Here are 12 signs that the planet is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, and why human activity is primarily to blame.
Insects are dying off at record rates. Roughly 40% of the world’s insect species are in decline.
A 2019 study found that the total mass of all insects on the planets is decreasing by 2.5% per year.
If that trend continues unabated, the Earth may not have any insects at all by 2119.
“In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left, and in 100 years you will have none,” Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, a co-author of the study, told The Guardian.
That’s a major problem because insects like bees, butterflies, and other pollinators perform a crucial role in fruit, vegetable, and nut production. Plus...