2.+Knowledge+Saturation

=__Things we know about environmental issues:::__= ====Global warming-constantly breaking down the area around the earth, making the heat more intense from the sun. Also, it breaks down the ice in cold areas, causing it to melt and flood over land that is normally above water.The melting ice is usually land ice which means that the ice is above water and is made out of fresh water not salt water. animal extinction-because of ice caps melting the polar bears and antarctic species are not finding ice to stay on, so they drown, and if this keeps happening.. There'll be no more Antartctic species.====

====The main reason of animal extinction in the 18, 19th century was that animals were killed for their meat and fur/feathers. The main reasons now days is deforestation for the animals that live in the forest, malting ice caps for the Antarctica species, water pollution for the sea creatures and pests for some of the defenseless creatures.====


 * Polluted water ways: Polluted water ways are bad for many reasons. It makes the water and all the life under it unsafe, and whoever swims in this may become sick or die. the ways the water can become polluted are: whatever bad things that go down drains and sinks go to the sea, meaning that if bad toxins go down, bad toxins go to the sea. rubbish- many people litter, and when it rains or is just windy, that waste may get blown to the sea, and so all the badness from the rubbish goes into the sea.**

One of the items on earth that produces Co2 are actually trees. Trees breath in Co2 at day time but produces Co2 at night. he Co2 absorbed ta day time are stored inside the leaves. And when you burn it, you are letting the Co2 out. People have been burning leaves because they could not be bothered dispose leaves the proper way.

Habitat Loss and Fragmentation
Habitat loss, as a result of human demand, is widely considered to be //the// most important cause of animal extinction. Rainforests are the main habitats for tropical animals. There are huge demands laid constantly on forests by various parties. For a more detailed discussion of how rainforest habitat is lost, Tropical rainforests are cleared for wood / timber resources, development of petroleum resources, mineral resources, for cash-crop plantations and subsistence farming. Richard P. Reading summarizes the effects of habitat loss and its contribution to animal extinction very well below: Habitat changes reduce biotic integrity (i.e., ecosystem health), deplete native species, and greatly simplify the system and its habitats (e.g., crop agriculture). The process of habitat destruction is incremental. Each piece of habitat may not seem important individually, but there are cumulative effects. The process is more insidious than direct overexploitation. No one holds a “smoking gun.” The native species simply vanish. The effects of these changes can be predicted mathematically. Roughly, when 90% of the habitat is eliminated, 50% of the species will be lost … Selection of the lost species, however, is not random. The larger, wide-ranging species, such as large carnivores, suffer first. Because those groups often contribute to healthy ecosystem processes, a wave of secondary losses may follow their decline … Animals that conflict with humans are also the victims of concerted eradication efforts. Species with a narrow geographic range, or species that were never common, are vulnerable as well. Species that are not effective dispersers are limited when their habitat is disrupted. Species with narrow niche requirements may see that niche disappear quickly. And species that live in colonies, or social groups, are often affected when numbers decline. When habitat is fragmented, some species die as a direct result of lost resources. Other species survive in reduced numbers in the habitat fragments, but their vulnerability to extinction increases. Populations existing in fragments become susceptible to genetic disorders, demographic problems, environmental variability, and catastrophic events. Fragmented populations are especially vulnerable to deterministic events, such as susceptibility to poaching, as border areas become population sinks, where population death rates exceed birth rates. To emphasize it once again, //**endemic species**// (those present only in a certain geographical location) are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss.

National and International Wildlife Trade
Poaching and (legal and illegal) wildlife trade are another common threat to animals. But the introduction of ban and / or restrictions on international trade in many endangered species (CITES) several decades ago became an effective measure in halting this problem. International wildlife trade has also been closely linked to drugs trade. In one of the most outrageous cases of simultaneous drug and wildlife smuggling which occurred at Miami Airport in 1993, 312 boa constrictors that arrived from Colombia were found carrying inside them 39 kilos of cocaine. All of the snakes eventually died.

This type of trade was very popular in the 1950s – 1960s. For example, during the late 1960s the pelts of more than 10,000 leopards, 15,000 jaguars, 3,000 cheetahs and 200,000 ocelots were (legally) being imported in the US and Europe each year. This activity is virtually non-existent now but it would have contributed to animal demise during its peak period.
 * Fur Trade**

The trade in bushmeat (consumption of meat of wild animals for food) in central Africa is the main source of income for rural residents. It’s been estimated that hunting for bushmeat may now even outrank habitat loss as a threat to rainforest animals in Africa. However, consumption of bushmeat (especially that of primates) not only contributes to animal extinction but has also been linked to various diseases, specifically AIDS (i.e. transmission of AIDS-related viruses from bushmeat to humans).
 * Bushmeat Trade**

It is not clear how significantly this type of activity contributes to animal extinction. But it’s clear that there is still demand in South East Asian countries (such as China) for body parts of some endangered animals (such as the tiger), which are used in traditional medicine and as aphrodisiacs.
 * Body Parts Trade**

Almost all biomedical research is done in industrialised countries which were the main importers of animals (specifically, primates) for these purposes during 1950s – 1960s. It is estimated that the number of chimpanzees alone, exported for biomedical research, was between 40,000 and 90,000 from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. For comparison, the total present wild population of chimpanzees is no more than 150,000 across all of Africa.
 * Trade for Biomedical Research**

Until this day, many companies still perform animal testing for biomedical research purposes. One way to show your protest against animal testing is not to put your money in these companies. As an alternative, we now have an option to invest in //socially responsible mutual funds// (aslo called //ethical funds//) many of which have policies of non-investment in animal testing companies.

Other Causes
Other causes are not related to the immediate human demand for animals or their habitats’ resources. But they are still initiated by human actions. It has been recently suggested that warmer global temperatures may be affecting animals in different ways. In fact, global warming is predicted to put at least 20-30% of plant and animal species at rist of extinction, and up to 40-70% in worst case scenarios. As an example, frogs are an especially vulnerable species. The climate warming has been suggested as a possible cause for the disappearance of the golden toad in Costa Rica.
 * Climate change / Global warming**

Environmental pollution which in many ways causes global warming, is another cause for animal demise. Yet again, tropical frogs may be seriously affected by pollution of their habitats.
 * Pollution**

Invasive species introduced to biodiversity rich areas damage habitats of native species and destroy their safe existence. A good example of that is that of Galapagos tortoises. During the 20 th century, goats introduced to the Galapagos Islands fed on the tortoises’ food supply, and pigs, dogs and rats ate tortoise eggs. As a result, tortoise numbers went dramatically down.
 * Introduced (Invasive) Species**

Ranchers may shoot wild animals on spot when they feel that they attack domestic sheep and thus destroy ranchers’ livelihoods. This happens quite often with jaguars and was the main cause of the Tasmanian tiger’s extinction.
 * Farmer / Rancher Shootings**

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__**Comments&Thougths**__ Tim: I believe that the main causes of the animal extinction is caused by humans. People has been chopping down forests for centuries and using the earth's resources so much that we forgot about the animals. What are they going to use now? Where do they habitat when we've already taken all of the places? People over kill the animals and brought pests into lands without thinking about what would happen later. All of these things could have been prevented only if people thought about what their actions might cause. Pest control could have prevented animals being killed and a daily limit would have prevented over hunting and fishing.

Keira:

__**Some of the species on the endangered species list are:**__
Jaguar | Cheetah | Leopard | Ocelot | Cougar | Gray Wolf | Brown Bear | Asiatic Lion | Chimpanzee | Steller Sea-lion | Blue Whale | Tiger | Jaguarundi | Argali | Giant Panda | Red Wolf | African Wild Donkey | Tasmanian Forester Kangaroo | Mediterranean Monk Seal | Margay | Aye-aye | Dugong | Mantled Howler Monkey | Harpy Eagle | African Wild Dog >> these are the main popular endangered species. We don't want any more animals added to this list.

media type="youtube" key="ddebPBrWaxI" height="344" width="425" Tim: After watching this video clip, I felt like that it was us human's fault that the animals has extincted. I felt like that it was us that did not take care and protect these animals. This clip showed the name of the bird and a picture of it which was realy helpful because I did not know what the animals were and what their name was.
 * __Comments&Thoughts:__**

Keira: I fully agree. I think it is humans' fault because without us, the animals would be free to live peacefully in their habitat, but with humans around, their homes are terribly destroyed. If only people realised how much impact they have on animals lives by even just chopping down a few tree's. We need to put a stop to this because if we don't, the animals we love will become extinct, and the animals for the future.. well.. we may as well say bye to them now. media type="youtube" key="NNmTLLmhxFQ" height="344" width="425" Tim:
 * __Comments&thoughts:__**

After I watched this video clip, I found that most of the animals that extincted are birds. I believe that it is because that people are chopping down the forest and hunting them down. Most of the animals extincted in just a short period of ten years. What has people that lived in those days done that that made all of these animals extinct? This clip showed me what year was it was the animals extincted and the name of the animals.

Keira: This clip proved that humans are awful and uncaring to birds and other animals. We just cut down anything for our own needs and don't even care about what problem we cause for those animals, then one day we wake up to find no more animals of that kind. People say they try to 'save' many species from extinction, but if we were conciderate in the first place, we wouldnt have to try to save them because they wouldnt become endangered. People need to think before they act.

media type="youtube" key="MRXTCuKorXA" height="344" width="425"

Tim: It scares me how the video clip said that these are just a few of the animals that faces extinction when there are actually a lot of animals mentioned on this list. Most of the animals mentioned in the clip are what yuo would be able to find in the zoo. When these animals extinct, what are we going to put into zoos?
 * __Comments&Thoughts:__**

Keira: Like the other two video clips, it's shocking how many species are in this list of extinction. Do people just expect to keep animals around after they destroy everything? Well personally i think this is stupid. We just take things for granted and don't think of the concequences. Our childrens generation may never be able to even have a pet cat one day. How sad would that be? We need to be aware of these things