Wednesday, Jun. 20, 2012
Endangered Species
Despite all the negative news, in some ways the global environment has improved since Rio+20, with air and water pollution falling in richer nations. On the whole human beings are healthier and wealthier as well. But if human beings are better off, nearly everything else that lives on the planet is not. From the tigers of Siberia to the blue fin tuna of the Mediterranean, species up and down the food chain are dwindling, and by some estimates we may be in the midst of history's sixth great extinction wave. So far there has been little concerted international action to deal — we can only hope that Rio will be different.