Canary in the climate and loss of biodiversity
Articles — By forcechange on November 4, 2008 10:01 am
There are two major concerns regarding plant and animal species extinctions that are caused by humans. First, there is the “canary in the climate” issue. Like a canary in a coalmine, the death of other living species (or their radical shift in habitats) is a warning sign. While humans have an incredible ability to adapt, that capacity is not unending.
Which brings us to the second major concern: Even if humans are able to adapt to changes in the environment that destroy other species, there is an intrinsic problem in losing biodiversity. Having a widespread diversity of species on the planet is the result of 3.5 billion years of evolution. Humans derive enormous benefits from biodiversity, ranging from the food we eat to the medicines we use. Therefore, a material loss of biodiversity will negatively impact humans even if we’re able to adapt.
These two concepts have been implied through many of our posts. We’ll try and explore these ideas more explicitly in the future.
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