Environmentalists often talk about the tragic loss of animal and plant life because of the destruction of nature. A new study of UC Berkeley ecologists, led by Justin Brashares and published in Science, shows that the damage even leads to human tragedy. The study discovered a direct link between environmental degradation and child labor and slavery. As poor people lose their traditional livelihoods and sources of food supply based on natural resources and sources of food supply—fishing for example—they are forced to work as cheap laborers to make money. “As fish and fauna are wiped out, more children around the world are forced to work, and more people are forced into indentured servitude”,the scientists write.