If you find this topic interesting, here are some follow up items on biodiversity, human overpopulation and hyper growth, and how our society can evolve so we as humans live sustainably on our Planet.
The Range Contractions Project at Oregon State University & Laliberte, A.S. and W.J. Ripple. 2004. Range contractions of North American carnivores and ungulates. BioScience 54(2):123-138
Andrea Laliberte, a scientist I met at a conference, has done fascinating work comparing maps based on field sightings of wildlife in the 1800s with current range data of many animals to show us what we’ve lost in the past 200 years. Her findings indicate that “Species contractions were a result of Euro-American settlement and post-settlement development in North America. These effects have been widespread and indicate a rapid collapse of species distributions over the course of only 1 to 2 centuries.”
The Future of Life by E.O. Wilson – best book I’ve ever read on our situation and how we get through the bottleneck of human population and biodiversity.
The Great Work by Thomas Berry – an excellent summary of his philosophy of a more peaceful coexistence on our planet with fellow living beings who happen not to be human.
Song of the Dodo by David Quammen – Entertaining exploration of the travel and field work by Alfred Wallace leading to him developing, in parallel with Darwin, the theory of evolution, great examples of island biogeography and how that applies to our national parks and loss of wildlife.
National Geographic magazine – the gold standard –the single best publication available today to learn about the world around us.
A Pivotal Moment edited by Laurie Mazur
The World is Blue by Sylvia A. Earle on ocean conservation
Groups to Support
Education for Girls and Economic Opportunity for Women in Developing Countries:
www.kakenyasdream.org
Population Action International
Helping endangered species and protecting their habitat:
Jane Goodall Institute
Defenders of Wildlife
Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC)
The Nature Conservancy
Wildearth Guardians