Industrial emissions are one way humans are changing this planet, but not the only way. We are also directly killing countless species at a rate that dwarfs the rates estimated in the previous Big Five extinctions. We are killing them mostly by destroying their habitats. We are forcing countless species to move, driving them from their ecological niches. The extra carbon in the air is holding in the Sun’s heat; it’s also soaking into the ocean, forming carbonic acid (like in soft drinks), which is compounding our looming troubles.
