James D. Agresti | President | Simply Information
Opposite to 60 Minutes, the information are overwhelming that earth isn’t within the midst of an “extinction disaster.”
SOURCES:
On 1/1/23, 60 Minutes reported, “A World Wildlife Fund research says that previously 50 years, the abundance of world wildlife has collapsed 69%.” https://www.cbsnews.com/information/earth-mass-extinction-60-minutes-2023-01-01/
The World Wildlife Fund research cited by 60 Minutes relies on its “Residing Planet Index.”
https://wwflpr.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_2022_full_report.pdf#web page=18
Students in educational journals have documented that the Residing Planet Index (LPI) “doesn’t measure abundance.” But, the World Wildlife Fund claims that it does and receives “excessive media protection” that makes the “widespread mistake of decoding the LPI as measuring abundance loss.”
https://leung-lab.github.io/leunglab/articles/Leung_2022_601a.pdf
https://wwflpr.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_2022_full_report.pdf#web page=18
The declare that the Residing Planet Index reveals a “imply vertebrate decline of greater than 50% since 1970” is “pushed by lower than 3% of vertebrate populations,” whereas “no world development remained throughout typical populations.” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2920-6
A research utilizing the world’s largest database of long-term species abundances discovered, “Most populations (85%) didn’t present vital tendencies in abundance, and people who did had been balanced between winners (8%) and losers (7%).” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.13242
The determine of “as much as 100 instances” from Barnosky’s analysis truly “various from 8 to 100 instances.” https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1400253
A Cambridge College Press ebook on biodiversity explains that no “critical” try has been made to “decide the reliability” of extinction charges primarily based on fossils as a result of the “uncertainties at every stage of the calculation” would make an effort nugatory. Thus, the ebook states, “Most likely nobody will probably be shocked if this estimate is off by an element of 10 and even 100.” https://www.amazon.com/Biodiversity-Environmental-Philosophy-Introduction-Cambridge-ebook/dp/B000SHMQES
Barnosky’s analysis counts all “617” vertebrae species which have turn out to be extinct or “probably extinct” since 1500. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1400253
A tutorial journal paperwork that 95% of chicken and mammal extinctions since 1500 “had been on islands.” Thus, “it’s helpful to think about islands as a particular case” as a result of species have “smaller geographic ranges” and different variations that make them extra liable to extinction than continental species. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00856.x
Per the textbook Conservation and Ecology, “The estimates of the background extinction fee” from fossils “derive from the plentiful and widespread species that dominate the fossil document. In contrast, the species most probably to turn out to be extinct as we speak are uncommon and native.” https://www.amazon.com/Conservation-Ecology-Residing-Earth-Rafferty/dp/1615303073
Per the textbook Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, “A very vital bias of the fossil document is expressed towards organisms which are uncommon and/or geographically restricted.” https://www.amazon.com/Vertebrate-Paleontology-Evolution-Robert-Carroll/dp/0716718227
A 2011 paper within the journal Range and Distributions revealed that “solely six continental birds and three continental mammals had been recorded in commonplace databases as going extinct since 1500 in comparison with 123 chicken species and 58 mammal species on islands.” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00856.x
A 2015 paper within the journal Science disclosed that there have been “solely 15 world extinctions of marine animal species previously 514 years” and “none previously 5 many years.” https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1255641
A paper within the journal Endangered Species Analysis by an Australian scientist states that sure scientists overstate “the dangers of wildlife turning into extinct” through the use of “deliberate and gross” exaggerations. The paper additionally states that scientists who designate species as “endangered” are “typically beneficiaries” of funding that flows on account of these designations. Thus, “the potential for self-serving assessments has lengthy been acknowledged.” http://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2008/6/n006p161.pdf
The scientists who authored the paper within the journal Range and Distributions state, “Our outcomes don’t help statements or projections by others of grossly elevated extinction charges for continental chicken and mammal fauna over the past 500 years in contrast with background charges.” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00856.x
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter tasked the EPA, State Division, Nationwide Science Basis, and several other different federal businesses to provide a “research of the possible adjustments” to the “world’s inhabitants, pure sources, and setting” up by way of the yr 2000. This changed into a herculean effort, involving a whole lot of individuals, together with “casual advisors” to the research representing the world’s main environmental establishments. https://www.justfacts.com/doc/global_2000_report_president_carter_1979.pdf#web page=4
In 1979, the dream staff of scientists launched The World 2000 Report back to the President of the U.S., which acknowledged that “at the very least 500,000–600,000” species “will probably be extinguished through the subsequent twenty years” underneath “continued technological progress” and “no departures from current public coverage.” https://www.justfacts.com/doc/global_2000_report_president_carter_1979.pdf#web page=357
In 2004, the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature reported, “At the very least 27 species are recorded as having turn out to be Extinct or Extinct within the Wild over the past 20 years (1984–2004). … For instance, eight species of birds are thought to have turn out to be Extinct or Extinct within the Wild over the previous 20 years, however they aren’t included, as additional analysis is required show the final particular person has died.” https://portals.iucn.org/library/websites/library/information/paperwork/RL-2004-001.pdf
The World 2000 Report back to the President of the U.S. states, “What number of extinctions are implied by the World 2000 Examine’s forestry projections? An estimate was ready for the World 2000 Examine by Thomas E. Lovejoy of the World Wildlife Fund.” https://www.justfacts.com/doc/global_2000_report_president_carter_1979.pdf#web page=353
The 60 Minutes footage from CBS is reproduced underneath the honest use provision of U.S. copyright legislation for “functions similar to criticism” and “remark” (17 U.S.C. §107). https://www.legislation.cornell.edu/uscode/textual content/17/107Present much less
