Biodiversity - from tigers in Bhutan to gila monsters in the United States to the lone wild Spix's Macaw in Brazil to Horned beetles in Africa to the goldfish in your home to tube worms in hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean to sea cucumbers living on the coral reefs of Madagascar to the mites on your cheese - is makes life on Earth livable for our species. By extinguishing hotbeds of biodiversity - rainforests, wetlands, coral reefs, and grasslands - we are destroying a part of ourselves. Biodiversity will recover after humanity is gone, but in the meantime, the continuing loss of our fellow species will make Earth an awfully crowded, but lonely place.
Past extinctions have shown it takes at least 5 million years to restore biodiversity to the level equal to that prior of the extinction event event. Our actions today will determine whether Earth will be biologically impoverished for the 500 trillion or more humans that will inhabit the earth during that future period.
The extinction event that is occurring as you read these words rivals the extinctions caused by natural disasters of global ice ages, planetary collisions, atmospheric poisoning, and variations in solar radiation. The difference is that this extinction was conceived by humans and subject to human decisions. We are the last, best hope for life as we prefer it on this planet.
The lesson of A Place Out of Time is we may not have to accept this future. A lot can still be done. Using our intelligence and ingenuity, the human species can preserve biodiversity and unique places for future generations, without compromising the quality of life for present populations.
Recently updated conservation news topics:
CITES
Cabrillo High School Aquarium
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
Caceres
Cahokia Mounds
California Condor
California Sea Otter
Campeche
Canada Lynx
Canadian Rockies
Canaima National Park
Canal du Midi
Canterbury Cathedral
Cape Griffon
Cape Mountain Zebra
Caracal
Carcassonne
Caribbean Gardens
Caribbean Sea
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carpet Python
Cartagena
Cascabel
Cathedral of Notre-Dame
Cathedral of St. James
Cathedral of St. Peter
Cattle Egret
Caviar
Cesky Krumlov
Chachalaca
Chan Chan
Chartres Cathedral
Chattering Lory
Chavin
Cheer Pheasant
Cheetah
Chengde
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Chichen-Itza
Chiloe
Chimpanzee
Chinese Alligator
Chinese Giant Salamander
Chinese Goral
Chinese Sturgeon
Chiquitos
Chiru
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
City of Bath
City of Graz
City of Rhodes
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Cloud Forest
Clouded Leopard
Coastal
Coastal Zones
Cocos Island
Coelacanth
Collared Peccary
Cologne Cathedral
Colorado River
Colorado pikeminnow
Columbia River
Columbia Sturgeon
Columbus Zoo
Common Birdwing
Common Buzzard
Common Crane
Common Kestrel
Common Teal
Common Wolf
Comoe
Compostela
Congo River
Congonhas
Conservation Organizations
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Cooper's Hawk
Copan
Coral Reef
Coral Reefs
Cordoba
Corsac
Costa's Hummingbird
Cosumnes River Preserve
Cotton-top Tamarin
Cougar
Cracow, Poland
Crane
Crested Ibis
Crested Porcupine
Cuenca
Curonian Spit
Cut-throat
Cuzco, Peru
Cynomolgus Monkey
Cyrene
Coa Valley
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