Films / Movies / Films & Videos / FIsh, Fishing, Seafood / WILDLIFE

Documentary Film: Racing Extinction

by Jennie Richards · Published January 15, 2016 · Updated July 26, 2021

“Mankind may be causing the greatest mass extinction event in the history of our universe. We are driving species to extinction 1000 times faster than we should be. In next 50 years we could lose 50 percent of all species on the Earth.” This is the voice of Oscar®-winning film director Louie Psihoyos and writer Mark Monroe (The Cove), who have assembled a team of artists, scientists, biologists and activists to bring never-before-seen images that expose the dire crises of escalating numbers of threatened and endangered species and the world’s sixth major mass extinction. Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, Louie Psihoyos brings us a hauntingly beautiful and profoundly moving documentary film that is an alarming wakeup call to all of us, before it’s too late.

The film looks at the illegal wildlife trade around the world, and zeros in on undercover investigations conducted into the shark fin and the manta ray gill trade in Hong Kong and mainland China, for the purpose of traditional medicines. At one point, they document 20,000 shark fins drying in the sun in Hong Kong, and show the slow, painful death of sharks that have just had their fins cut off and are unable to swim and are struggling to stay alive as they drown. The film highlights the slow extinction of the Blue Whale that is being decimated by increased shipping traffic and larger ships navigating the oceans. The filmmakers’ conduct an undercover investigation into The Hump and Typhoon Restaurants in Los Angeles, where they were illegally serving endangered whale meat caught by the Japanese. They travel to China and covertly capture the illegal black market in exotic animals for food in China, and expose the illegal wildlife market that is located in dark, hidden, hard-to-find warehouses where you see first-hand how the enormous Chinese and Asian markets’ trade in exotic and endangered animals is literally “wiping out entire generations of animals every year.”

Racing Extinction premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was followed by a limited theater release across the U.S. It was later broadcast worldwide on The Discovery Channel in 220 countries on December 2, 2015.

Important Quotes from the Film

“When the buying stops, the killing can stop too.”

“We always think there will be someone else to save these animals.”

“Mankind may be causing the greatest mass extinction event in the history of our universe.”

“The West is doing an incredible job at wiping out species and destroying the planet.”

“There have been five major mass extinctions on the planet, the last one was 65 million years ago – caused by the impact of an asteroid. This 6^th mass extinction is being caused by humanity and humanity’s impact on the planet.”

“We’re the ONLY generation left to save these animals. We’re it! As we face more and more animal extinction, we need more and more saviors. We need more people to care. The decisions we make every day add up.”

“We’ve stopped listening to how the whole world’s animals are singing, clicking, calling – all over the planet. Many of the species that have been recorded in the last 50 years have already gone extinct.”

“The Chinese and Asian markets are wiping out entire generations of animals in one year. I couldn’t believe it when I walked in – just giant manta rays lying everywhere—for an old Chinese medicinal remedy that is no longer practiced. They are available in giant seafood and medicine stores in China.”

“We’re living during the 6^th major mass extinction event and it’s being caused by humanity and humanity’s impact on the planet. There have been five major mass extinctions on the planet before this one. The last one was 65 million years ago that killed the dinosaurs, caused by the impact of an massive asteroid.”

“The Blue Whale is the largest creature on planet Earth, and it’s going extinct. It’s being decimated by shipping traffic.”

“One common factor in all six mass extinctions is carbon dioxide. We’re making our lives a lot better for us, but we’re doing it at the expense of all the planetary and natural systems.”

“No part of the ocean is free from human impact now. Our life depends on the oceans breathing. In the last 50 years, we have reduced plankton by more than 50 percent — plankton that all living things in the ocean depend on. If we take out plankton, the whole web collapses.”

“We need to get people off meat, milk and eggs – for the planet and because of climate change. The raising of livestock causes more greenhouse gas pollution than the entire transportation sector. 60% of all climate changing noxious gases are caused by raising animal food in the U.S.”

“The people that control CITES are actually the very people who trade in exotic animals. It is completely defeating the purpose that CITES is for.”

“Don’t say why bother. Don’t be apathetic. Care. Be The Change. Movements are started with one person. Be that person.”