"Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction".

Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction is the first feature length documentary investigating the growing threat to the Earth's life support systems from this unprecedented loss of biodiversity (www.calloflife.org 2011).

Through interviews with leading scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers and indigenous leaders the film explores the causes, the extent, and the potential effects of the mass extinction. The documentary also looks beyond the immediate causes of the crisis to consider how our cultural and economic systems, along with psychological and behavioural patterns have allowed this situation to develop, and determine our response to it.

The documentary opens with the shocking statement that "if current trends continue, scientists warn that within a few decades at least 50% of all plant and animal species will disappear forever" (Call of Life 2010).

Here is the trailer for the film (from Youtube):

The documentary gives  a really good introduction into mass extinctions putting into perspective the vast amount of time that life has been on Earth without the influence of humans. All previous extinction events have occurred with a slow decline in species number over a period of many centuries, a brief period of time compared to the millions of years it took to recover diversity after each event. However, advocates of the sixth mass extinction believe that this event will not take centuries to unfold, it will take place over our lifetimes (Call of Life 2010).

Scientists in the documentary believe that half of all plant and animal species will disappear in the wild within the next 30-40 years including many of the most familiar and beloved large mammals such as polar bears, elephants, and chimpanzees. One example of this is the African lion, where populations have declined by 90% since the 1980s. (Call of Life 2010). Many bird species are similarly imperilled, with songbird populations having halved in the last 40 years (www.calloflife.org 2011). The oceans are not safe either, populations of large ocean fish have declined by 90% since the 1950s (Call of Life 2010).

(Image showing African lion. Only 10% of 1980s populations remain today, it would be devastating to lose such a beautiful animal forever. From: www.africanvoyages.com)

People tend to forget plants, however large losses of biodiversity are also being experienced amongst this group. 1 in 8 plant species of plant life worldwide face extinction, this is most shocking in the United States where the figure is as high as 1 in 3 (www.calloflife.org 2011).

For a look at some interesting endangered plant life click here: http://webecoist.com/2008/11/03/strange-rare-bizarre-endangered-flowers-plants-and-trees/

The documentary focuses upon the higher estimate that modern rate of extinction could be 10,000 times greater than the natural background rate, with tens of thousands of species vanishing every year including many that have yet to be discovered or named (Call of Life 2010). As well as highlighting attention that when species within an ecosystem becomes extinct species depending on that species are also threatened. This cascade effect can bring an entire ecosystem to breaking point.

Call of Life ends by attempting to find solutions by examining the collective and individual responses that will be needed to mitigate the impacts of the mass extinction, stating the critical choices we have before us. Before ending on a positive note emphasising that we still have time to avert the worst of the crisis and save much of the biosphere if we act now.

For more information please visit: http://www.calloflife.org/

References:

Call of Life: facing the mass extinction. Monte Thompson. 2010
www.africanvoyages.com
www.calloflife.org
www.webecoist.com
www.youtube.com