For better or worse, we are currently in the midst of another mass extinction. It's something that will play out for generations as humans continue to modify the planet for our needs. We don't really know yet what the end result will look like. Our grand kids probably won't know either.

Just one example: somewhere around 1995 a nursery in California, most likely in Marin or the North Bay, imported some plants from Asia. What they didn't know at the time was the leaves of those plants were infected with the fungus-like organism Phytophthora ramorum. That organism would eventually escape and infect tanoak and coast live oak throughout central California. A few years later it was found in Oregon. That organism causes the disease called sudden oak death. While it is difficult to make predictions, the impact on oaks in California will likely be profound. One study predicted that 90% of the coast live oak and black oak in California will be dead within the next 50 years. Animals that use acorns from these species for food will probably experience a decline, and one could imagine further ripple effects throughout the ecosystem.

If you live or work in Silicon Valley, and you look to the west at the coast range, most of that green stuff that you are seeing on the mountains is coast live oak woodland. Now imagine 30%, 60%, 90% of those trees dead.

(The above information is based on a talk by Matteo Garbelotto, a plant pathologist at UC Berkeley.)

By the way, you may of heard of California's "golden hills"? Non-native annual grasses. Brought to California by the Spanish when they first explored the state. Over time, the non-native grasses crowded out most of California's native perennial grasses. If you had lived in California 700 years ago, many of the hills wouldn't be golden, they would have been tinged green.

I remember catching monarch butterfly caterpillars, as a child in New York, and keeping them with milkweed stems until they formed their chrysalis and eventually "hatched" as butterflies. Amazing.

We moved West eventually, and I've rarely seen monarchs since. I figured it was just because of the different habitat (no milkweed), but apparently it's not just that.

All insects are amazing in their own ways, but monarchs just have that extra curbside appeal to humans. Sad to hear they are in decline.

Regardless of the link-bait/fear-mongering at play in any environmental journalism these days... I have genuine concern about growing the impact of humans on the earth. It's hard to remain optimistic sometimes, even as a technology-positive person.

I'm starting to wonder seriously if we haven't already passed an inflection point in the wanton destruction of the environment from which we'll never fully recover. Someone please convince me we haven't broken our planet beyond its ability to carry us.

I live in Iowa; I haven't seen a Monarch butterfly in years. Used to be (I grew up here) you couldn't walk outside without one landing on you.

Ironically, where I live in Canada, I've been noticing more and more monarchs (and their close cousin the viceroy) each year in my gardens and the milkweed fields. Perhaps some change in environment/temperature is causing this. Or maybe they just like free healthcare.

>Another major cause is farming with Roundup, a herbicide that kills virtually all plants except crops that are genetically modified to survive it.

now i know explicit answer why GMO is bad. You never know before-fact, yet can always be sure that whatever good at first look thing appear it will ultimately be turned into real bad one.

God this is sad.

"YOU’VE REACHED THE LIMIT OF 10 FREE ARTICLES A MONTH. Subscribe to continue reading."

What the...

When I was a kid I had a VHS tape—I think it was a National Geographic—that was about Monarch Butterflies in Mexico and also Fire Eaters in Mexico City.

Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? I can't find any titles or clues on the web.

I know that most species that have ever existed have gone extinct, but every time I hear about a new one I can't help feeling sad. That doesn't just apply to the cute an cuddly ones either. Insects and fish are ace.

The usual suspects: monoculture and Monsanto and strange corp/govt hybrids (in this case wrt biofuels)

Roundup-resistant. You know that's bad.

by the time y'all realize how serious it is,

it's definitely going to be _way_ too late...

and when awareness hits like a ton of bricks?

humans don't act or think too well in a panic.

-bowerbird

Here is what you can do: grow milkweed. I do and it seems like my milkweed patch is the only one for miles. I had some monarchs coming in this summer to lay eggs looking so beat up like they flew nonstop from Canada to find my patch. I also had insane population explosion this year as butterflies overlaid eggs and caterpillars ate all plants I had. I tried to add more but could not keep up, milkweed grows very slowly and once they ate all leaves, it takes months to regrow.

tl;dr : please grow milkweed