Over the weekend of May 6-7, 2019, news broke about the threat of extinction of as many as 1 million animal and plant species around the world. Scientists from the UN Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services published this dire report citing man’s negative impacts on nature in every corner of the planet, including New England, and of course, Massachusetts. Pesticides and loss of habitat due to overdevelopment, overconsumption, and climate change are the culprits.

In their report and the interviews that followed, scientists warned that the worst will happen if we do nothing to help nature and to restore biodiversity (which is essential for all life). These scientists did offer a sense of hope, as long as citizens act now to save/conserve/restore the environment.