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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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Biodiversity. The word can't help but fail to do justice to the myriad species of plants and animals, the fecundity of the natural world, the complex web of life. As a word, it’s easy to ignore.
But inattention equals extinction. Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction event, species winking out of existence before we even know them. And it is a mass extinction entirely caused by the relentless expansion of human habitat and agriculture, as well as human domination of the natural systems—such as the climate—that make life possible.
The Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations is the voice of the world’s flora and fauna. Meeting now in Nagoya, jaded government officials and well-intentioned environmentalists natter on but nothing ever seems to come of these negotiations, despite the long list of signatures on said convention.
That's because economic growth and human welfare must trump environmental stasis and ecosystem welfare. But it is not jobs or the environment. It is human wellbeing and biodiversity. Without the clean water, pollination and endless array of other services provided to humanity—for free—by our fellow denizens of the planet, our economy will not just stall, it will stop. Then who will save us, the whales?
—David Biello
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5 Comments
Add CommentI'm in a bit of a pessimistic mood today, but my answer is we will save ourselves, but only after quite a few people die.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYah - well pessimists are never disappointed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPersonally though, I think unless we get rid of our emotional (read; non-rational thought processes),and greed-based baggage, there "ain't no hope for us".
I really don't doubt that humanity's impact on the environment (especially because the global human population will soon have tripled since 1950), but I am skeptical that an adequate historical record of species discovery and extinction rates exists to support solid conclusions. Our current ability to discover new species that don't persist has never been matched in the past. I think it's too easy to be convinced that this new data is proof of new extinction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeparately, extinction events are identified statistically, for example, '95% of land species went extinct'. I don't think we have an adequate survey of different species existing at any time in the fossil record, much less the population of each species. If, for example, 5% of the total species represented 99% of the population of plants and animals, how critical would the extinction of the other 95% be, really? They would have already been effectively extinct.
Unless you refuse to associate with a large portion of the population (close to 99% of the population in the 3rd world country I live in, WV), you can not avoid the emotional turbulence caused by your surroundings. There is just too much of it for one person who managed to escape it to dodge all of it. So instead, I have become a sinkhole for such emotions because I can deal with them in more constructive ways, whereas the people I accept the BS from will just thrash around and make matters worse. It's not what I dreamed I'd be doing with my life, but the ignorance surrounding me, and the obliviousness of the rest of the country to the struggles that drive that ignorance leave me with few options other than giving up and leaving... I have too much love for certain people to do that.... I know, blah blah blah, emotions are stupid, but people don't realize that emotions are more often sign that things aren't going right than the cause of things not going right.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThough the delegates are connecting some of the primary flashpoints -- biodiversity loss, desertification, marine degradation and climate change -- that make up the complex "anthropocentric" web that mankind has been weaving around our terrestrial globo-biosphere since James Watt blew off some steam, the main issue is barely getting mentioned: human overpopulation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn his opening statement at Nagoya, Convention on Biological Diversity Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf said, "This planet's full of diverse living things and we've got to keep them safe."
Too bad he didn't mention the fact that the main reason that these species are not safe is because one species has multiplied to the tipping point of the planet's resources: Homo sapiens.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5931266/as_many_species_go_through_the_great.html?cat=9