Future not rosy for wildlife

This summer I have spent less time than usual outdoors and more time inside reading about the outdoors. 

The main reason for this, of course, has been the weather. Unfortunately several of the books have been rather depressing. This is because their subject has been the accelerating impact of human activity on the world’s biodiversity.

In 1700 there were about 700 million human beings on the planet. By 1800 this had grown to 950 million, by 1900 to 1.6 billion and by 2000 to 6 billion. Today, the figure is just short of 7 billion. This is growth at an extraordinary speed. And as we have increased in numbers wild creatures have decreased with equal rapidity.