Who Will Protect the Web of Life?

Man Against Nature

"Today it is humans who should accept responsibility for the increasing of species extinction." -JANE GOODALL, CONSERVATIONIST

LIFE on earth is dynamic and interrelated. We humans are an intrinsic part of it.  We depend on the living world for our food and medicines, the oxygen we breathe, and the elements that form our bodies.  In the course of a normal day, earth's human population  utilizes more than 40,000 other living species. All of earth's species  together weave a complex, astonishing and intricate web of life. 

However, many experts who study this complex web feel that it is under attack!  Perhaps you have heard about endangered rhino, tigers, pandas, and whales.  Some scientists claim that 50 percent of all plant and animal species  could vanish from the earth in 75 years.  Researchers fear that some species may disappear 10,000 times faster than what scientists  call natural extinction rates.  One expert estimates  that species are dying at the average rate of one every 10 to 20 minutes.

Scientist believe that in the distant past, species extinction was mostly triggered by  natural causes. But the principal  cause of the present crisis is different, they say.  Evidently, today's extinctions are caused by human activity.  One scientist referred to humans as the "exterminator species."

Are human activities really causing the dramatic loss of biological diversity? If so, how?  Can we survive with out the kaleidoscope of life on earth?  Is anything being done to stem the tide of what many feel is an extinction crisis in the living world? 

Next time:Who Will Protect the Web of Life?/The Intricate Web of Life

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