International pledge on biodiversity broken, study finds
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100429_biodiversity
I'm not surprised. In order that life shall go on for us, in our ever-growing numbers, we require more and more food, more and more land to grow it, more and more land for shelter, more and more of everything. No one in his right mind would demand of someone that he deny himself, his spouse, or, above all, his children what they need for survival:
I have two sons. One is tall and gangly, with a face speckled by a galaxy of freckles and deepest blue eyes; the other is a blond-haired and dark-eyed. They are both mis-chievous and playful, willful and happy, the normal mix of boyish hopes, dreams, and emotions. They are precious to me beyond belief.
I keep having a vision of living with them in the Amazon rain forest, where we exist in a small hovel no different from that inhabited by a fifth of humanity. And in this dream, my sons are hungry. Behind my house sits one last patch of forest, and in that pristine copse is the nest of a beautiful bird, the last nest, it so happens, of that species. This vision is a nightmare to me because, even knowing that these birds are the last of their race, I don’t have the slightest doubt about what I would do to feed my sons, to keep them alive. I would do whatever I had to do, including destroying the last of another species.
Anyone who thinks he or she might do otherwise probably is not a parent. There are a great number of parents currently on the earth, and many more on the way.
- Peter D. Ward, Rivers in Time: The Search for Clues to Earth’s Mass Extinctions (Columbia University Press, 2000), pp. 283-285
I have to agree with him: nobody who cares about their children is going to see those children starve if there's any way he can avoid it. Now, multiply that by seven billion, and counting. We seem to be caught in a no-win end-game here. Unless something short of all-out nuclear war or some other world-wrecking disaster happens to drastically reduce human population numbers virtually overnight, and do it soon, humanity and the rest of Earth's life are looking at a massive mass extinction to come soon -- one that could include us. And there are no real-life miracles in sight that could rescue us and the rest of our living world from the Auditors now barreling toward us all at warp speed. Where are Ronnie Soak and the Angel of Death when you really, really, really need them?
I'm not surprised. In order that life shall go on for us, in our ever-growing numbers, we require more and more food, more and more land to grow it, more and more land for shelter, more and more of everything. No one in his right mind would demand of someone that he deny himself, his spouse, or, above all, his children what they need for survival:
I have two sons. One is tall and gangly, with a face speckled by a galaxy of freckles and deepest blue eyes; the other is a blond-haired and dark-eyed. They are both mis-chievous and playful, willful and happy, the normal mix of boyish hopes, dreams, and emotions. They are precious to me beyond belief.
I keep having a vision of living with them in the Amazon rain forest, where we exist in a small hovel no different from that inhabited by a fifth of humanity. And in this dream, my sons are hungry. Behind my house sits one last patch of forest, and in that pristine copse is the nest of a beautiful bird, the last nest, it so happens, of that species. This vision is a nightmare to me because, even knowing that these birds are the last of their race, I don’t have the slightest doubt about what I would do to feed my sons, to keep them alive. I would do whatever I had to do, including destroying the last of another species.
Anyone who thinks he or she might do otherwise probably is not a parent. There are a great number of parents currently on the earth, and many more on the way.
- Peter D. Ward, Rivers in Time: The Search for Clues to Earth’s Mass Extinctions (Columbia University Press, 2000), pp. 283-285
I have to agree with him: nobody who cares about their children is going to see those children starve if there's any way he can avoid it. Now, multiply that by seven billion, and counting. We seem to be caught in a no-win end-game here. Unless something short of all-out nuclear war or some other world-wrecking disaster happens to drastically reduce human population numbers virtually overnight, and do it soon, humanity and the rest of Earth's life are looking at a massive mass extinction to come soon -- one that could include us. And there are no real-life miracles in sight that could rescue us and the rest of our living world from the Auditors now barreling toward us all at warp speed. Where are Ronnie Soak and the Angel of Death when you really, really, really need them?