It's about species extinction.
And I advocate not calling it that anymore.
A million species are threatened with extinction worldwide.
Is it now going in one ear and out the other?
Another rare little frog threatened in Costa Rica's rainforest, a bizarre species of beetle missing in the desert of Namibia?
Terms such as species extinction or species crisis degrade the sixth mass extinction in the history of the earth to the problem of pensive beetle counters with pith hats.
There is much more at stake: the loss of entire habitats that stabilize the earth's climate and water balance;
about the basics of all economic activity on earth.
Because where habitats are collapsing, where fish stocks are collapsing in the seas, where the soil and its organisms, plants and their pollinators are disappearing on land, the earth loses the ability to produce food and sustain complex life.
The international community has succeeded in "opening up a protective shield for our nature," said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) in a SPIEGEL interview.
In order to implement the goals agreed in Montreal, such as protecting 30 percent of land and sea or halving the global use of pesticides by 2030, it will take more than flowery words.
This will require at least the same seriousness and financial strength with which the international community is trying to limit climate change.
Therefore: Forget the extinction of species.
There is a crisis of life on earth to be overcome that is as threatening to humans as climate change.
That was understood in Montreal.
Now it's our turn to finally take the topic seriously.
Heartfelt
Yours Philip Bethge
I also recommend you:
In the beginning there was light:
with the new James Webb space telescope, researchers are penetrating ever further into the early days of the universe.
The SPIEGEL cover story.
It has never been as hot as 2022 in Spain.
According to Spain's weather service, temperatures have only been below the long-term average in two months.
There is hardly any improvement in sight.
Fear and ideology are blocking the view of green genetic engineering in Germany.
What is seen is a risk that has long since been refuted, while the benefits for nature conservation and biodiversity are ignored.
A guest contribution by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard.
Combat morale in the Ukraine war:
Weapons from the West shaped the war in Ukraine.
But the most important factor in battle is still the human.
How Armies Try to Motivate Soldiers.
Calcified vessels
are the cause of about a third of all deaths.
The Leipzig cardiologist Holger Thiele explains how heart attacks, pump weakness, arrhythmias and strokes can be avoided.
Can Dolphins Get Alzheimer's?
The brains of stranded dolphins show classic signs of Alzheimer's disease.
Can mass strandings be explained in this way?
picture of the week
In Guatemala
, the 3,763 meter high Volcán de Fuego, the »fire volcano«, lives up to its name: Since it erupted almost two weeks ago, lava fountains have been spraying up to 500 meters high into the sky.
The country's main airport, La Aurora, in Guatemala City, briefly suspended operations.
The Fuego, also called Chi Q'aq', is considered one of the most active fire mountains in Central America.
In the past 500 years it has erupted more than 60 times, for example in November 2018 when thousands of residents in the surrounding villages had to leave their homes.
(Feedback & suggestions? )