Sawing Off the Limb on Which It Perches

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In the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Biodiversity, there is a sign bearing the words of biologist Paul Ehrlich: “IN PUSHING OTHER SPECIES TO EXTINCTION, HUMANITY IS BUSY SAWING OFF THE LIMB ON WHICH IT PERCHES.” Writer Elizabeth Kolbert references this sign in her book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Copies of …

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