What is the extinction crisis? 5 key facts - The Wilderness Society

Photo collage image credits, clockwise from top-center: Hawaiian duck by Brenda Zaun, USFWS, Flickr; red wolf by Valerie Abbott, Flickr; pariette cactus by Tony Frates, Flickr; spotted turtle by Patrick Randall, Flickr; Palmer's chipmunk by VJ Anderson, Wikimedia Commons; background- Hōʻawa by David Eickhoff, Wikimedia Commons

  1. Humans are causing the extinction crisis

  2. Species go extinct all the time. But not at this rate...

  3. It's not enough to save species—individual populations matter, too

  4. Extinction causes chain reactions...including to people

  5. Protecting lands and waters is a key tactic for stemming the extinction crisis  

If you're like most people, the word "extinction" evokes images of dinosaurs meeting their bitter, mysterious end some 65 million years ago.   

You may also think of it as a one-of-a-kind event. But whatever killed the dinosaurs and other species at the end of the Cretaceous was actually the fifth mass extinction event in the Earth's history. And it probably wasn't the last: scientists generally agree that we're now entering the sixth mass extinction. Species are fading away faster than nature would ordinarily dictate, amounting to what some experts have called a "biological annihilation" that will weaken not just ecosystems worldwide, but human civilization itself. That's what we're talking about when we mention the "extinction crisis."  

In addition to fighting climate change, scientists say we should protect 30% of lands and waters to help communities and species adapt 

Unlike other mass extinctions, this one is being driven by human activity, ranging from the climate pollution we're pumping into the atmosphere; to the growing footprint of industrial logging and mining; to the human-spurred spread of invasive species. 

Just as we're causing this crisis, it is incumbent on us to stop it. In addition to curbing climate change, scientists say we should be protecting a network of 30 percent of lands and waters to help communities and species adapt to threats and ensure access to clean air and water. 

We're looking at five key facts about the extinction crisis, what is causing it and how we can confront it. 

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