“Racing Extinction,” a documentary on plant and animal extinction, will be shown Tuesday night.

Free and open to the public, the documentary will be shown at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

The documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Louie Psihoyos is about the man-made causes behind what biologists call the sixth mass extinction — the spate of plant and animal losses that threatens to eradicate up to half of all living species on Earth within the century.

The film was shown on the Discovery Channel in December and uses activists, scientists, nature photographers and cutting-edge inventors “to reveal the black-market trade in endangered species.”

A discussion of the documentary will take place after the screening.

More information and a trailer are available at racingextinction.com.

The screening is part of the University Symposium on Sustainability and is sponsored by National Affairs, Office of Sustainability, Sustainapalooza, The Green Umbrella and the Committee on Lectures.