Α)
1. “You don’t need a scientist to know what’s causing the sixth mass extinction…”
2. The same article which includes the previous slogan goes on saying: Wildlife is dying out due to habitat destruction, overhunting, toxic pollution, invasion by alien species and climate change. But the ultimate cause of all of these factors is human overpopulation and continued population growth, and overconsumption, especially by the rich. [1]
3. But I guess that scientists are as much indifferent to the problem as common people are. For example they experiment on other animals without caring if those animals suffer. For the sake of humanity they say…
4. Is it humanism to destroy the natural environment and kill or torment other species for the sake of ‘progress?’ Some may say that it’s worth it. This is how much stupid most people are…
5. And this is exactly the deepest root of the problem: Not only we don’t even care if we are causing damage to the environment, but also we are mostly unaware of the damage we are causing.
6. Incidentally what is a mass extinction? This is a definition: The Holocene extinction, otherwise referred to as the Sixth extinction or Anthropocene extinction, is the ongoing extinction event of species during the present Holocene epoch (last 10,000 years), mainly as a result of human activity. [2]
7. Thus I was wondering: How many species went extinct during the last mass extinction, 60 million years ago, when the dinosaurs disappeared? It is estimated that about three quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth disappeared. [3]
8. So this might be an interesting thought: It is assumed that an asteroid impact caused that extinction (probably in combination with volcanic eruptions). But what if the dinosaurs caused the extinction themselves?
9. What if they had become so large and populous that they finally destroyed their natural environment (e.g. by overgrazing) at such an extent that it was a matter of time until a global catastrophe occurred to wipe them out?
10. This is exactly what is happening right now. If 40% of land-based and marine species are known to be extinct, these species had already been catalogued. But if there used to be as many unknown species which have never been catalogued then the percentage of extinct species could well rise to 80%, as many as those at the time when the dinosaurs disappeared.
11. How much cleverer consequently are we, if we have been doing to the planet what the dinosaurs had been doing before they went extinct? And, even worse, how intelligent really are we, when we don’t even realize our stupidity, or if we can’t ultimately control our greed?
12. Is there sufficient time for us to reverse the destruction? How long does it take for a new species to appear? This is the answer: For reasons that are not completely clear, the data show the long-term dynamics of evolution to be quite slow. Across a broad range of species, the research found that for a major change to persist and for changes to accumulate, it took about one million years. [4]
13. Thus even if we stopped right now destroying our planet, it would take one million years for biodiversity to fully recover. But will the climate and environmental conditions stay stable, without a major volcanic or impact event, for the next one million years? Will we be patient and resilient enough to withstand another million years of evolution, until we become a truly sapient civilization, fully integrated with the physical environment?
14. Ultimately we might succeed. But, apart from any overconfidence or wishful thinking, the fact is that the chances are weak. Our behavior up till now has already shown that we are unable to control our primeval instincts as a species, so that after all we might be smarter than the dinosaurs but not smart enough.
15. Perhaps evolution comes in evolutionary cosmic cycles, during which a species is given the opportunity to advance enough to break the cycle, to overcome a global disaster at the end of the cycle. If such an evolutionary cycle lasts for ten or a hundred million years, inbetween two mass extinction events, one might argue that there is enough time that we change our attitude, reverse the situation, and help nature recover.
16. However, taking into account the time that has already been given to us since our appearance on the planet, and the fact that we consistently repeat the same mistakes again and again, indulging so easily to our own egoism, probably the only true solution is that we disappear at the end of our cosmic cycle, so that a new species appears on the planet, as much more advanced than us, as we are compared to the dinosaurs.
[2]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction]
[3]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event]
[4]: https://phys.org/news/2011-08-fast-evolutionary-million-years.html
B)
Here is a more poetic version of the previous arguments:
1. In the little time which is left to us
2. Among the ashes of the burnt forests
3. The remains of extinct species
4. The gutter trash of our modern cities
5. Let’s go away and save what we can
6. Leave behind our gold coins and teen cans
7. Let’s take with us only the essential things
8. A book with a summary of our history
9. And hide it beneath the ancient pyramids
10. In the underground refuge of our best wishes
11. Let’s lie there and close our eyes
12. Until a gasp of wind will sweep us away
13. Leaving nature alone to be born again
14. Until a new species will appear more advanced
15. As much as humans compared to dinosaurs.
8/19/2018
Picture: [https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/26/wildlife-statistics-extinction/29245459/]
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