Extinction - A Thought Provoking Perspective

Interesting read, interesting comments. Prob a bit of truth on both sides.
Still think we should try to save the wild salmon (and the orca, the whales, any endangered species etc, etc ) to the best of our ability... rather than give up on them or exploit them to the very last one.
And the people that have been here thousands of years before us I believe think along the same lines or I hope they would..
guess I'm (or would rather be or hope to be) a glass half full guy rather than a glass half MT when it comes to having hope or faith in humanity into the future...
It's what I often tell my daughters. Life is all about decisions. You can choose to make good ones or choose to make bad ones. In the long run, life's usually a bit better and easier if you choose to make good ones. Yet, somehow they still make bad ones every now and then... Guess we all do, including me. But you can only hope to go ahead, rather than backwards. Even with 2 steps forward, one step back... hopefully we're going in the right direction.
 
Interesting - yes - and more than a little naive. Perhaps dangerously so.

Can you imagine a mechanic telling you to rip the wires out of your car because you only need the seats to sit in? I don't imagine you'll go too far down the road.

That's the analogy I see when I read that we only need to only look after the humans - there is an explicit assumption that humans are somehow wonderfully & magically detached from this spaceship we call planet Earth - and the ecosystem services that other organisms provide w/o our intervention and most often w/o even our knowledge.

Sure the odd extinction here and there won't crash the planet - but when you look at the numbers of extinctions and the more importantly - the rate of extinctions - it is worrisome - esp. when you look at other extinction periods in history where things like the dinosaurs were wiped-out. We are a very long ways away from understanding what even a single species extinction means - let alone being able to predict what all these mass extinctions means.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/21/mass-extinction-science-warning

In addition, what do we have on this planet - almost 8 BILLION humans or so - I think we have already "looked after" the humans - maybe too well - when one looks at how sustainable that level of extraction and resource use it takes to provide for those 8 BILLION - like more resources than 1 planet has - at the level of Western Civilization needs.

https://www.livescience.com/16493-people-planet-earth-support.html
 
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Just got to love people who believe in predictions.

How many times in the past has man predicted there were way to many humans on the planet, yet proven to be wrong.





Interesting - yes - and more than a little naive. Perhaps dangerously so.

Can you imagine a mechanic telling you to rip the wires out of your car because you only need the seats to sit in? I don't imagine you'll go too far down the road.

That's the analogy I see when I read that we only need to only look after the humans - there is an explicit assumption that humans are somehow wonderfully & magically detached from this spaceship we call planet Earth - and the ecosystem services that other organisms provide w/o our intervention and most often w/o even our knowledge.

Sure the odd extinction here and there won't crash the planet - but when you look at the numbers of extinctions and the more importantly - the rate of extinctions - it is worrisome - esp. when you look at other extinction periods in history where things like the dinosaurs were wiped-out. We are a very long ways away from understanding what even a single species extinction means - let alone being able to predict what all these mass extinctions means.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/21/mass-extinction-science-warning

In addition, what do we have on this planet - almost 8 BILLION humans or so - I think we have already "looked after" the humans - maybe too well - when one looks at how sustainable that level of extraction and resource use it takes to provide for those 8 BILLION - like more resources than 1 planet has - at the level of Western Civilization needs.

https://www.livescience.com/16493-people-planet-earth-support.html
 
What do you mean "proven wrong"? Are you honestly saying we are doing fine with 8B people on this planet? Have you watched the news lately? Probably half the population starving right now, another 40% at war or severe poverty. So maybe 10% are living well and that proves that humanity is doing fine? Fine measures you have my friend!
 
Again not addressing what I said.

In reply to your post, these things have gone on as long as people have been on the planet.

What has this to do with predictions?


What do you mean "proven wrong"? Are you honestly saying we are doing fine with 8B people on this planet? Have you watched the news lately? Probably half the population starving right now, another 40% at war or severe poverty. So maybe 10% are living well and that proves that humanity is doing fine? Fine measures you have my friend!
 
Actually, extinction has gone on long before humans arrived - that's both the problem and caution - looking at the consequences of that in the fossil record. This planet will function maybe even better w/o humans. Guess what? I am a human. It concerns me. Maybe it should concern you, too...
 
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