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May 31 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
BREAKING: more than 50% of all UK butterflies now face extinction 🧵

#ExtinctionEconomy
1. GDP growth is driving habitat destruction, pollution, and abrupt climate change threatening over half of UK butterfly species. Scientists say radical economic change is required.
nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/…
2. Invertebrate extinctions not taken into account by the IUCN Red List demonstrate we are in a mass extinction which could be complete this century without radical action to stop today's #ExtinctionEconomy.

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3. Butterfly declines are similar in the US and Europe.

'Butterfly numbers have dropped by one-third in the past two decades in the US, echoing declines seen in Europe. These figures raise alarm bells for the health of other insect populations..'
newscientist.com/article/220917…
4. 'over 40% of the world's insects are declining, and a third are endangered. The situation is no different in Singapore.'

A global catastrophe. Mass extinction.

#ExtinctionEconomy

nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/…
5. The IPBES and IPCC released a joint report last year highlighting a rapid move away from GDP growth is the kind of radical action required to limit the damage.

Media remain silent.

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6. 'The Last Butterflies?'

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More from @ClimateBen

Ben See Profile picture
Jun 1
Species most at risk of 21st century extinction: trees, crop plants, pollinators, amphibians, primates 🧵
1. 66% of primates face extinction.

Deforestation of rainforests continues as large agribusiness companies & governments continue to wreck habitats leaving fragmented and polluted landscapes, for products that are consumed by people in rich nations.
inverse.com/science/primat…
2. 'researchers found that forecasted shifts in climate by 2070 would occur too quickly for species of grass to adapt to the new conditions'

Species at risk include wheat, corn, rice and sorghum, which provide almost 50% of the calories consumed by humans.bbc.com/news/science-e…
Read 4 tweets
Ben See Profile picture
May 29
The United Nations and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognise rethinking GDP is perhaps the biggest issue when it comes to the extinction-climate catastrophe, and yet still push for yet more destructive growth despite 10,000s of scientists urging immediate change. 🧵
1. The IPBES (biodiversity & ecosystems) has been clear on the need to move away from growth for some time and last year with the IPCC published a joint report confirming that this is a critical option.

State-corporate media remain silent on this.

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2. The most recent IPCC report notes that economic growth is a key factor resulting in high emissions (AR6). Importantly, it also leads to ever-increasing/accelerating deforestation, logging, road-building, overfishing, and a whole range of other extremely destructive activities.
Read 9 tweets
Ben See Profile picture
May 29
Extinction due to GDP growth is now projected to be so extreme (20%-50% of species by the 2040s) scientists are calling for economic system change even as they freeze the cells of amphibians, birds, and mammals in case future generations can bring them back from annihilation.🧵
1. Scientists are calling for revolutionary economic transformation.

10,000s of scientists have for decades called for alternatives to GDP growth.

>1,000 are now engaged in civil disobedience.

Even the conservative IPCC now calls for a rethink on growth.
2. The BBC is still inviting climate deniers to sit alongside pro-growth neoliberals on their flagship TV programmes. They won't explain the real reason why this is happening: we are living in a habitat-destroying, climate-wrecking #ExtinctionEconomy.
bbc.com/news/science-e…
Read 5 tweets
Ben See Profile picture
May 29
Half of Earth's ecosystems are in a collapse phase.

Media remain silent on the need for profound economic system change as more and more scientists speak out and resist.

Where are the system change headlines?
State-corporate media are part of the ultra-destructive GDP growth system.

The only headlines we get are along the lines of 'how can innovation and technology protect the rich minority for as long as possible?'.

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Read 5 tweets
Ben See Profile picture
May 28
Scientists say the public should be terrified by the deluge of recent extinction research known as 'the Apocalypse Papers' calling for it to immediately become part of daily human conversations. 🧵
1. 'The public should be terrified by these findings,. The natural habitats are still being bulldozed and lost on a daily basis,. It has to become part of daily conversation and awareness, and it’s not right now.”

#ExtinctionEconomy

insideclimatenews.org/todaysclimate/…
2. “I have a whole folder, I call them apocalypse papers,” said Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, a prominent U.S. environmental advocacy and research center.'

#ExtinctionEconomy

insideclimatenews.org/todaysclimate/…
Read 15 tweets
Ben See Profile picture
May 28
There is a growing group of lost species that have not been observed in decades or even centuries. 🧵

'fully 7% of Critically Endangered and 31.3% of Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) species have not been seen in over 50 years'
1. 'While biological extinctions are predicted to rise sharply during the Anthropocene, extinction declarations are rare, partly due to inherent uncertainties in knowing when the last individual of a species has died.'

…lpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ac…
2. 'if declared extinctions remain low, this risks creating a paradox whereby the conservation biology community is highlighting an Anthropocene mass extinction event that does not actually have high levels of reported extinctions.' …lpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ac…
Read 4 tweets

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