The statistics presented in the Biodiversity and the Human reading are shocking to say the least. 

"Human destruction of species and habitats... is now global in scale, affecting a much broader range of organisms. Now invertebrates, other small animals, marine and other aquatic organisms, and significantly, plants are also threatened.  In other words, entire species clusters and the habitats they occupy are now under assault."

Another thing I found surprising was the necessity of plants and animals for medicinal cures.  Talk of rain-forest destruction always revolves around greenhouse gases and never the more direct destruction of human population (or at least the talk I've heard).  

The article really brought forward a viewpoint I had never really considered.  The pie chart on the first page visually exhibits how astounding it is that our species has destroyed so much of the planet we share with billions of other animals.