Mission 2015 Whole Earth Triage securing the future Life has existed on Earth for over 3 5 billion years Over 95 of the species that ever existed have gone extinct So why should we be concerned about current extinction rates and conserving biodiversity IMPACT or FLOOD BASALT The fate of biological diversity for the next 10 million years will almost certainly be determined during the next 50 100 years by the activities of a single species That species Homo sapiens is approximately 200 000 years old Paul Ehrlich and Robert Pringle PNAS August 2008 In 2002 world leaders committed through the Convention on Biological Diversity to achieve A significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 Biodiversity is still declining with no reductions in rate and pressures on biodiversity incuding resource competition invasive alien species nitrogen pollution climate change impacts all showed increases Bottom line although progress has been made rate of loss does not seem to be slowing Meeting Places Class will meet in three different places so consult the Syllabus page before each class meeting to see where you will go THIS MONDAY WE MEET in 32 123 http web mit edu 12 000 www m2015
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