Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by pingec on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @06:06AM (#18335141)

When I was a child about 20 years ago, I remember going snorkelling near my home in the North Adriatic Sea quite often. I could see crabs, starfish, sea urchins, sea horses, octopuses under rocks and loads of fish.

I went back there recently and was shocked to find the water looked clear but there were no animals left inside except for a few fish and a crab here and there.

This makes me really sad and pessimistic about the future of the planet and its living conditions for all living beings on it.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by nervousvarun on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @06:51AM (#18335330)

My equivalent of this is frogs. Frogs and the rhythmic noises they made at night were the "white noise" of my childhood.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by Rotareti on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @07:19AM (#18335453)

My equivalent of this is insects. My family and I made a lot of trips with our car in the 90th. The front of the car was full of squashed insects when we arrived. There was a constant knocking on the windshield. The amount of insects that I find on my car today is far less. I think it's about 10-20% of what it was in the 90th. I'm worried.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by rootusrootus on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @10:22AM (#18336689)

You guys can come take some of our frogs and insects :)

My car (sports car, low to the ground) doesn't really get many bugs these days. My pickup, on the other hand, is a hot mess every couple days.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by neetdavid on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:19AM (#18335793)

This has to be one of the funniest takes I've seen

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by r7000 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:37AM (#18335917)

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insect...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/08/26/windscreen-ph...

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by neetdavid on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @09:23AM (#18336193)

I don't doubt that bug populations are dropping.

The idea of lamenting climate change by having nostalgia for the days when piling into a car and driving across the countryside would guarantee a handful of smashed insects on the windscreen is funny to me.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by fallingfrog on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @06:24PM (#18341777)

Me too- I remember catching frogs in the water by my parents house and listening to the peepers at night. Now, the frogs are gone. I don't know where they went..

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by ahje on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @06:58AM (#18335358)

Butterflies in my case. There used to be lots of them around here when I was a child. Luckily, there still seems to be enough bumblebees around to keep plants pollinated. I hope it lasts.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by jaegerpicker on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @01:41PM (#18339303)

My version is lightning bugs. Growing up I used to go out to catch lightning bugs all the time and there would be hundreds of them in nearly any field. Now I'm surprised and delighted just to see a dozen or so of them.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by mikestew on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @02:19PM (#18339764)

Did you move, by chance? I ask because I haven't seen lightening bugs in years. Not because of environmental disaster, but because I moved from Indiana to the West Coast. I kinda figured lightening bugs were everywhere. Turns out...

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by m4n on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @08:51AM (#18336000)

Eagles in my case. About 17-18 years ago, West India, I would see huge eagles and ask my dad silly questions. Now we hardly see any crow and sparrow here.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by siruncledrew on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @02:11PM (#18339676)

It's sad because we really don't appreciate these small things in our lives until they are gone.

I think humans are naturally receptive to nature, but we take nature for granted when it's always there, until one day it isn't.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by novaleaf on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @02:52PM (#18340121)

For those who grew up in the Pacific Northwest: Seagulls.

30 years ago if you went to the coast you would have hundreds of seagulls on every beach. If you go there today you are lucky to see more than 5 in an entire day.

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by Aloha on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @03:00PM (#18340201)

Remarkably, the same in Los Angeles

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by hassan_shaikley on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:18PM (#18348517)

There's a ton here in cold fucking Alberta

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Re:Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major r... by ainiriand on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @12:29PM (#18338405)

Ladybugs in my case, the gardens were full. Now they are a very rare encounter as the plants don't have aphids anymore.

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