Good points so far. I do agree with 1engineer, it was produced to play our emotions and was obviously successful, but that is what is needed these days to draw peoples' attention to important topics outside of their daily sphere of influence.
There were a couple things in the film I don't entirely agree with. First, we have no idea how many species inhabit this planet, and we discover quite a few every year. We also have not been taking records NEARLY long enough to state that species are going extinct 1,000 times faster than normal, or that human industry is the biggest or only factor pushing current climate change. However, all we can really do is hope that their estimates are off in our favor. We really cannot conclusively say how bad or good the situation is. And if we do have the power to stabilize the climate change as much as possible, wouldn't we want to do that? We are uniquely adapted to current climate conditions and it would be in exactly nobody's favor to accelerate that change to less hospitable conditions.
There may have been a few alarmist statements made, but for those who don't think the situation is as urgent as those who produced this film, I ask; why not try to err on the side of caution whenever possible? Reckless and unsustainable growth is harmful to both our species and all others around us regardless of how you view the topic. With so many animal populations in severe decline, we need to be more proactive to safeguard the biodiversity we currently have.
Killing 70 million sharks for just their fins each year is obscene and disgusting no matter how you slice it. Cutting their fins off and letting them drown in a slow death is as cruel as anything I've seen. Killing hundreds of thousands of elephants for their ivory is insane and incredibly cruel. Going after manta rays despite their lack of useful meat, decimating their populations because of their slow reproduction rate is just another example of how irresponsible and ignorant we can be. The illegal exotic species market is awful. I've experienced a lot of animals dying, most of them needlessly, and it sucks every time. Its just not right. Respectfully killing for food and to use every part of the animal you can is one thing. Indiscriminate killing and industrial scale slaughter is another, and if you see it in person and are not at least privately horrified then you have no soul.
I think the film draws much needed attention to certain parts of our world that a lot of people are willfully ignorant of. When they see the truth it can cause positive change for us to simply be more responsible people. I don't think its a stretch to say that most human industry is excessively wasteful simply because we can get away with it. When we are removed from the direct consequences of our actions, our lifestyle seems to be less harmful than it actually is. Not to mention that the solution is amazingly simple- if we just ease or eliminate destructive pressure on animal populations and environments, the wildlife will rebound and take care of itself. ALL we have to do is stop being so destructive.