Environmental Angst

Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. ~ Henry David Thoreau, "Chesuncook," The Maine Woods, 1848 ~

The World Conservation Union has released its 2007 Red List of Threatened Species. The organization reports that 188 animals and plants have been added to a global database of threatened species, and that the number is certainly on the low end. Among the more troubling developments: the Western lowland gorilla is being decimated by the ebola virus and commercial hunting, coral reefs in the Galapagos Islands are threatened and the Yangtze River dolphin may be extinct. Out of 41,415 species assessed, more than 16,300 species are threatened with extinction. According to the IUCN, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 percent of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 Red List are in jeopardy. Here's a link to a report from MSNBC News, which also contains a slideshow: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20738173/