It’s all in the title, really. From Rebecca Falconer writing at Axios:

“The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) "Living Planet Report 2020" that monitored 4,392 species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians from 1970 to 2016 points to one underlying cause for the populations decline and deterioration of nature: humanity.”

That’s a surprise for the ages. Humans you say?

What in particular are these pesky humans doing?

“Deforestation undertaken to increase agricultural land space was the biggest contributor to the decline.”

Some of the more alarming statistics:

“Populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have seen the biggest fall, with an average decline of 94%. Global freshwater species have fallen 84%.”

Ok, maybe we should just forget about all of this and focus on Covid-19 first?

“The spillover of pathogens from animals to humans—driven mainly by human behaviors like urbanization and the demand to eat meat—is increasing, Axios' Eileen Drage O'Reilly notes.”

Um….

It’s all connected, and we truly are a scourge on this planet.

The planet sure is fighting back though.

[Cover photo: An Yuan/China News Service/Visual China Group via Getty Images]