Let’s be real. Due to our recklessness, while living on this earth, we’ve put the safety of our earth on the metaphorical back-burner and have turned a blind eye to the consequences of our own animals.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, we’re already nearing our sixth wave of mass extinction of plants and animals. If it weren’t for human interference, the background rate of extinction would be at a one to five species per year, which is natural.

But because humans haven’t been careful, that percentage has now skyrocketed to 1,000, where there’s dozens plants and animals going extinct per day. About 99% of all these animals that are at risk are because of our own fault, most of which is from habitat loss or global warming. This problem is real and prominent, we can’t keep letting it go unnoticed.

Up to 18% of the flora and fauna in the U.S. alone is at risk of going extinct. Because of all of these animal losses, it will take up to 3 million years for Earth to recover from something as catastrophic as this. The other waves of extinction that were mentioned earlier all had natural causes, whether it be asteroids or volcanic eruptions. This one, however, is completely on us. You may be thinking “why?”, but the answer to this is simple.

The Earth only has so many resources, and when they’re being used up as quickly as they are now, there’s no extras or redoes. What we have is what we have. With the extra pressure of things like greenhouse gasses and the ice caps melting, we’re at serious danger.

What can YOU do?

• Support local wildlife in your neighborhoods!
• Reduce pollution in parks, beaches, cities, etc.
• Volunteer at environmental organizations
• Harness your pets–They’re considered invasive species!
• Recycle!