May 29 2008
Extinction – is there a Silver Lining?
There are pros and cons with everything so surely extinction has an upside!
Most of us hope for happiness, success, companionship, health… We welcome improvement to our lot and avoid anything that threatens our dreams. Of course, it’s great to get what we want when we want it, but shouldn’t we question the cost more often than we do?
Whether it’s made from precious metals, has designer labels, or is as mundane as the gossip-filled magazine, most of what we ‘can’t live without’ is just utter crap without which our lives would be equally fulfilled.
And to make all this crap we destroy the world.
Whether it’s deforesting the Amazon in Brazil to graze cows for burgers or flooding ancient valleys in China for hydroelectric power, we don’t just exploit the world but beat the living crap out of it till it gives us what we want. (Note, that’s what we ‘want’, not what we ‘need’!)
Let’s face it, if the earth was a child it would’ve been taken into care decades ago.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather be unhappy with £1,000,000 in my bank account than unhappy with zip. But money and possessions in and of themselves can’t make us happy. If they could, the Western world would live in a state of perpetual ecstasy. So what are we doing wrong?
Well, how about not trying to buy happiness but trying to create a situation in which happiness can flourish?
If we could lead more fulfilling lives AND healthier lives, wouldn’t that create an environment that could promote happiness? If there was less mundanity, less risk?
So, why don’t we aim for that?
Instead of pillaging the natural world just for a short-term fix, why don’t we embrace nature and explore it’s wealth for ways it can benefit us?
Every 30 seconds somewhere in the world someone is killed or injured by a landmine.
Shocking, huh?
Makes you wish there was something we could do. Well, there is.
Picture the vilest creature you can imagine.
- Does it scurry in sewers?
- Have a long, hideous, hairless tail?
- Spread filth and disease?
- Gnaw and claw, soil and spoil?
Yep, it might be spiders that commonly frighten people, but it’s rats that revile them.
- Yes, they live in sewers.
- Yes, they carry diseases.
- Yes, they spread filth.
But…
Did you know that in Africa rats are being trained to sniff out landmines?
Oh yes, those vile, diseased, filthy animals are actually saving lives.
Why rats? Because they’re highly intelligent, love exploring, and are light enough to walk over mines safely.
Something to think about, isn’t it?
Every single second someone contracts tuberculosis; 1.6 million die every year.
With so many people contracting the disease the logistics of testing and treating them are beyond comprehension as a single technician can only process 20 samples a day to see if someone is infected. Millions are doomed!
Oh yeah?
Guess who’s dashing to the rescue?
Yep, the rat again. Because of its intelligence and highly acute senses, a rat can be taught to recognize tuberculosis in samples, and do it so quickly that it can test 300 samples per day, so making treatment available to 15 times more people than its human equivalent.
Every single year countless millions of us die of cancer and heart disease, suffer psychiatric disorders, develop diabetes… Disease after disease after disease - killing millions; causing misery to millions more.
Yep, enter the good old rat. AGAIN!
Almost all human genes have counterparts in the rat genome which means the rat is playing a vital role in the understanding of diseases and the search for treatments that will enhance the lives of BILLIONS of people.
Landmines, diagnoses, cures… from just one species of the 1.8 million species in the world we’ve discovered.
And of those 1.8 million, we’ve only really detailed information on 41,000 - a fraction over 2% (just two in every hundred creatures!).
Imagine a doctor operating on someone while knowing nothing of 98% of human body! Yet we think nothing of carving up the world on any old whim.
But that’s not the number to be concerned with. THIS is - estimates say there are between 10 million and 100 million species on the planet.
Now, if a filthy rat can offer so much to mankind, what gifts might those tens of millions of other creatures and organisms hide?
- Could there be a herb that cures diabetes?
- A frog that produces an enzyme able to reverse Alzheimer’s?
- An insect that senses cancer?
Well, we’ll probably never know because in our infinite wisdom and greed for Gucci purses, bottled water, and cars that can do 0-60mph in four seconds… it seems we’d really rather wipe things from existence than look for ways in which they might enhance our lives.
We’re destroying habitat so quickly that species are being lost before they’ve even been found. Experts can’t agree on extinction rates: estimates range from 3,000, 15,000, 27,000, to a massive 50,000 species every single year!
There is agreement on one thing, though: the number of species we’re killing annually is absolutely gigantic.
Even if we aren’t losing 50,000 but only 3,000; even there aren’t 100 million species but only 10 million, if a rat can hide such a cornucopia of treasures from us for so long, what other treasures could those 8.2 million organisms hide that haven’t yet been discovered?
If we can’t save them for their own sakes, or from some moral duty to those weaker than we are, then how about saving them for purely selfish reasons? Just how dumb do you have to be to wipe something from existence without ever knowing its true value?
Isn’t that like converting all your savings into foreign currency then using the bank notes as toilet tissue without a clue as to whether you’re wiping your butt with something worth a penny or $100? There’ll come a day when you need those savings but guess what? Yep, you’ve crapped all over your nest egg, your future, your only hope!
And we’re top of the food chain? How in hell did that happen!?
Imagine…
100 million species. 100 million unique organisms. 100 million treasures.
And we’re killing them.
So, is there a silver lining to extinction?
Of course there is. There’s a silver lining to every situation. So what is it here? That mankind can continue to pursue its favourite two pastimes - laziness and apathy.
Are we the dumbest species to ever live or what?
So go. See. Feel. Live.
Steve
P.S. If you like my blog - the passion, the philosophy - you’ll absolutely love my novel. “Deftly and intriguingly written, ‘What if…?’ is a thriller that fans of other novels such as ‘The DaVinci Code’ will relish. Highly recommended to thriller fans everywhere and should enjoy a spot on every fiction thrillers shelf.” Midwest Book Review. Please click here to check it out.
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