New Statesman: A World Without Animals

Biodiversity is under threat. The Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature suggests that one third of wild-animal species are in danger; the Living Planet Index from the World Wildlife Foundation and the Zoological Society of London predicts that numbers of wild animals could decline by two-thirds before 2020. Writing for New Statesman, Simon Barnes reminds that a sixth major extinction event is now underway. “The total vertebrate biomass – that is, the combined weight of every living backboned animal on the planet – can be divided into the wild stuff and the rest,” he explains, adding that 10,000 years ago, the biomass of humans and their domestic animals represented 0.4 per cent of the total. Right now, it’s 96 per cent and rising.” Barnes suggests that dismissing species as expendable could lead to disregard for the overall environment and even other humans. Humans’ divorce from nature has consequences including lost benefits, both known and unknown. Societies can no longer deny the challenges associated with rising global temperatures, biodiversity and population growth. Otherwise Barnes concludes, “We are in the process of killing off our planet: or, at any rate, changing it beyond recognition.”– YaleGlobal