h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That was another good article Webbie .

I never had a 'Toy Polar Bear' when I was small. I liked my teddy bears too much .

Nigel

Hello Nigel and Websailor! Yes this is a fine article Websailor! I love pandas and I agree it would be a terrible blot on humanity's reputation if we ever allowed them to go extinct! Of course, I want *every* species to thrive ... the biodiversity we have right now, is *already* greatly impoverished compared to what it was only a couple of thousand years ago, thanks to 'man'! Right now we have only about half the number of large mammal species that we used to have ... truly a very impoverished mammalian fauna ... most people don't realise that, and may think, 'what's the fuss about losing just one species?' but that is one *more* species down history's drain ... people also may think that only the 'fittest' will survive, which would be a good thing ... again, that's not how evolution works. Many species survive by being adapted to narrow ecological niches, and if these niches are disturbed for whatever reason they go extinct ... not because they were less 'fit' than other species. Every extinction, even by 'natural' means, is a temporary impoverishment of biodiversity. If a species did *not* go extinct, it might in time give rise to new species, some of which might be incredibly interesting evolutionary developments. All in all ... I am *for* biodiversity, I would like it to be much higher than it is right now ... because this diversity is fascinating in its own right and also because it makes for a more robust global ecology! *Knowing* that the diversity of mammalian (not to mention other) species was much higher in the past ... I want it to be higher again! Now ... by natural means it would take tens to hundreds of thousands of years before enough new species will evolve to replace those we have wiped out ... and every species we lose from this point, will just delay the process of the recovery of the Earth's biodiversity even further.

If we don't stop the extinction process, we might lose so many species that it would cause global ecological collapse ... from which the Earth might take *millions* of years to recover!

So anyways Websailor ... thanks for giving me the opportunity to say that!

Willem, thank you so much for reading and commenting. Thanks also for the email that made me look at my articles again! I have replied to most comments, but as you said I wasn't subscribed to all of them and missed a couple, including yours.

That's very bad manners and not intentional. There were two reasons - I got used to no-one commenting, and also I overlooked the fact that people might look at articles months, even years afterwards! I have done it myself and should have realised.

Thank you for pointing it out to me. It has now been remedied, and I will make sure I do it for future articles.

Thanks also for your comments. I have lost count of the number of times people have told me "what difference does it make to me, I don't care if *something* becomes extinct". They just don't realise the interdependence of species, whether animal, plant, fish or invertebrates. Of course, neither do they realise our dependence on them!

Perhaps the crisis with honey bees will bring this interdependence home to them.

Thanks again,

Websailor

Hey Websailor! I don't think it's bad manners not to subscribe to one's own entry ... it's just a bit more convenient, to know what people are saying about one's writing! At least for me it would be! I really want people to read and comment on what I wrote so I sort of assume it would work like that for others also! Especially for a field like environmentalism where there's so little 'interest' in what is actually one of the most important issues of our times.

As for people saying 'what difference does it make to me' ... is self-centredness really such a good attitude? I mean, with the same attitude one could also ask, 'what difference does it make to me that people are starving, making war, oppressing each other, in other countries?' But, as humans, we are all interconnected and interdependent. Crises allowed to run rife elsewhere, eventually end up 'here' as well. And us humans are not just dependent on each other ... we are also very dependent on the non-human world and its smooth functioning ... like you say there! So people who say 'what does it matter?' are in effect either saying that they are ignorant, or that they are apathetic ... or in many cases, both!

Unfortunately it seems a crisis has to hit before people will understand. That only when we lose something we would appreciate its true worth. Actually I hope that is not so! I don't want us to have any more crises or to lose even more than we already have! But with the way things are going at the moment ... maybe a global ecological crises is the thing that will shock people awake and aware of what we really ought to value.

I agree with everything you say Willem. I hope we don't have to have a major crisis to wake people up. I thought the Tsunami might have done that, but people soon forget. Perhaps losing honey bees will eventually sink in with them though I doubt it. I think empty supermarket shelves might have an impact though!

Take care,

Websailor