(Aug 8, 2017 04:05 PM)C C Wrote: In Philip Wylie's novel "The End of the Dream" (1971), the point of no return for environmental destruction and widespread animal mutation / species loss was 1975. Surveying other literature back then, one also gets the impression that the interested parties would have been similarly astounded by a delay of decades: That we would still be percolating along well into the next century without civilization having collapsed via an eco-nightmare and only a few million humans remaining alive.

Quote:Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate,

Quote:Noted conservation scientist David Wilcove estimates that there are 14,000 to 35,000 endangered species in the United States, which is 7 to 18 percent of U.S. flora and fauna. The IUCN has assessed roughly 3 percent of described species and identified 16,928 species worldwide as being threatened with extinction, or roughly 38 percent of those assessed.