About this newsletter
Four percent. This number represents the woefully small proportion of the Earth’s mammals who are wild. They used to take up a much bigger share. But due to all manner of expulsion, extermination, and commercial exploitation, wild mammals now make up only a fraction of the world’s biomass compared to the past.
This newsletter’s title is a hat tip to the wild mammals that remain (and those who are now lost). But The 4 Percent is not solely about them.
Wild beings of all shapes, sizes, and sorts, have seen similar declines to their mammal counterparts. Currently, the Living Planet Index sits at 27.1%. The LPI is an annual assessment of the state of global biodiversity, against a 1970 baseline (100%). I was born at 92.7% LPI, signalling that populations of wild species have declined massively – by over 65% – in my lifetime.
Climate-wise, I was born at around 331ppm (average concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere). Now we’re hovering around 425ppm. Many of you may be familiar with ‘ppm’. In fact, some of you might have your own ‘born at such-and-such ppm’ record listed somewhere, such as on your social media profiles – because it matters.
Our LPI records – or whatever other biodiversity metric you prefer – matter too. Emptying the planet of its diverse array of wildlife is as dangerous as barrelling down the path towards a hotter Earth because wild animals do lots of stuff that make living on Earth possible (think: pollinators).
Both crises – climate and biodiversity – also share the same cause: the Extinction Machine. This juggernaut has prioritised profit (for some) over all else, dragging the planet into climate chaos and its living organisms towards disaster.
Throwing a wrench in the Machine’s destructive works is the best hope anyone has - humans and other animals - of getting out of this mess alive.
This is why The 4 Percent exists. To rage against the Extinction Machine.
What can you expect from this newsletter?
Stories that centre on crisis, culpability, coexistence, and above all else, connections. In other words, The 4 Percent offers planetary interest journalism for the extinction crisis.
Why should you subscribe to this newsletter?
Living organisms are hardwired for survival. It’s in our very nature to fight to survive.
Given half the chance, wild animals will fight to bounce back. But to give them that possibility, we must rage, rage against the dying of their light.
About Tracy
I’ve worked in journalism for ten years, with a laser focus on environmental issues since 2020. I’m a fellow with Internews' Earth Journalism Network, having participated in its UN Ocean Conference fellowship in 2022. I completed a further year-long fellowship with the organisation focused on examining the sustainability of the legal trade in wildlife, which concluded in April 2024.
My articles have been published in The Ecologist, Yahoo News Australia, Daily Maverick, Stray Dog Institute, The Revelator, Sentient Media, DeSmog, and elsewhere.
You can read more about me and see examples of my work here.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
Original photo for featured image and logo by Deepak kumar on Unsplash
Inspiration for the newsletter description includes Rage Against the Machine (band) and Dylan Thomas (writer)
