Thread by @ClimateBen

Plants are now becoming extinct 500 times faster than the background extinction rate due to ecosystem destruction, invasive diseases, over-harvesting, and climate breakdown.

[THREAD]

Three plant species have gone extinct on Earth every year since 1900.

The alarming extinction rate is very likely an *underestimate* of the actual number of plant species that are extinct or critically endangered.
livescience.com/65696-the-plan…

Plant extinction is bad news for all species, said Dr Eimear Nic Lughadha.

Plant extinctions can lead to a whole cascade of extinctions in other organisms that rely on them, for instance insects that use plants for food and for laying their eggs.

bbc.com/news/science-e…

'With habitat loss, climate change and human exploitation, newly-described plants could very well have higher rates of extinction, and some could even disappear before we know they exist.'

sciencealert.com/plants-are-goi…

'They provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat, as well as making up the backbone of the world’s ecosystems – so plant extinction is bad news for all species'.
independent.co.uk/environment/pl…

Absolute extinction only tells part of the story of what’s happening to nature right now. There’s a trove of plant species that are functionally extinct, meaning only a few hundred specimens remain, putting the species as a whole on course for annihilation.earther.gizmodo.com/we-ve-driven-n…

Scientists have made it pretty clear: 'overconsumption is the root cause of the destruction of nature, leading to rainforests being clearcut and rising carbon emissions'.

Overconsumption by a wealthy minority, in an economic system based on overconsumption by a wealthy minority.