Sorry, #10 Alex, my graph sucked. What I was trying to convey, a la Wikipedia, was: "Prior to the dispersion of humans across the earth, extinction was a purely natural phenomenon that generally occurred at a continuous low rate (mass extinctions being relatively rare events). Starting approximately 100,000 years ago, and coinciding with an increase in the numbers and range of humans, species extinctions have increased to a rate unprecedented since the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event." I know that 95 percent of species that lived on the planet are now extinct! Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset because cute fuzzy animals are dying. I'm upset because the ebb and flow of nature has been stretched past its limits, and this is not good for Earth, not good for other species-- heck, it's not good for us. And there is no fixing this problem, unlike other human-wrought environmental changes; once a species is gone, it is gone forever. Perhaps I'm not mature enough to form my arguments clearly enough (I'm still a teenager), but I hope I'm making sense.
Moon - Perhaps the reason you are not saddened by this loss is because it is, as you say, "happening all the time", at an alarming rate: http://www.raintree-health.co.uk/data/green/greenimages/rateof.jpg
So much extinction is NOT part of evolution (er - not part of natural evolution, unless mass extinction is occurring), and each loss should be treated with regret and move us to change some things. The popular opinion on a species dying out seems to be "since they didn't do anything for us, who cares?", when the species is actually a crucial part of increasingly fragile ecosystems. This attitude must end! Stop the earth from becoming homogenized! As humans, we rarely take the time to try and understand why something exists, before it is too late to protect it. Other species matter, too. Mother Earth is not stupid - she had something in mind during the evolution of the "baiji".
Seems like something out of dystopia - the community "doesn't allow flags or signs that are considered divisive"? And I thought peace went hand in hand with unity. Plus, the irony: most of the world would probably consider the American flag a "divisive" symbol.
Looking at the site, it doesn't really seem meant for riding to work; it's an installation piece (neat concept, too, maybe you could have explained a little more?)...
I know that 95 percent of species that lived on the planet are now extinct! Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset because cute fuzzy animals are dying. I'm upset because the ebb and flow of nature has been stretched past its limits, and this is not good for Earth, not good for other species-- heck, it's not good for us. And there is no fixing this problem, unlike other human-wrought environmental changes; once a species is gone, it is gone forever.
Perhaps I'm not mature enough to form my arguments clearly enough (I'm still a teenager), but I hope I'm making sense.
So much extinction is NOT part of evolution (er - not part of natural evolution, unless mass extinction is occurring), and each loss should be treated with regret and move us to change some things. The popular opinion on a species dying out seems to be "since they didn't do anything for us, who cares?", when the species is actually a crucial part of increasingly fragile ecosystems. This attitude must end! Stop the earth from becoming homogenized!
As humans, we rarely take the time to try and understand why something exists, before it is too late to protect it. Other species matter, too. Mother Earth is not stupid - she had something in mind during the evolution of the "baiji".
Sorry, but I feel very strongly about this.
"But Sarah, that's the fifth time today! Better have another one, I suppose..."