We should all be worried about right whales
Study warns human activity is causing the rapid decline of thousands of species
Seven dead North Atlantic right whales were found floating in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this summer, a catastrophe for a species with a population of only 525.
So far, necropsies performed on three of the seven indicate two died of blunt force trauma, probably the result of collisions with vessels in the busy shipping lanes, while one died after becoming entangled in fishing gear.
The deaths are a tragedy that could mean the difference between survival and extinction for this critically endangered marine mammal. But whether this kind of news brings you to tears or elicits an indifferent shrug, there are even more compelling reasons to care about the fate of these majestic and rare creatures. What happens to the whales may foretell what happens to our own species, human beings.
Think I’m being alarmist? A terrifying new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warns that, when examined together, the rapid pace of population decline and extinction among more than 27,000 vertebrates and 177 mammals is far more serious than previously believed.
“This ‘biological annihilation,’ ” as the authors call it, “underlines the seriousness for humanity of Earth’s ongoing sixth mass extinction event.”
Yes, these eminent scientists believe a mass extinction event is already underway and the root cause is human activity.
Welcome to the Anthropocene epoch, the geological age in which the dominant force affecting our planet’s ecology is us. True, it hasn’t officially been declared by the scientific community, but evidence is mounting that we have crossed the threshold. Homo sapiens long ago rose to the top of the food chain, but now our actions are harming the forests, the oceans, the ice shelves, the air, the climate and, of course, other creatures to the point where the biodiversity needed to support life on Earth is in peril.
The study notes that species are disappearing at a rate of about two a year, or 200 during the past century. That may not sound so dramatic, but consider that during previous mass dieoffs, it would have taken 10,000 years for that many species to disappear.
The speed at which these populations are shrinking or vanishing is also accelerating. Even animals that were thought to be relatively stable, such as cheetahs and giraffes, have experienced precipitous declines in only a few years. The number of African lions, for instance, has plummeted 43 per cent since 1993, as of last year there were just 5,000 orangutans left in existence, and the Christmas Island pipistrelle, a kind of bat, became extinct in 2009.
But we’re not only talking about exotic creatures in far-off lands. The mass extinction is killing the biodiversity right under our noses, too. Alain Branchaud of the Société pour la nature et les parcs du Québec told Le Journal de Montréal that wolverines, grizzly bears, cougars and elk have been decimated, and caribou are in danger.
Scientists have also raised the alarm about the belugas of the St. Lawrence Estuary. In 2015, 14 carcasses were recovered, including six newborn calves and three pregnant females. A similar number of deaths in prior years marked a sharp increase in mortality for a fragile population. Marine biologists are still searching to pinpoint the exact cause, but they suspect it could be loss of food sources, toxins or noise in the estuary, which is essentially a natural nursery for beluga mothers and babies.
The study on the global scale of species loss cited habitat destruction, exploitation, hunting, pollution leaching into their environment, invasive species and climate change as the causes for the deaths of small critters and large mammals alike. In some cases habitat loss is so severe, it has forced species to compete with each other for survival in just 20 per cent of their former territory.
Of course, not everyone agrees a human-driven mass extinction event is underway, even among those who find the research alarming; scientists are a notoriously cautious bunch. But we can no longer afford to ignore or dismiss the ominous signs that we are dooming ourselves — or depending on our age, our children or grandchildren — with our destructive ways.
Just Wednesday, scientists confirmed that the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica, a frozen mass the size of Delaware, had finally broken off, an event that had been predicted as far back as the 1970s.
The race is on for world leaders to implement policies that will help us reach the objectives of the Paris Accord, to hold global warming to two degrees C below pre-industrial levels — with or without the participation of the United States. But it seems like every week fresh symptoms emerge that suggest our planet’s health is worse than we thought, perhaps pushing these lofty goals further from reach. From warming oceans to corral bleaching to the amount of plastic outweighing marine life in the seas, to temperatures shattering records, to melting permafrost, frightening unforeseen phenomena may exacerbate climate change before we can arrest it.
Perhaps I read too many articles that keep me up at night worrying about the hell that may be in store by the end of this century, if not for me, then for my kids. The deaths of seven right whales in our own backyard may not seem like a harbinger of humanity’s demise. But the take-away from the authors of the PNAS study is that it’s time to get worried and try to do something to save the planet — while we still can.
The mass extinction is killing the biodiversity right under our noses, too.