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We're well into the sixth mass extinction event, with global warming one of the causal factors (others include loss/fragmentation & degradation/pollution of natural habitat, overfishing/overhunting, & invasive species).
There are two facets to extinction: a reduction in the number of living organisms overall (loss of abundance & food chain breakdowns), and the complete disappearance of some species.
The abundance of monitored wildlife has already declined 69% from 1970 to 2018 (WWF, https://shorturl.at/GE71r), and up to 94% in LATAM. Anecdotally, people report virtually no insects anymore on their windshields compared to 40 years ago. That's the start of the food chain.
As for species, they are disappearing 10–1,000x faster than the normal background rate of extinction (https://doi.org/f86ckd). Globally, 1.2M fauna and flora species are under threat of extinction, many before the year 2100.
We already know that the 1.5C warming target from the Paris agreement won't hold. The rest is uncharted territory. 2 replies
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