The human population is set to exceed 9 billion within a few short decades. With this population increase comes an increase in food consumption, which leads to the extinction of many species as we further encroach on their habitats.
Some of the main factors responsible for biodiversity loss are deforestation, the highly inefficient use of land and water for animal production, and the pollution of our waters. Livestock production currently uses 70% of all agricultural land. Overstocking and overgrazing leaves the land depleted of all nutrients, which in turn accelerates desertification.
17,000 species are currently under threat of extinction, and almost a quarter of the mammals face extinction within 30 years. With the destruction of the rainforests in Brazil, largely for grazing and feed for livestock, 2,300 Brazilian flora species are also under threat.
The mass extinction we are experiencing now is a thousand times higher than the average rate over the last 65 million years. This is by no means a natural occurrence.
Our Earth can no longer sustain the demands we are putting upon her, and with a predicted increase of 2.5 billion people by 2050, we cannot ignore that a solution to turn around the life threatening situation humanity is now facing must be found and implemented as soon as possible.
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