Well, so much for a happy Endangered Species Day. Today, the BBC reports that, according to the Zoological Society of London, the world's wildlife populations have declined twenty-five to thirty-percent in the last thirty years. The editor and lead author of the report call the rate of declines "completely unprecedented in human history" and fixes the blame squarely on humanity's shoulders.
Meanwhile, according to Agence France-Presse, a European Union and German research report is about to be released that concludes that the destruction of plants and animals around the world is costing the global economy 3.1 trillion dollars a year. Actually, the economic cost may be some reason for hope. Money has a strange way of clarifying the mind and changing behavior.
