DIRTY HARRY Loc: Hartland, Michigan

Animal species in fastest decline worldwide
Hedgehog populations declined by three quarters in urban areas of the UK between 2002 and 2014, thought be due to factors including habitat loss, pesticides reducing their prey and vehicle deaths.
Wildlife populations are in dramatic decline around the world, according to a new report.
Shock findings released today showed that global wildlife populations have fallen by 60% since 1970 as humans overuse natural resources, drive climate change and pollute the planet.
WWF has called for an ambitious “global deal” for nature and people, similar to the international Paris Agreement to tackle climate change, as the conservation charity’s new report spelled out the damage being done to the natural world.
Only a quarter of the world’s land area is free from the impacts of human activity and by 2050 that will have fallen to just a tenth, the Living Planet Report 2018 says.
Overall, populations of more than 4,000 species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians have declined by an average of 60% between 1970 and 2014, the most recent year for which data is available.
Tropical areas have seen the worst declines, with an 89% fall in populations monitored in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1970.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, I've been reading articles about that. Animals die off over time, but when many die off at once, that indicates significant changes in their environment. Surprisingly, many people still think climate change is a hoax.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Climate change is not a hoax because its been happening for millions of years. The debate is whether it is being caused by human activity or not.

George Suggs

The only time I notice massive climate change is when I eat way too many chili peppers at dinner....

Largobob

Agreed. Only a fool would say that our Climate is NOT changing....as it has since the Earth was formed. Remember studying about the "ice ages?" There are a myriad of factors (forces) that affect our climate: closeness of Earth to the Sun; Earth's orbit; Solar winds/storms; natural events (volcanos, large-scale forest fires, deforestation, etc)....and to a limited extent...the efforts of mankind. Problem is, the effect of mankind on our climate, is infinitesimally small compared to the effect of the other natural factors. So, trying to control (legislate) human behavior will have very little if any impact on the changing climate.

Because this has become an economic/political issue, "scientists" have not been free to explore the data and form valid conclusions. The few tidbits that have been conveniently cherry-picked to support one political opinion or another, likely do not truly reflect what is happening and certainly not the causes.

It is long past time to keep politics/economics out of the debate....and allow science to do what science does best.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

I couldn't agree with you more!

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Because it is.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

I still have a chunk of ice I saved from the 1970's Ice Age in my freezer that I'll be putting on eBay soon....get in on the bidding early

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Bingo.

Scientists are human and subject to human mistakes and temptations and manipulations. That's just fact.


Nobody disagrees that the climate does what it does but beyond that...it's speculation and bullying.

In my experience, generally people are not rational thinkers at all...and the hedgehog is no exception.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I'm old enough to remember the "Ice Age!" scares of the 70's.

I'm sure all of you are also.

Today's science "fact" is sometimes tomorrows science fail.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The debate used to be about whether it was happening or not. Now, many of the deniers are having trouble reconciling their ideas with reality. "Sure, the climate is changing, but it's always been changing." Weather changes. Climate remains steady.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Science has already done what it dies best---the naysayers are simply in permanent denial.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

No doubt that animals and climate (to some extent) have had impacts from anthropogenic activities, it has however now become totally political, not only in America but worldwide. The culprits are money, agenda and political control. These forecasts of global catastrophe are based on computer models that have been unreliable predictors of warming....and all of the horror stories always assume the worst. PS, Miami, Cape Cod are not under water today nor are they likely to be in the next 50 or 100 years. When government agencies and government funded universities manipulate data for their computer models to achieve their desired results, hard to take any forecast seriously, especially catastrophic ones.

As for coal, there are currently 273 gigawatts of coal capacity under construction around the world, and another 570 gigawatts in the pipeline worldwide (UN numbers)...Does anyone really think developing countries who need coal as a cheap source of fuel to grow their economies will suddenly call it quits? Not hardly. In fact US coal exports are up >60% to Asia and Europe, although Europe was down slightly in 2017....hmmm.

And as the Paris Agreement....Posturing, it was all posturing by government leaders in Paris, nothing more. None of these countries intended to take the drastic and economically catastrophic steps environmentalist claim are needed to prevent a climate change doomsday (sorry, UN comments).

In today's climate (pun intended) guess its going to remain political for decades to come....sad

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Largobob

Totally agree. And, YES, it is sad. There was a time when the processes of science were purely defined and practiced. In today's world, $$$ can and does tend to throw some bias into the equation. Think $$$ that force development of pharmaceuticals, research grants to support/sway opinion, government/political support of researchers, etc. Doing 'good science' for the sake of science, is not nearly as attractive as doing science for $$$.