Scientists: Plants fought for millions of years to survive, but then humans came.

The sixth mass extinction of species is currently underway on the planet. This is the first extinction happening so rapidly in planetary history, and the most destructive of all the earlier ones! Humans strike a blow not only to the number of animals but also to genetic diversity — destroying the most valuable thing ever created by nature.

Moreover, if previously extinctions occurred while preserving wildlife refugia — strongholds that remained stable even during planetary cataclysms — now humans deliberately intrude upon such refuges to “develop” them.

Exactly such legislation is being introduced worldwide right now! With unbelievable hatred, eyes bloodshot at the sight of money, people use any means to destroy the mosaic remnants of wildlife refuges.

I have mentioned it many times, but apparently I need to keep repeating: according to the meta-studies of global scientists from 2024, over the last 50 years alone humanity has eradicated about 73% of all animals on the planet! And right now, over a million species of animals and plants are on the brink of extinction.

Here it is — the real scale of ecocide.

Today, I want to tell you about a new scientific work. I have just finished studying it, and the research itself was published on March 6, 2025! The latest up-to-date data.

The study is large and complex, so I understand that very few will read it thoroughly. I will try to briefly describe the scientists’ findings so that you can grasp the scale of the problem!

The work is called “Age-constrained floristic trends in the southern polar region show a gradual recovery of gymnosperms in the Early Triassic after end-Permian events.”

Scientists found out that after the Permian extinction, which is considered the most terrible catastrophe in the world, plants had to fight for their survival for MILLIONS OF YEARS.

So!

The research was conducted by a group of scientists from University College Cork (UCC), the Natural History Museum Vienna, and the University of Connecticut. The specialists were investigating how exactly plants responded to the global climate change 250 million years ago.

The Permian extinction occurred about 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period. The catastrophe was triggered by the eruption of supervolcanoes, which later formed the Siberian Traps — a giant region of ancient volcanic rock in Siberia. They appeared precisely due to the events that led to the Permian extinction.

I believe you have heard of the Siberian Traps! The territory was huge, reaching about 7 million km², roughly the size of Australia. The eruptions lasted hundreds of thousands of years, resulting in the release of CO₂ and methane, while the planet’s temperature rose by 8–10 degrees. Consequently, there was a lack of oxygen on Earth and ocean acidification occurred, which led to the Permian extinction.

At that time, about 70% of all land animals died, while the oceans were almost entirely depleted — up to 96% of marine species went extinct. This is why the Permian extinction is often called the “Great Dying,” one of the largest volcanic events in Earth’s history.

There have been five mass extinctions on the planet in total! Humans triggered the ongoing sixth one, while the Permian extinction was the third. It was extremely rapid in geologic terms — literally a deadly collapse of the biosphere!

The Permian extinction lasted from 60,000 to 200,000 years, with estimates still varying! The human-triggered extinction, however, has already led to the death of 73% of all species in just the last 50 years.

Can you imagine the real magnitude of our impact? We — humankind — have become MORE DANGEROUS AND DEADLY than the worst extinction in Earth’s history.

After the Permian extinction, it took up to 10 million years for the Biosphere to fully recover. A new evolutionary story and a new era of life, attempting to rebuild ecosystems!

Now, let’s return to the new research. Its results were published in the “Bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey.” And in fact, it’s an amazing work that helps us understand what we are facing today!

Scientists studied fossils from various Australian deposits, examining fossilized plants and rocks from the Sydney Basin in eastern Australia. They had to piece together millions of years of history to form a picture of nature after the extinction.

It turned out that coniferous trees, the ancestors of modern pines, were among the first to settle on land right after the catastrophe. In other words, the living organism of the Forest — with its last strength — began to restore Life!

However, forests had a very hard time. Scientists found that the trees tried to recover but went extinct several times again. More resilient shrub-like plants, which resembled modern clubmosses, took their place!

Experts call this stage the “Late Smithian Thermal Maximum” — a period that lasted about 700 thousand (!!) years. So it took almost a million years just for the first plants to gain a foothold on land again!

Subsequently, cooling followed, leading to the emergence of giant seed ferns. These are the very forests that documentary filmmakers tried to recreate on screen, showing the times of dinosaurs! Enormous majestic plants dominated the Earth for the next millions of years, becoming the foundation of future life during the Mesozoic era of dinosaurs.

And here, I need to make a small digression.

Scientists say it’s incorrect to call this a “forest recovery,” because it’s not that simple. Millions of years after the Permian extinction, when the Earth entered the Mesozoic era, the forests looked almost the same as before the extinction! But — all the plant species in the new forest were entirely different.

Let me quote Dr. Chris Mays, head of the mass extinction study group at University College Cork.

“The term ‘recovery’ can be misleading. Forests do come back over time, but extinctions are forever.”

Here’s another comment from Marcos Amores, the lead author of the study:

“This study highlights how important plants are, not only as the foundation of terrestrial food chains, but also as natural carbon sinks that stabilize the Earth’s climate […] Destroying these systems can have consequences lasting hundreds of thousands of years, so protecting modern ecosystems is more important than ever.”

Essentially, why was the research conducted? Scientists wanted to understand how exactly ancient plant ecosystems endured the planet’s extreme conditions. Most importantly — how long and how difficult the revival of life was.

This will help us understand how modern plants can cope with future crises and withstand pressure from humans.

And the main conclusions: it was hard, very, very hard! It took plants and trees millions of years to simply restore their populations. More precisely, to create new species and rediscover Life. Complete recovery of the Biosphere, as I mentioned earlier, took about 10 million years.

And now to understand the situation happening in our day.

According to the consolidated assessment by RBG Kew, presented in the “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, around 39.4% (about 2 out of 5) of the described plant species may be at risk of extinction. In other words, right now nearly half of all plants in the world are on the brink of extinction!

Meanwhile, in certain regions — especially tropical forests — the share of disappearing species is even higher, as detailed scientific estimates from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and IPBES indicate.

And it’s happening because of humans! The rate at which we are destroying plants is incomparable even to the Permian extinction era. This is what’s truly important to reflect upon!

We have become the most destructive cataclysm in the planet’s history. While earlier extinctions occurred unconsciously, it’s different with humans: we act knowingly, collectively, penetrating the most remote corners of the wild and destroying it from within.

Our activities disrupt the planet’s immune system, interfering with all those natural self-regulation cycles formed over the last millions of years!

As a result, our actions destroy Earth’s multi-million-year evolutionary history, condemning living species to spend millions more years creating new life on the planet… but after us.

Do we really want this to happen “after us”? To become a disease poisoning the planet and then disappear, leaving deep scars on Earth? Or perhaps we should unite, all of us together, consciously, to defend Life?

Because that is precisely what we are calling for!

The concept of Territories of Complete Ecological Tranquility (ТПЭС) is our plan to prevent the sixth mass extinction on the planet, to preserve existing ecosystems, and to rethink the role of Humanity on Earth.

Sign our Concept! Help spread it. Let’s do everything so that we don’t live our tiny destinies in vain. Let’s not be cancer cells!

Instead — I call on you to unite in the fight for Life.

There is still time to change everything.

© PAVEL PASHKOV