for an extinction event to take place. I have no doubt that the KT impact led immediately to several key species to die out. But should we define this event as the direct cause or the catylast which led to the domino effect you related to.

Mass extinctions IMHO do not occur because of one event. Perhaps it occurs because one certain species of plant died off (from climate for example) and several species of animals relied on this plant for survival and they died out... so on and so on... Maybe there is a more mundane reason for these extinctions then flashy cataclysmic (sic) events.

My prime example is the Premian Mass extinction which killed off 95 percent of living things on this planet for no apparent reason . Some say Comets or asteriods but no proof has been provided to support this theory that I know of.

It might be better to think of large impact event as a catylast, well unless its really big like the impact thought to have created the moon. Then we are talking all the species dying in a matter of hours.

We dont really have a perfect understanding IMO of the exact effects a large impact would have on active planet like earth. It could set off all types of other nasty effects volcanos, super volcanos, earth quakes, climate changes. Heck we still arent positive what went down in Tunguska which left no impact crater

The Premian Mass extinction is pretty strange some people think they have found a possible massive impact crater for it off the coast of Australia but thats still hotly debated I believe. Without a smoking gun impact we are really left scratching our heads. We can throw out all types of theories though like super germs, cancer and such we likely will never be able to prove.

[edit on 24-3-2006 by ShadowXIX]

Originally posted by ShadowXIX

We can throw out all types of theories though like super germs, cancer and such we likely will never be able to prove.

Look to the current situation and look in different places.

The pruth is out there.

If you think its influenced by man how do you explain the extinction rate has stayed hypothetically constant( no one can actually know b/c there are so many things out there that we have no clue about) how can anyone figure that its increasing when we do not know how many species there are out there. Look at the rainforest there are trees in its heart that one tree is the entire species and it is not uncommon to see this event. So tell me how many species are evolving? O wait no one has done that study b/c that would involve evolution and nobody will give grants concerning that radical of research and if they have then show me there data b/c I can not find anything anywhere. There is NO basis for man to even think we have anything to do with it. Every time we create a vaccine to kill a desese there are elements that evolve to create a new species… its all in the way you look at it, you could say man is creating species…wait I bet no one has ever thought of that so we killed off the dodos but we have created hundreds of new species just from the flu virus. The facts are this extinction event was set in place far before we could ever have influenced things. And it will continue on its normal path (we are several hundred years till the event peeks.)

As for the dinosaurs the impact would have been the catalyst surly clouding up the sky would mess with reptiles. Interesting though on earth life began with a explosion and is a rollercoaster ride…its scary to think that there has always been mass extinctions and they happen on a fairly regular geologic pattern that’s weird

Originally posted by engenerQ

...how do you explain the extinction rate has stayed hypothetically constant

Extinction events are suspected to occur in cycles - there is no "extinction rate" that is "constant."


The Mass Extinctions: Introduction

It is often difficult to determine exactly when mass extinction events have occurred in the Earth's history - the fossil record is not perfect, and the poorer the record for a particular time frame, the more it is open to different interpretations. Some scientists have suggested that there is a cycle of mass extinctions, with a major die off every 26 million years or so. This would imply that there have been some 23 extinction events since the Cambrian, a figure which is at the upper limit of most estimates. While we remain unsure of the total number, there is general agreement over the existence of 6 major extinction events.

Also see, for example:

The Permian Mass Extinction

Mass Extinctions Of The Phanerozoic Menu

Earth faces sixth mass extinction

The Current Mass Extinction

I'm going to toss this out and see what you make of it ... How many near extinctions has mankind endured ? seven ? , eight ? Our mitochondrial DNA is 3or 4 hundred thousand years old while the cellular DNA is only35,000 to 40,000 years ever wonder just how many human traits and skill were lost with each catacylismic extinction event , will we as a speicies become unviable after the next one? How many are we ourselves responsible for?

dezert

personally , I think any extinctions will be
planned events , just like our wars [ altho
blamed on religion greed etc ] are planned
events and are not the tripe we're told either.

the powers that be are responsible for the
crapping up of the planet and not thru carelessness
but out of contempt and disrespect of
planned actions.

I believe we have but a short time before
a life changing event[s] occur. [ perhaps a few years ]

[ see hopi prophecy ]
www.welcomehome.org...

[edit on 20-5-2006 by toasted]

Do I get to nominate people I wish were extinct??

6th extinction eh? Hmmm sounds like "the Architect and Neo" from the Matrix trilogy... v7 anyone? The notion of these cycles does sound completely reasonable though and it would explain a great many geologic and anthropomorphic anomalies in the fossil records... Sounds about right. Planned? OK. A little evidence would be helpful in better understanding this plan though.

Thanx, I'd never heard of this before,

Victor K.