Last Born In The Wilderness

I speak with ecologist and evolutionary biologist Chris Thomas, author of Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction. In this discussion, Chris lays out his understanding of whether we have truly entered into the “Sixth Mass Extinction Event,” and provides his views on whether the current rate of species extinction on this planet lives up to that dire description. Chris also discusses the difficult challenges ecologists and conservationists are currently facing in the effort to preserve species in a radically changing world, and lays out the choices that lay before us when it comes to the difficult task of conserving biodiversity and preventing species loss in the face of anthropogenic climate change and other human-caused crises. We also discuss his view of whether abrupt changes in the global climate system will lead to severe loss of life on this planet, in particular human life, or whether many of the fears regarding this subject are overblown, but rooted in legitimate unders