Biodiversity Loss

Watch

• Why is biodiversity so important? - Kim Preshoff ↗TED-Ed
• The global movement to restore nature's biodiversity | Thomas Crowther ↗TED
• We need IMMEDIATE action to stop extinction crisis, David Attenborough - BBC ↗BBC
• The great death of insects | DW Documentary ↗DW Documentary
• How losing biodiversity could be killing us ↗DW Planet A
• Why is biodiversity important - with Sir David Attenborough | The Royal Society ↗The Royal Society

Read

• Silent Spring ↗This seminal work exposed the ecological devastation wrought by pesticides, awakening the public to humanity's profound impact on the natural world and laying the groundwork for modern environmentalism.Rachel Carson
• The Tragedy of the Commons ↗A foundational essay illuminating the inherent conflict between individual self-interest and the collective good when managing shared resources, offering a crucial lens through which to understand environmental degradation and species depletion.Garrett Hardin
• The Diversity of Life ↗From a titan of sociobiology, this comprehensive volume meticulously details the origins, vastness, and intricate web of life on Earth, serving as an indispensable primer on why biodiversity matters and what is being lost.E.O. Wilson
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History ↗A Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative that masterfully chronicles the ongoing, human-driven mass extinction event, drawing parallels with five previous planetary cataclysms and underscoring the urgency of the current crisis.Elizabeth Kolbert
• Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life ↗A bold and provocative proposal from a visionary biologist, advocating for the radical conservation strategy of dedicating half the Earth's surface to nature to preserve the majority of species.E.O. Wilson

Voices to follow

• David Attenborough ↗His unparalleled documentaries have for decades brought the planet's vanishing natural wonders into living rooms, making the urgency of conservation palpable.Broadcaster and Naturalist
• Elizabeth Kolbert ↗A Pulitzer-winning journalist, her incisive reporting, notably in 'The Sixth Extinction', chronicles humanity's role in accelerating species loss with chilling clarity.Author and Journalist
• Carl Safina ↗An eloquent conservationist and MacArthur Fellow, he masterfully bridges scientific understanding with compelling narratives of wildlife and the imperative to protect it.Ecologist, Author, and Conservationist
• Sandra Díaz ↗A distinguished ecologist and co-chair of IPBES, her scientific leadership provides critical, data-driven insights into biodiversity's decline and its profound implications for human well-being.Ecologist and Professor, National University of Córdoba
• Jonathan Baillie ↗As a leading conservation scientist, he champions innovative approaches to halt species extinction and restore ecosystems, translating scientific knowledge into actionable strategies.Chief Scientist, National Geographic Society

Glossary

• BiodiversityBiodiversity is the huge variety of all living things on Earth, including plants, animals, fungi, and tiny microbes, and the different places they live. It's like nature's amazing collection of life. For example, a rainforest with thousands of different types of trees, insects, birds, and mammals has high biodiversity.
• Climate ChangeClimate change refers to long-term shifts in global weather patterns, mainly caused by human activities that release greenhouse gases, leading to a warmer planet. This can change habitats and make it hard for species to adapt. For example, rising global temperatures due to climate change are melting Arctic ice, threatening polar bear habitats.
• ConservationConservation is the careful protection and management of natural resources and the environment, including plants, animals, and their habitats, to prevent them from being damaged or lost. It's about saving nature for the future. For example, setting up national parks to protect wildlife or recycling to reduce waste are acts of conservation.
• DeforestationDeforestation is the clearing of forests by cutting down trees, usually to make space for farms, ranches, or buildings, or to use the wood. This destroys the homes of many animals and plants. For example, large areas of the Amazon rainforest are experiencing deforestation to create land for cattle grazing.
• EcosystemAn ecosystem is a community of living things (like plants and animals) interacting with each other and with their non-living surroundings (like air, water, and soil). Everything in an ecosystem is connected. For example, a desert ecosystem includes cacti, lizards, scorpions, and the sandy soil and hot, dry air they live in.
• Endangered SpeciesAn endangered species is a type of animal or plant that is at very high risk of becoming extinct in the near future because there are very few of them left. They need special protection to survive. For example, the Bengal tiger is an endangered species because its numbers have dropped dramatically due to hunting and habitat loss.
• ExtinctionExtinction happens when all the individual living things of a particular species die out, and there are no more left anywhere on Earth. Once a species is extinct, it's gone forever. For example, dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago, and more recently, the Dodo bird became extinct because of human activity.
• HabitatA habitat is the natural home or environment where a plant or animal normally lives and finds everything it needs to survive, like food, water, and shelter. For example, a pond is the habitat for frogs, fish, and water lilies, while a forest is the habitat for deer and many types of birds.
• Invasive SpeciesAn invasive species is a plant or animal that is introduced to a new area, either accidentally or on purpose, and then spreads rapidly, causing harm to the local environment, economy, or human health. They often outcompete native species. For example, water hyacinth, a plant brought from South America, has become an invasive species in many Indian lakes, choking out native plants and fish.
• PollutionPollution is when harmful substances or waste are introduced into the environment, making it dirty or unsafe for living things. This can affect air, water, and soil. For example, plastic waste dumped into the ocean is a type of pollution that harms marine animals like turtles and fish.
• SpeciesA species is a group of living things that are similar and can reproduce with each other to have offspring that can also reproduce. Think of it as a distinct type of animal or plant. For example, all humans belong to one species (Homo sapiens), and all tigers belong to another species.

Threads 9

Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Globalisation History

  The cargo ships that carried tea and spices around the world also carried stowaways: ships suck up seawater for balance in one port and dump it in another, and that water is full of tiny living things. So while trade connected human cultures, it quietly launched a worldwide invasion of crabs, mussels, and germs riding along for free.

• Globalisation Sociology

  Millions of years ago all the continents were one giant landmass, Pangaea. Global shipping is quietly gluing life back together into a new one: the same containers that spread the same coffee brands everywhere also spread the same rats, weeds, and diseases. So the world's ecosystems are blurring into sameness, exactly like its cultures.

• Food & Agriculture Systems Environment

  To grow more food, farmers planted huge fields of a single super-crop, all genetically identical, like millions of clones. But a clone field is one big target: a single new disease that beats one plant beats them all. That's how Ireland's identical potatoes collapsed into famine, one blight erasing an entire harvest.

• Recommendation Algorithms Media

  A farm that plants only one crop looks efficient until one disease wipes out the entire field. Social media feeds do the same thing to ideas: by chasing whatever the average person likes, the algorithm quietly kills off variety, leaving everyone staring at the same few things. Monoculture in a field and monoculture in your feed are both fragile for the same reason.

• Precision Medicine Health

  A huge share of our medicines started as molecules found in wild plants, fungi, and animals. So every time a species goes extinct, we might be burning a book we never read, one that held the cure for a disease we haven't even faced yet. Losing biodiversity can mean losing medicine that was never invented.

• Cyber & Critical Infrastructure Global Risks

  Plant one type of crop across a whole country and a single pest can wipe out the entire harvest. Software is the same: when everyone runs the identical operating system, one exploit can hack them all at once. That's why variety, in fields or in code, isn't just nice to have, it's actual protection.

• Critical Minerals and Supply Chains Global Risks

  Running the whole world's supply through one narrow strait or one factory is efficient, but it's the same trap as a farm growing only one crop. There's no backup if something goes wrong. Nature survives shocks by being diverse, which means diversity is really just insurance.

• English as a Global Language Literature

  Weirdly, the places losing the most animal species are also losing the most languages, often the very same spots. Rich variety in nature and in human tongues clusters together and dies together. So English taking over the world looks a lot like an ecosystem going extinct.

• Genetic Engineering & CRISPR Health

  A 'gene drive' can spread a change through a whole species until that species dies out. People want to use it to wipe out malaria mosquitoes and stop the disease. But it's extinction on purpose, with no undo button if we get it wrong.