Read the following excerpt from E. O. Wilson's "The Environmental Ethic."
Species are disappearing at an accelerating rate through human action, primarily habitat destruction but also pollution
and the introduction of exotic species into residual natural environments. I have said that a fifth or more of the species
of plants and animals could vanish or be doomed to early extinction by the year 2020 unless better efforts are made to
save them. ... As the last forests are felled (destroyed] in forest strongholds like the Philippines and Ecuador, the
decline of species will accelerate even more. In the world as a whole, extinction rates are already hundreds or thousands
of times higher than before the coming of man. They cannot be balanced by new evolution in any period of time that has
meaning for the human race.
Why should we care? What difference does it make if some species are extinguished, if even half of all the species on
earth disappear? Let me count the ways. New sources of scientific information will be lost. Vast potential biological
wealth will be destroyed. Still undeveloped medicines, crops, pharmaceuticals, timber, fibers, pulp, soil-restoring
vegetation, petroleum substitutes, and other products and amenities will never come to light.

Based on the excerpt, which statement best summarizes the author's beliefs about the disappearing species?