• We're currently in a biodiversity crisis. Humans have been causing species extinctions for thousands of years, but things got really bad after 1970.
• By 2019, humans had changed 75% of the land and 66% of the oceans. BIG yikes!

• "Snowball Earth" - the Earth dressed up as a giant snowball with ice everywhere!
• Hot Vacay Mode - No ice, even at the poles.
• Musical Continents - Sometimes just one mega land; other times, lots of island continents.
• Earth's Dramatic Moments - FIVE mass extinctions due to big bad events like space rock crashes (asteroids) and volcano tantrums.

⏰ Did You Know? The ongoing (sixth) mass extinction is speeding, but we can put the brakes on because it's caused by us!

Here are the main reasons species are waving goodbye

• Hunting & Over-Exploitation: It's like eating all the candy from the jar and not saving any for later.

  • Real-world example: Overfishing in oceans leaving certain fish populations declining rapidly.

• Urbanization: More towns, cities, and concrete jungles!

  • Real-world example: Think of New York City expanding and a squirrel losing its favorite tree home 🐿️.

• Deforestation & Agriculture: Trees are getting the axe for more farms.

  • Real-world example: The Amazon rainforest losing trees for soybean farms.

• Pollution: Too much trash in the land and oceans.

  • Real-world example: Remember the viral photo of a turtle with a straw in its nose? 🐢

• Alien Invasive Species: Not ET aliens, but plants, animals, or pathogens from one place causing chaos in another.

  • Real-world example: The Burmese python in the Florida Everglades eating everything!