Sixth Mass Extinction Happening Right Now as Humanity Destroys Way of Life, Experts Warn

According to experts, even though humanity may not be destroying the planet, they are destroying their way of life, which is what is causing the sixth mass extinction, which may already be taking place.

The planet's three and a half-billion people were sustainable in 1970. On New Year's Day, however, there are 8 billion people on the planet.

The World Wildlife Fund says that the 1970 human population has grown too large for the Earth to sustain.

Scrambling to Survive

The Salish Sea in Washington State contributed to global food security. Dana Wilson, a commercial fisherman, supported a family on the Salish Sea's legendary wealth of salmon.

Wilson pointed out that it started with one salmon species going extinct in 1991. Fast-forward to 2023 when 14 salmon populations are currently in decline. Wilson used to go fishing all summer. A conservation authority today issues rare, temporary permission to cast a net.

Wilson said in an interview with CBS NEWS that there used to be a season of fishing, but now there is just a limited window of 12 to 16 hours.

Armando Brionez, a fisherman and member of the Lummi Tribe, better known as the "people of the salmon," didn't anticipate that his five fishing boats would be the last of the abundant harvest. He is scurrying to support his family now that salmon fishing is reaching a crisis point, turning to crab fishing as a backup, starting a new food truck, and consulting on cannabis farms, among other options.

The world over, people are still trying to adapt as he did. According to a World Wildlife Fund study, the same factor is largely to blame for the 69% decline in global wildlife abundance over the past 50 years.

Brionez said that although he is fortunate enough to be knowledgeable about other things, the tribe has been fishing for salmon in this area for hundreds of years, and for some tribe members, salmon fishing is the only thing they are familiar with.

Five More Earths to Survive

Paul Ehrlich, a 90-year-old biologist, says that humanity is not sustainable when Scott Pelley asked him in a CBS NEWS interview.

Ehrlich added that five more Earths are required to sustain the current way of life for everyone on the planet. In 1968, Stanford biology professor Ehrlich, who predicted the end of nature in a best-seller, became a doomsday celebrity. He was alarmed, as are his colleagues, of the

"Population Bomb."

Ehrlich raised the alarm in 1968, predicting that population growth would lead to widespread famine. He was mistaken because the green revolution helped to feed the world.

But he also predicted in 1968 that humankind would engulf the natural world and that greenhouse gases would cause the polar ice to melt. 70% of the planet's land and 70% of its freshwater are now occupied by humans.

He claimed that the rate of extinction is extremely high right now and is only increasing.

Sixth Mass Extinction

Ehrlich's assertion is supported by a study of the fossil records conducted by his Stanford colleague and biologist Tony Barnosky.

According to Barnosky's research, the rate of extinction today may be up to 100 times higher than it has typically been throughout the roughly 4 billion-year history of life. The few occasions when life on Earth collapsed are represented by these peaks. The dinosaurs, which lived 66 million years ago, were the last.

There have been five major extinction events in Earth's history, according to Barnosky. This translates to at least 75%, or three-quarters, of all currently recognized species going extinct. Many people now refer to the state of the planet as the sixth mass extinction, where the same thing could occur right in front of people's eyes.

Humans Destroying Their Way of Life

His wife, biologist Liz Hadly, who serves as faculty director at Jasper Ridge Research Preserve in Stanford, California, is Barnosky's associate in the study of extinction.

Hadly explained that anyone who has spent any time in California is familiar with the loss of water. There are dead salmon in the river as a result of the water loss. Nevertheless, it also portends the extinction of the birds that depend on the salmon fishery. It implies that fish-dependent animals like minks and otters are also struggling to survive. It implies that the 3,000-year-old forests and habitats that humans are accustomed to will vanish. Due to how quickly it's happening, it could also mean some very catastrophic events.

In California, where there are no longer any grizzly bears, she also emphasized the loss of iconic state symbols.

According to Barnosky, even though people are not destroying the planet, they are destroying their way of life.

The World Wildlife Fund study claims that the abundance of wildlife has decreased by 94% since 1970 in Latin America, where the killing is at its worst.

Saving the Remaining One-Third at $1.5 Million per Year

Mexican ecologist Gerardo Ceballos, one of the world's leading scientists on extinction, said the only option is to preserve a third of the planet that is still uninhabited. He is paying family farmers in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which is close to Guatemala, to stop clearing the forest.

For instance, each family will receive about $1,000, according to Ceballos, which is more than adequate to compensate for the loss of farmland. The total payouts amount to $1.5 million annually. Alternatively, $2000 per square mile. Through the generosity of wealthy donors, the bill is covered.

The jaguar was extremely close to extinction in Mexico thirty years ago. Ceballos now claims that they have recovered to a reserve of about 600.

Ceballos said that Despite major successes in other locations where there are reserves where they have been able to boost the populations of particular species, they are like sand grains on a beach. And this needs to be multiplied 10,000 times to have a significant impact. Therefore, while every local effort is crucial, it will not be enough to combat climate change.

Political Will and Over-Consumption

At the UN Biodiversity Conference two weeks ago, countries set conservation goals with the intention of finding solutions to the issues. But those nations agreed to stop the destruction of the planet by 2020 at the same meeting back in 2010. According to the UN Environment Programme, nations are not on track with the set goals.

Ehrlich said He and the vast majority of his colleagues believe that the type of civilization to which modern-day people are accustomed will end within the next few decades because there is no political will to take any of the actions with which he is concerned.

Ehrlich's population bomb was published 50 years ago, and since then, the world's population has tripled. People are already consuming 175% of what the earth can regenerate.

Self-Inflicted Sixth Mass Extinction.

Volcanoes, asteroids, and other natural disasters were to blame for the five mass extinctions that occurred in the distant past. If the science is correct, humanity may now have to endure the sixth mass extinction that it has created, CBS NEWS reports.