Animal extinction matters

Animal extinction is a big problem in the modern world. Many animals we know may go extinct due to all the global warming and climate change affecting our environment. But do we really know how animal extinction affects us?

Why is animal extinction important? Animal extinction is important because we are all connected. As stated in “Halting the Extinction Crisis”, “Each time a species goes extinct, the world around us unravels a bit. The consequences are profound, not just in those places and for those species but for all of us. These are tangible consequential losses, such as crop pollination and water purification, but also spiritual and cultural ones.” This means that when a species goes extinct there are much more consequences then we seem to see. 

What could happen due to animal extinction? According to “Humans are driving million species to extinction”, “The report draws inextricable links between biodiversity loss and climate change. An estimated 5% of all species would be threatened with extinction by 2 °C of warming above pre-industrial levels — a threshold that the world could breach in the next few decades, unless greenhouse-gas emissions are drastically reduced. Earth could lose 16% of its species if the average global temperature rise exceeds 4.3 °C. Such damage to ecosystems would undermine global efforts to reduce poverty and hunger and promote more-sustainable development, the IBES report says.” This means that over the next decades some big problems could happen if climate change doesn’t stop, such as warming above pre-industrial times. This can lower the chances of reducing poverty and hunger, or creating a more sustainable environment for us.

Why is this meaningful to us? Well, as stated in “How the current Mass Extinction of Animals Threatens Humans”, “There are a whole lot of consequences that flow on from that kind of an orientation to the world. And some of them are very damaging for our species and for the wider environment.” This piece of text is talking about how consequences happening in our world affect our ecosystem and is a part on why animals go extinct.

In conclusion, we should really pay attention to this animal extinction problem as it is rising in cases. Eighth grader Valeria Alcantara, when asked her thoughts about animal extinction, responded, “What I think about animal extinction is that it’s very sad to know its caused by global warming mostly. it’s sad to know all the animals we love and care about are going extinct because of us. Global warming is a big problem today that causes the animals to lose their homes and cause a lot of changes in our ecosystem.”

Bringing awareness to this problem is a starting point to solving this problem!