300 | The Great Ape Project small bird cannot move until its habitat moves, which will likely be much slower than the speed the emu-wren will need, given the rate of temperature increase Unless humans intervene and translocate individuals to suitable habitat farther south, this bird will most likely go extinct within the next 25–50 years Unfortunately, only about 2,000 km2 of suitable native habitat are available today, two- to three-year-old spinifex grass is needed to create suitable habitat farther south After the birds are moved to a new habitat, preventing a fire cycle with a frequency of less than 10 to 15 years is necessary to ensure that both the habitat and the emuwren survive Many factors are needed for a successful managed relocation: money, knowledge of how to move a species successfully, the ability to introduce individuals in a manner that allows establishment of a group but at the same time ensures that it does not become an invasive species and cause the extinction of other species, land, personnel, or negate political will Also absent is the long-term commitment needed to monitor even a small percentage of the functionally extinct species we know of today Consequently, many biologists believe we are standing at the brink of a mass extinction that would be caused by one species—us Roughly 20–30 percent of known species could likely be at increasingly high risk of extinction if global mean temperatures increase 2–3 C above pre-industrial temperatures (1.3–2.3o C above current temperatures) Given that there are around 1.7 million identified species on the globe, somewhere between 340,000 and 570,000 species could be committed to extinction primarily due to our carelessness Extinctions are virtually certain to reduce our societal options, such as adaptation responses, medicine, and others If we not change our present trajectory of using carbon-intensive energy, then the global average temperature could go above 4oC, which could commit 40 to 50 percent of known species to extinction In addition to endangering a large number of our ecosystem services (e.g., pollinating our crops), loss of any species is irreversible, and as such it is an unethically high price to pay Indeed, many people pay higher insurance premiums for lesser catastrophes with much lower probabilities of happening In recent years, it has been pointed out that, especially in the United States, what each of us does adds up Suggestions have included driving highly fuel-efficient cars; not using incandescent light bulbs anywhere; using more efficient roofing materials; using highly energy efficient windows, heaters, air conditioners and appliances; using materials that not need to be shipped long distances; and making sure all materials are harvested sustainably Further Reading Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001 Climate change 2001: Impacts, adaptations, and vulnerability New York: Cambridge University Press The Royal Society 2005 Ocean acidification due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide Policy document 12/05 Terry L Root THE GREAT APE PROJECT The Great Ape Project aims to grant basic moral and legal rights to nonhuman great apes—chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans Since its establishment, many other organizations strive for the