There are numerous threats to biodiversity, which can be broken down into five categories: habitat, over exploitation, invasive species, disease, and climate change. Habitats experience degradation, destruction, fragmentation, and changes to the landscape. Over exploitation is caused by hunting and over harvesting. Invasive species are a threat when humans move species into new places or when humans create conditions for a population explosion and thus the overpopulation of a species in an environment. Diseases that kill off species, like malaria, are also threats to biodiversity. Lastly, climate change is a threat, escalating the other four types of threats.

So what if things go extinct? As biodiversity is being depleted, humans will lose their options. There will be a loss of natural capital; a loss of sources of innovation including synthetics, medicines, and mechanical process; a loss of ecosystem services such as pollination, clean water, nutrient rich soil, and breathable air; climate instability; and a loss of inner balance, a spiritual vertigo.