These species could cure AIDS or cancer. Why are we not doing enough to protect these species and do more to end global warming?
How selfish can people be?
Current estimates aren%26#039;t quite that high, but since developing countries auch as China and India have not agreed to carbon-neutral development, there%26#039;s no end to the warming in sight:
http://www.killerinourmidst.com/methane%...
A careful examination of a large number of species in numerous parts of the planet projects that a stunning portion of them will be %26quot;committed to extinction%26quot; in just 50 years, with only modest global warming (Thomas, 2004).
The findings are the result of a comprehensive examination of more than a thousand terrestrial species -- plants, insects, mammals, birds, frogs and reptiles -- in regions representing about 20% of the Earth%26#039;s surface. The regions studied are located in all continents except Asia, and represent a wide variety of environments: boreal (northern), temperate, and tropical forests, tundra, grasslands, savannah, deserts. The amount of warming that was projected in the study was shockingly small. Three projections were used: 0.8 to 1.7 °C (1.4 to 3.0°F) in the minimal warming case, 1.8 to 2.0°C (3.2 to 3.6°F) with mid-range climate change, over 2.0°C (3.6°F) at maximum (Thomas, 2004; Pounds and Puschendorf, 2004).
But with only this rather minimal amount of warming, and even with an assumed ability to disperse to more favorable environments, 11, 19, and 33 percent of total species (in minimal, mid-range, and maximal cases, respectively) will disappear. Mortality among those species with little or no ability to disperse will be considerably higher (34, 45, and 58 % in the respective no dispersal cases).
%26#039;the rate of extinction occurring in today%26#039;s world is exceptional -- as many as 100 to1,000 times greater than normal%26#039;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...
so i think maybe your source heard %26#039;about 150 a day%26#039; and %26#039;1000 times the normal rate%26#039; and added the two together. ;-)
%26#039;Scientists estimate there are 10 to 30 million plant and animal species on the planet, most of them unidentified. Each year as many as 50,000 species disappear. Most die off, Tilman says, because of human activity. %26quot;We take natural habitats convert them to agriculture, to suburbia, to roads, to monoculture forestry. We fish the oceans so heavily we literally have these trolling nets that scrape the bottom of the ocean clean,%26quot; he says.%26#039;
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/fe...
%26#039;%26quot;International scientists from eight countries have warned that, based even on the most conservative estimates, rising temperatures will trigger a global mass extinction of unprecedented proportions. They said global warming will set in train a far bigger threat to terrestrial species than previously realised, at least on a par with the already well-documented destruction of natural habitats around the world. It is the first time such a powerful assessment has been made and its conclusions will shock even those environmentalists accustomed to %26quot;worst-case%26quot; scenarios.%26quot; %26#039;
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?tit...