• The planet is undergoing a sixth mass extinction, the sixth time in the history of life on Earth that global fauna has experienced a major collapse in numbers.
• Historically, mass extinctions have been caused by catastrophic events like asteroid collisions. This time, human activities are to blame.
• The primary culprits are deforestation, mining, and carbon-dioxide emissions, which cause the planet to heat up.
• As a result, insects are dying off at record rates, animal species are experiencing “ biological annihilation,” and invasive aliens are driving native species to extinction.

The phrase “mass extinction” typically conjures images of the asteroid crash that led to the twilight of the dinosaurs.

Upon impact, that 6-mile-wide space rock caused a tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean, along with earthquakes…