Planet earth faces the loss of 50 percent of its species within this century and drastic changes will be necessary to save the ecosphere, according to the world’s leading biologists, ecologists and economists.
Their views will be aired at the Vatican’s Biological Extinction Conference the week of February 27th.
According to conference organizers, “The living fabric of the world is slipping through our fingers without our showing much sign of caring.”
Animals and plants do not only provide humans with needs such as food and medicine, water and air purification, soil regeneration and aesthetic inspiration. They also sustain the entire planet as a living system able to create and sustain life.
Biologist Paul Ehrlich, of Stanford University said, “Rich western countries are now siphoning up the planet’s resources and destroying its ecosystems at an unprecedented rate… We have triggered a major extinction event. The question is: how do we stop it?”
Conservative Catholics have called for the withdrawal of Ehrlich’s invitation to speak because he believes birth control must be expanded to halt the world’s spiraling population.
Ehrlich rejoins,“If you value people, … you do not want almost 12 billion living unsustainably on Earth by the end of the century [leading to] civilization … collapse and leaving a few hundred survivors.”
He argues that a world population of no more than a billion would have an overall pro-life effect, as it could support sustain far more human lives in the long term.
Ehrlich concluded, “If everyone consumed resources at the US level – which is what the world aspires to – you will need another four or five Earths. We are wrecking our planet’s life support systems. We have the capacity to stop that. The trouble is that the danger does not seem obvious to most people, and that is something we must put right.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/25/half-all-species-extinct-end-century-vatican-conference
http://www.pas.va/content/dam/accademia/booklet/booklet_extinction.pdf