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Earth's sixth mass extinction is underway and "rapidly accelerating," study warns (www.axios.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Earth's sixth mass extinction is already happening — and it is rapidly accelerating, researchers warned in a study out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's already happening. UN projections for population growth predict a population peak just shy of 11 billion in 2100, after which there's a slow decline. Things like vertical farming and cultured meat or meat substitutes should eventually be able to produce food more cheaply than conventional farming does. We just have to continue working on stuff we're already working on.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

isn't it down to 10 billion?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The source I dug up while writing that comment said 10.9 billion, but since these are projections they vary a bit depending on the assumptions that go into them. The important underlying point is that the line eventually goes back down again.