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

This article is right to point up some inconsistencies in our attitude to the environment generally.

Mankind is infinitely adaptable, and I am sure that we can get through a very great many more generations without an apocalypse.

BUT surely it is our duty as custodians to tidy up behind us, and attempt to leave the planet in a better state than in which we found it?

We must take care!

You assume that humans are infinitely adaptable. On what grounds? Since humans arrived on the scene, have there really been that many major changes? Sure, we might have got warmer or colder, but we've never had a hole in the ozone layer. This will not only lead to global warming, but a massive increase in the instances of skin cancer. Just look at the stats for Australia.

And even if we do adapt, or evolve, or whatever, is that necessarily a good thing? I like us the way we are now. I don't want to lose much more body hair, and I can't imagine walking any more erect. My thumb is plenty posable enough, thankyou. So as far as I'm concerned, we should preserve what we've got.

Looking to the extreme, if we all ignore environmental issues, then the Earth will become uninhabitable. And we all know that while Arthur Dent enjoyed travelling the galaxy, he was not too happy when his home planet was bulldozed. Why should we put future generations in the position that they might have to leave Earth or perish?

I say, "Why change?" The world's alright, it's humans that screw things up.

I dont think our ancestors had ozone hole measuring equipment, so how do we know there were none before?

Infinitely adaptable, yes I think so. I can't think of many circumstances in which the species could not find a way to survive and eventually prosper. In a few generations the skin melanomas will be sorted. No consolation, of course, but it will happen.

You cannot stop evolution. Change is necessary. No-one likes change.

Perhaps if the species had evolved a little more thay could have put forward a rational argument against the by-pass route.

While we are on this planet, we may as well enjoy the earth in its natural beauty,so we should try and clear it up a bit.
Genetic engineering is bound to go ahead regardless of the ethical reasons against it, either by a large company that makes the benefits available to the public or by some private company for personal profit, so this "artificial evolution" may help us humans as an individual race, but the future of what has been our home for the last few billion years is at stake.Lets help our mother Earth and stop choking her, us and the rest of life on this planet.

Oh, and by the way, treating the earth badly is like treating your own mother badly. Mother Earth gave birth to us, fed us, provided us with the potential to go as far as we have, and we are taking advantage of our precious gift, whether it be universally unique or not.The least we can do is to pay mother Earth back, with the due care that she gave us.Any thoughts?

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Thanks for that Almighty, I did, and v interesting it was too, except it stopped halfway and told me to buy the magazine! Anyone would think it was a commercial enterprise!

Hey Snakebite my man, peace and love and groovy things. Don't you realise there's a war on? Its us or them! Lets make this land our land, and a plague on all the plaguey things. Don't look back, or the insects will get us (or, if you listen to Almighty...the coelocanths!)