An astonishing new study suggests that Earth is will face its sixth mass extinction of all animal life on the planet, including humans, within 50 years time. According to one of the world’s top biologists, Professor John Wiens, almost half of the world’s species are suffering local extinctions due to climate change. Independent.co.uk reports: Professor Wiens, who is editor of the Quarterly Review of Biology and a winner of the American Society of Naturalists’ Presidential Award, said the implications for the future were serious because his review showed plants and animals were struggling to deal with the relatively small amount of global warming experienced to date. So far the world has warmed by about 1C above pre-industrial levels, but it is expected to hit between 2.6 and 4.8C by 2100 if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases. Another problem facing life on Earth is the election of climate science denier Donald Trump as US president. Professor Wiens, of Arizona University, described this as a “global disaster” and, when asked what he would say to the President-elect if he met him, he joked grimly: “Kill yourself immediately.” In his study, published in the journal PLOS Biology, the scientist examined academic papers [...]
The post Earth Faces Sixth Mass Extinction Event appeared first on Your News Wire.