Need another reminder that it's well past time to take action? A new study "says that animal species are disappearing at an accelerating rate -- portending the sixth mass extinction in the 4.5-billion-year history of the Earth." Read the article (excerpted and linked below), and then read UC Berkeley's Anthony Barnosky's preventive actions for how we can be the change we need to see in the world!

"In the most sobering study of extinction yet, a team of Bay Area scientists says that animal species are disappearing at an accelerating rate -- portending the sixth mass extinction in the 4.5-billion-year history of the Earth.

"'We are entering a mass extinction equivalent to what happened to the dinosaurs' unless conservation efforts are intensified, said UC Berkeley paleontologist Anthony D. Barnosky and an author of the report, which was published Friday.

"If the trend continues, 'within two human lifetimes we are in danger of losing three of four species on Earth,' he said. [...]"

>>Read More: "'Sixth mass extinction': Earth's species disappearing at frightening rate, new study says" by Lisa M. Krieger, San Jose Mercury News (6/19/15).

UC Berkeley's Anthony Barnosky says the "sixth mass extinction" is not yet a done deal. In his new book Dodging Extinction, he offers these preventive actions:

• Spread the word that the crisis is real.
• Reduce your carbon footprint.
• Support efforts to educate women in developing nations in order to slow population growth.
• Buy products from companies that limit deforestation by using sustainably produced palm oil, a major ingredient in food, cosmetics and soap.
• Eat fish from healthy fisheries.
• Learn more at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list at www.seafoodwatch.org.
• Eat less meat, to reduce agriculture's clear-cutting of rainforests.
• Never buy anything made from ivory.
• Adopt a species, or become a "citizen scientist" for a conservation group.
• Vote for leaders who recognize the importance of conservation and carbon-neutral energy policies.