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ysmad statistics -

A relatively new development


"Why worry? It worked well for hundreds of years, despite all the other prophets of doom in the past ..." I hear people say. But the fact is, only since a couple of decades we are living unsustainable, and we are accelerating exponentially ...

World's wildlife has declined by 27 percent between 1970 and 2005

'The world's wildlife has declined by 27 percent between 1970 and 2005.'

[WWF paper "2010 and Beyond - Rising to the biodiversity challenge", index, table 3. (1.5MB PDF!)]

If we can assume this is only nearly correct, we should all be shocked and naturally start thinking of drastic countermeasure. As a first measure, one would immediately halt any destruction to gain time - but apparently we can't. The economy! The GNP! Growth! Politicians, who one would think are in charge of caring about our current and future conditions of life - not a word. Insane. Insanity indeed.

Guatemala: 2 percent of the original frontier forst survived, until 1990

"In 1960 three-quarters of Guatemala was covered by forest (...). By 1990, about a quarter of the country was forested, and perhaps 2 percent of the original frontier forest survived.

["Strangely like war - The global assault on forests", Derrick Jensen, George Draffan]

This deforestation by the way is not "every country's own decision" as I read in some forums, but mainly exploitation by us (the "rich" nations), mainly through meat consumption.

Over the past 35 years Earth's wildlife declined by a third

"The Living Planet Index shows that over the past 35 years alone the Earth's wildlife populations have declined by a third."

[WWF Living Planet Report 2008 (5MB!) ]

Within 50 years 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared

"(...) 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world's oceans in the past half century (...)"

[CNN article on a study published in "Nature", 2003 ]

In the last century, half of the world's marshes and mangroves lost

"In the last century, half of the world's marshes were drained. We know neither their richness nor their role. (...) [Mangroves] were reduced by half during the 20th century."

[Movie "Home", Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2009 ]

Biodiversity in the Jordan has been cut in half since the 1930s

"The Jordan has been a river up to 65 meters wide, until man's intervention in the 1930s (...). Today in some spots it merely reaches up to one's ankles and it is difficult to see water at all. (...) Biodiversity has been cut in half."

[Article about almost emptied British fisheries on "spiegel.de", 5/4/2010 ]

Argentina: nearly 70 percent of its forests lost in a century

"Argentina has lost nearly 70 percent of its forests in a century."

[Argentina's Environmental Secretariat, Sept. 2009 ]

Today the main reason for this, according to "ZDF Umwelt" (10/4/2009), is the continuing production of genetically modified soya; with Argentia being the number one soy exporter.

Tigers in the wild reduced by 95 percent in just 100 years

"(...) illegal hunting and trade (...) has cut the number of tigers in the wild by 95 percent in just 100 years."

[Delta Sky Magazine April 2010, page 19]

And two more numbers a little above in the same text: "The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 3,200 tigers remain in the wild - compared to 5,000 that exist in captivity in the U.S. alone."

35 percent of mangroves destroyed within the last 20 years

"35 percent of all mangroves have been destroyed within the last 20 years"

[German Federal Office of Environmental Protection, 2008 ]

Now this needs to be read twice. We ruined more than one third of all mangroves, which in their importance can be compared to rainforests on land (my own opinion) - and this within 20 years, i.e. from the late 80s to today. Unfortunately it seems we are faster in ruining than in thinking about what we do (yes, agree, preachy).

Demand on the planet more than doubled over the past 45 years

"Humanity's demand on the planet has more than doubled over the past 45 years as a result of population growth and increasing individual consumption."

[WWF Living Planet Report 2008 (5MB!) ]

This makes visible (at least to me), that the current situation has not "always been like that" and we cannot just dismiss concerns with a simple "the system's working since hundreds of years and there were always doomsday-prophets in history". Instead, the systematic destruction beyond recovery-rate (i.e. unsustainability) is a very recent development, and the curve very much looks exponential to me, unfortunately. On the other hand, the learning curve and green-living attitudes of humans are also growing - let it turn out that the latter is steeper, please.

Four times as much fish "mining" as 50 years ago

"82 million metric tons of fish and seafood had been taken out of the oceans 2003 - four times as much as 50 years ago"

[German Federal Office of Environmental Protection, 2008 ]

North Atlantic holds less than 20 percent of the fish it held in 1900

"The North Atlantic, for example, holds less than 20 percent of the fish it held in 1900."

[Stephen M. Meyer, "The End of the Wild", 2006]

Since the latter part of the 20th century 90 percent of tunas, swordfish, marlin, sharks lost

"Since the latter part of the 20th century (...) We've lost or consumed on the order of 90 percent of creatures such as the tunas, swordfish, marlin, sharks. This depletion doesn't come from feeding starving millions. This is about feeding a highly touted luxury market for things such as shark fin soup and sushi, and even tuna fish sandwiches, salads and shrimp."

[Sylvia Earle in Delta Sky Magazine April 2010, page 65]

Another quote from her in the same article, on selling our natural heritage for dumping prices: "Orange roughy can be 200 years old, and they're selling in my local market for $8.99 a pound in California. It's ridiculous." It's ridiculous.

y.s.m.a.d.!




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