This information comes from the April issue of Time magazine. I will give some of the highlights.

Madagascar has seen more than 8o% of its original vegetation since man arrived about 1,500 years ago, leaving animals homeless. Unchecked hunting wiped out large species, and today mining, logging and energy exploration threaten those that remain.

Conservationists estimate that extinctions worldwide are occuring at a pace that is up to 1,000 times as great as history's background rate before humans arrived. We are shaping an Earth that will be biologically impoverished.

For one thing, we're animals too, depending on this planet like every other form of life. The more species living in an ecosystem, the healthier and more productive it is, which does matter for us.
We say, "What does a loss of a few species among millions matter? What doeds it matter if we lose species like the Holdridge's toad, the Yangtze River dolphin and the golden toad, all of which have effectively disappeared in recent years."

We live on a very special planet-the only planet that we know has life. Conservation is ultimately a moral obligation and simply the right thing to do.
We can save life on this planet , or be its unwitting executioner.

Thank you yoko,
this is very sad.

The earth has amazing biodiversity, but wildlife is being threatened by humans.

We need to reduce forest loss and wildlife trading.
Climate change also puts many species at a great risk of becoming extinct.

Fishing grounds are polluted and seabirds are at risk.

The Amazon rainforest is the most biodiverse place, but logging is endangering the animals there, as well as impacting on our climate.

Poaching also remains a serious threat to many of the world's most endangered species, like the elephant, gorilla and tiger.

This text and picture comes from this year's April issue of National Geographic.


In a far north without ice, a mother bear could be stranded a long way from good hunting struggling to feed herself and her cubs.
The snow-free scene near Kapp Fanshawe (Cape Fanshawe)offers a glimpse of may be the Arctic's rockier future.

Thank you Inda.

Through our growing numbers, our thirst for natural resources and most of all, climate change-which, by one reckoning, could help carry off 20% to 30% of all species before the end of the century-we're shaping an Earth that will be biologically impoverished.

Thank you yoko and Inda.
The world is in a sad state.

Sincerely,
Gisele

You are right Gisele, the world is in a sad state.
I worry about the little children. What kind of a world will they see, and what will they no longer be able to see?

Love,
Vicky

I am afraid that we will see the end of a lot of species on this planet, thanks to man.
The climate change is also very worriesome.
Enjoy all the beautiful things that we still have.

Love,
Sue

Thank you Gisele, Vicy and Sue.

Everything lies in wait of future consumption. The forest, whetrher it is clear-cut or part-cut or even left alone, is just potential logs, no longer a forest.

I don't want to sound negative, but we seriously need to change some things in order to save our world.

Love,
yoko

Better go out and look for more inhabitable planets.

This is a good idea , except humans will soon find a way to destroy all the inhabitants on these other planets.

That's a fact. Worse yet, they might even interbreed with those species and entirely mongrelize them with Earthling genes.

Thank you everyone.

I am really afraid of what humans would do to other planets. We cannot keep our own planet in order, so how long would it take us to destroy another?

yoko

We are losing species at 10,000 times the natural rate-a loss of life so great that we've entered the sixth greatest mass extinction in the Earth's history.

When the environment changes faster than life can adapt, extinction is inevitable.

The present danger comes from the anihilation of the tropical forests, which house a rich variety of animals and plants than any other place on the planet.

As of 2005, some 14.8 million of acres of primary, untouched forest are felled every year-taking with them species we'll never get the chance to count.

This information comes from TIME magazine,
September 2009

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/bear-facts/

Polar Bear Status Report
Polar bears are a potentially endangered species living in the circumpolar north. They are animals which know no boundaries. They pad across the ice from Russia to Alaska, from Canada to Greenland and onto Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Biologists estimate that there are 20,000 to 25,000 bears with about sixty percent of those living in Canada.

The main threat to polar bears today is the loss of their icy habitat due to climate change. Polar bears depend on the sea ice for hunting, breeding, and in some cases to den. The summer ice loss in the Arctic is now equal to an area the size of Alaska, Texas, and the state of Washington combined.