Biodiversity — Decline of Wild Mammals
Wild mammals have declined by 85% since the rise of humans, based on estimates of the total biomass of the world's wild land mammals. Biomass provides a proxy for the richness of the mammal kingdom.
Biodiversity — Deforestation
Global Forest Resource Assessment (2025)
Key Findings:
- The world is losing more forest than it gains every year.
- However! Rates of deforestation are declining around the world since 1990. 👏
- Driving Factors: "Agriculture has historically been the leading cause of forest loss, but wildfire is increasingly posing a threat. Wildfires were the leading driver of tropical forest loss in 2024 for the first time on record." (UN report)
Biodiversity — Whale Population Devastation
- The 'modern' whaling era spanned from 1890 onwards.
- At its peak in the 1960s, we were hunting 80,000 whales every year, and whale populations were become increasingly depleted.
- 1987: The International Whaling Commission (IWC) agreed on a moratorium.
Poetry — "Invitation" by Mary Oliver
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude —
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.