It isn't just polar bears and penguins that we must worry about any more. |
The hot spots studied in this paper are essentially refugee camps for many of our planet's most unique plant and animal species. If those areas are no longer habitable due to global warming then we will quite literally be destroying the last sanctuaries many of these species have left. |
We know that species move their ranges when climate changes. We have to begin to look at if our protected areas are in the right places. |
We're probably looking at one of the worst spasms of extinction in millions of years, even without climate change. But we have it in our ability to do something about it. |