Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

The Sixth Mass Extinction.
Tom Walker. zoologist (Founder MadforWildlife)

The biggest extinction of wildlife in over 65 million years!

A “biological annihilation” to emphasise the seriousness of this mass extinction event that we are currently experiencing. The major factors that are accelerating this mass extinction have deep anthropogenic roots. The human population has and is growing exponentially, and it is predicted that by 2050 the population will reach 10 billion people. In order to prevent this 6th mass extinction from progressing we must control how fast our own population grows, as an increasing population requires an increased amount of resources (land for crop growth, livestock grazing and housing development). In recent times the issues of habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, overexploitation and climate change have become worse and have caused dramatic declines in the populations of animals and the size of their respective populations. Over 26,500 species are threatened with extinction. Is it too late or can we as scientists overturn this mass extinction of wildlife?

M.A.D. for Wildlife website