The disruption of entire eco-systems is harmful to the people who depend upon them for their economic survival. Poaching in developing countries may temporarily enrich the poachers, but posterity is inevitably impoverished.

Some signs of climate change are conspicuous. Hurricane Sandy, for instance. Other signs, such as the precarious predicament of the tuatara is less so. The tuatara is on the road to extinction. Why is the tenuous existence of this simple little lizard noteworthy, you ask?

He raked in $17 million at the box office last weekend. As a mom, I can testify that Pixar's Nemo is a kid-pleasing cinematic success. But his real-life counterpart is in terrible trouble.

Quietly, without ritual or public fanfare, the Western Black Rhino this year was officially declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. None are believed left in the wild.