=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #137
—July 11, 1989—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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HALF OF PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES
WILL BE EXTINCT IN 50 TO 100 YEARS.
Life appeared on earth about 600 million years ago, according to
fossil records. New types of plants and animals evolved in
response to changing conditions. Today, somewhere between 5
million and 50 million different species exist on earth.
Biologists from all nations have recognized the existence of only
1.5 million species, in the sense that they have been given Latin
names. In many cases, even named species have not been studied in
any detail.
The best estimate is that half of all species now living on the
planet will become extinct in the next 50 to 100 years as a
result of human activity, according to Princeton University’s Dr.
Robert May (now moved to the faculty at Oxford University in
England). [See SCIENCE magazine Vol. 241 (September 16, 1988),
pg. 1448.]
The loss of species affects us all in very practical ways. The
planet earth is an exceedingly complex machine with all its parts
interrelated and interdependent. You can compare it to a TV set
(though a TV set is vastly more simple). Killing a species is
like ripping a transistor out of a TV set, hoping to improve the
set’s performance.
More than 95% of all pharmaceutical drugs in use today were
produced by nature and discovered by humans–they were not
invented by humans. Loss of species will rob our children of
nature’s storehouse of biological inventions. Before our children
have even had an opportunity to find out what benefits might be
derived from most species, they’ll be extinct, gone and, with
them, whatever benefits they held.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: biological diversity;