Why care if species go extinct?

‘Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction and governments must end the orgy of destruction’.

Antonio Guterres speaking truth in the only way he knows.

2 Likes

If we don’t care, we will go extinct ourselves!
Living in harmonious coexistence including with surroundings and subhuman beings is what we, the humankind, should strive for and look forward to!

1 Like

At present it looks like we’ve fully embraced unsustainability. The whole argument that once the rich get rich enough they will create employment for the rest and the wealth will trickle down is as old as unregulated capitalism itself. Yet, every time someone argues that our pursuit of growth and unaimed opulence are bad for humans and other species, we get the same trickle down argument as a response. Perhaps our plundering will bring about our end, too. There’s justice in that. We are moving toward a very grim climax community, and much of the grimness is our doing.

1 Like

Well, as long as there are people like you who are aware of the situation, there is still hope that we can turn things around. After all, it is not that difficult. It is simple, but not easy.

Thankfully, a significant percentage of the younger generation seem concerned and angered by the state of things. We can hope that their concern will grow and serve to change the world.

1 Like

You are absolutely right. How is it that you are interested in this subject? You seem to be very well informed, what sources do you use?

Every generation thinks that. That’s because every generation is naive and idealistic. As if humans are capable of knowing how things should or shouldn’t be in the world.

The disappearance of humans is inevitable. The disappearance of every other higher life form is inevitable. Even the lowest life forms will probably disappear some day. Most likely it will all be replaced by something else.

The thing is that humans think they know what should or shouldn’t be. The entire concept of should and shouldn’t implies human godhood.

Nature doesn’t know or care about “should or shouldn’t”. Evolution doesn’t care about should or shouldn’t. Nature and evolution don’t care about right or wrong. There is no such thing as right or wrong from the perspective of nature. Nature doesn’t think. It doesn’t have morals. It doesn’t have a goal. It simply exists and continues to exist in one form or another.

This planet has been through a lot of shit during it’s long history. It’s survived and continued to evolve. It will continue to exist and evolve well into the future, probably long after humans have disappeared.

If anyone believes that humans are a problem, then they shouldn’t have any kids. They shouldn’t get vaccinated for COVID or any other virus. They shouldn’t do any of the things that modern “unnatural” technologies have introduced into the world.

If humans are the problem, maybe people need to stop thinking that more humans are better, that the longer they live the better. The world population has increased more than five billion people during my lifetime. I can see (and hear) it all around me - housing, concrete, buildings, traffic, noise - taking the place of fields, and woods, and wetlands. Open space where I used to walk or ride my bicycle is gone.

Just what exactly is the “solution” to that? Did evolution do too good of a job with humans? Does such a thing even exist? Did evolution do too good of a job at creating humans who are capable of living almost anywhere on the planet, even in the most harsh environments?

If there is any such thing a living “naturally”, there are very few places on the planet where humans can live like that, and only with very small numbers in a given area. I use the word “natural” myself, but where do you draw the line between natural and unnatural? Which parts of humans are unnatural? Is it even possible for humans to do things that are not natural, that are not the result of natural evolution? If it’s unnatural, where did it come from?

This is not intended to be a fatalistic view. It’s only intended to put things in perspective. Are humans destroying the planet? I seriously doubt if humans are capable of doing that. Are things changing? Certainly. Are they changing for the worse? That depends on your perspective, which is almost certainly an anthropocentric perspective.

2 Likes

I don’t believe that humans per se are the problem. Some of the behaviors we have adopted over the last 500 years are, and will lead to our own extinction unless we change them, which we are perfectly capable of doing.

Thanks, but I wouldn’t necessarily call myself well informed. I hope the following doesn’t sound strange, but I treat my experience in the world as a great source. That is, things I read about the environment, I always compared against my experience, and my experience is also subjected to insights from readings. This way, I’m slightly better able to discard fluffy pieces and have some critical basis to evaluate my experience(s). As for readings - i like them all: literature, development studies, ecological texts, blogs :slight_smile:

1 Like

I don’t think this is a fatalistic view. I too think that humans cannot “outwit” the planet (and outwitting nature seems to be the goal of science and technology today). There is some consolation in knowing that the human species, like most other species, will perhaps be wiped away. Just that it’s a little sad to see how much hubris we indulge in the meanwhile. :slight_smile:

1 Like