I have to tell you that the end is nigh. Again.
A group of scientists from the Duke University at Durham, North Carolina in the US has discovered the earth is facing it's next mass extinction much much sooner than expected.
The research boffins at Duke have found that species are dying at a rate of one thousand per million rather than the one hundred per million previously thought.
And before humans came along, that rate was only one in a million.
Stuart Pimm their biggest boffin, lead researcher and eternal optimist said we are on the verge of the sixth extinction.
He didn't tell me exactly when but our conversation went a bit like this.
SP. There's good news and there's bad news. Which do you want first?
TFT. Give me the good news.
SP. The world will end in twenty four hours!
TFT. Wow! Now give me the bad news.
SP. I forgot that I was supposed to tell you yesterday...
OK, now you got me laughing. You set that up really well.
ReplyDeleteI'm not laughing, Keith - species loss is about as funny as the Holacaust.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I don't find species loss funny either...
DeleteSometimes things are so bad you need black humour to cope with the reality.
ReplyDeleteBrian Swimme said that this extinction is remarkable in that we humans, who have caused it, are aware of it and have the potential to affect it for the better.
:)
ReplyDelete