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October 11, 2019
In March of 2019, a major report was announced from the United Nations with the headline: “Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating'”. The report warned that 1 billion species are threatened with extinction and the current global response is insufficient, but it also optimistically reported there is time to solve this problem and proposed solutions. This talk will review Earth’s extinction history and the recognition that we are now witnessing the sixth mass extinction, but this time, it is caused by humans. It will cover how climate change is a significant factor but only one of many causes of this crisis and will highlight what we can do about it. In light of the recent decision by the Trump Administration to significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act, this talk will be a timely overview of what is at stake. Free to the public