Climate change could push a sixth of species to extinction: study

[IDemo]

Source: Reuters

Climate change could drive up to a sixth of animals and plants on Earth to extinction unless governments cut rising greenhouse gas emissions, according to a U.S. study published on Thursday.

Species in South America, Australia and New Zealand are most at risk, since many live in small areas or cannot easily move away to adapt to heatwaves, droughts, floods or rising seas, said the report in the journal Science.

The study averaged out 131 previous studies of climate change, whose projections of the number of species that could be lost to climate change ranged from zero to 54 percent of species worldwide - too wide to be useful in designing conservation policies.

Overall, it found that one in six species could be driven to extinction if greenhouse gas emissions are unchecked and temperatures rise by 4.3 degrees Celsius (7.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times by 2100, in line with one scenario from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/04/30/us-climatechange-extinction-idINKBN0NL2G020150430

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

1. Dear god, reminds me of that PUNK throwing a snow ball in the Senate

Oh man is he on a short list of people who need a good slappin

[Warpy]

2. Looks like whoever is left is going to have to learn how to breathe methane and CO2

While that's certainly possible for bacteria, it doesn't sound too salubrious for humanity.

[RiverNoord]

3. lol - only a sixth?

Not even close.

[AdHocSolver]

4. The TPP treaty is designed to negate laws to protect the climate.

The rationale of our actual leaders in banking and on Wall Street dictates that if a species cannot be exploited for profit, it is of no use, so why worry about it?