Life on Earth is hurtling towards extinction levels comparable to those following the dinosaur-erasing asteroid impact of 65 million years ago, propelled forward by human activities.

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, believe that if current extinction rates continue unabated, and vulnerable species disappear, Earth could lose three-quarters of its species as soon as three centuries from now.

Human activities are causing extinction levels comparable to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, scientists warn. Credit:NASA

''That's a geological eyeblink,'' said Nicholas Matzke, a graduate student at UC Berkeley and author of a paper presenting the doom-and-gloom scenario. ''Once you lose species, you don't get them back. It takes millions of years to rebound from a mass extinction event.''

This means that not too far in the future, backyards might not be buzzing with bees, bombarded by seagulls or shaded by redwood trees. And while that might seem far off, species already are disappearing on a global scale.