A new UN report warns that “around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades.” That allegation was contained within the 1,800-page Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) “Summary for Policy Makers,” released on May 6. If “decades” means 30 to 40 years, then the IPBES estimates an extinction rate of about 25,000 to 30,000 species annually. Not only are there a lot of species in peril, they asserted that “the threat of … [Read more...]
A Christian Perspective on Biodiversity: Anthropocentric, Biocentric, and Theocentric Approaches to Bio-Stewardship
Maintaining Biodiversity: A Generally Good End Whatever our assumptions, I think all of us here would agree that, in general, maintaining biodiversity is a good end. None of us would favor the willy-nilly elimination of species, subspecies, varieties, or even distinct populations of varieties of life. Yet I say that maintaining biodiversity is a good end "in general" because there are some limits to this end. Although there are others, I mention here just three. First, I trust that no one … [Read more...]
The future of nature may not be all that bad
INHERITORS OF THE EARTH: HOW NATURE IS THRIVING IN AN AGE OF EXTINCTION, by Chris D. Thomas (PublicAffairs, $28, 320 pages), reviewed by Anthony J. Sadar. The future isn’t all bleak for the natural world. Just ask ecologist Chris D. Thomas, professor of conservation biology at the University of York, U.K. Mr. Thomas‘ new book, “Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction,” examines “the responses of species and ecosystems to human impacts over periods that range … [Read more...]
“The End of Doom” Sadly Doesn’t Mean the End of Doomsters
In previous books Ecoscam (1993), The True State of the Planet (edited, 1995), Earth Report 2000 (edited, 2000), Global Warming and Other Eco-myths (edited, 2002), and Liberation Biology (2005), plus many articles in Reason and elsewhere, Ronald Bailey has marshaled, often with other authors, massive amounts of hard data against environmental doomsters' claims of present or predictions of future disasters from population growth, resource depletion, pollution, species extinction, and … [Read more...]
