According to Richard Pearson, a scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, there are approximately 1.5 million species living on our planet that are known to science. Climate change poses a serious threat to this incredible biodiversity. Experts are in total agreement that the planet is heating up. Pearson begins with chapters on the evidence of how climate change is already adversely affecting plants and animals. These "fingerprints" of climate change reveal impacts upon frogs, birds, caterpillars, barnacles, trees, plankton, and corals.
The author addresses the question as to whether the risks associated with climate change are justified or oversold as alarmist. In the last chapter of this book, he zeroes in on what can be done to manage the risks and what conservation measures will help maintain biodiversity. The species that are alive today, he says, are irreplaceable (see the excerpt). Driven to Extinction is the ideal resource for citizens concerned about the dangers of climate change and the future of biodiversity.
