Global Warming and the Extinction Process

Global warming is pushing us deeper and deeper into the next great extinction. We're going to be so busy running around and saying goodbye--shaking paws, flippers, fins, wings and legs--that you may want to keep that diary open and save up some leave time:

More than 3,000 flying foxes dropped dead, falling from trees in Australia. Giant squid migrated north to commercial fishing grounds off California, gobbling anchovy and hake. Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps.

While humans debate at U.N. climate change talks in Bali, global warming is already wreaking havoc with nature. Most plants and animals are affected, and the change is occurring too quickly for them to evolve.

"A hell of a lot of species are in big trouble," said Stephen E. Williams, the director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity & Climate Change at James Cook University in Australia.

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