# One Third of Species May Be Headed Toward Extinction by Stuart Pimm > “A median estimate is that a third of all the species will be on the fast track to extinction within the next quarter century. Over 90% of all languages will be gone by then, because languages spoken by fewer than a million people are rarely taught to children. Most tropical forests will be gone by 2025 and with them, their species and peoples. Global warming will ensure that the species that survive do so in the wrong place. Coral reefs will be cooked alive in too-warm oceans, tropical glaciers will long have been only a memory preserved in the National Geographic photo collection.” > **— Stuart Pimm**, *2002, Edge Annual Question, “What Is Your Question? ... Why?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Does life on Earth have a future?](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10821) — Edge published this exact passage in its 2002 Annual Question collection, *WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION? ... WHY?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2002 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2002 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the complete response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Nolan's Odyssey]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Species-Level Maturation|Species-Level Maturation]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Species-Level Maturation|Species-Level Maturation]] - [[wiki/Coevolution|Coevolution]] - [[wiki/Species|Species]] - [[wiki/Convergent Evolution|Convergent Evolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “A median estimate is that a third of all the species will be on the fast track to extinction within the next quarter century. Over 90% of all languages will be gone by then, because languages spoken by fewer than a million people are rarely taught to children. Most tropical forests will be gone by 2025 and with them, their species and peoples. Global warming will ensure that the species that survive do so in the wrong place. Coral reefs will be cooked alive in too-warm oceans, tropical glaciers will long have been only a memory preserved in the National Geographic photo collection.” — Stuart Pimm, 2002, Edge Annual Question, “What Is Your Question? ... Why?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-stuart-pimm-one-third-species-headed-toward ```