Nature's end?
I'm guessing it's a fatalistic assumption that we have no control of our
fate and that we must live within some kind of strict, regimented
structure or else some kind of divine judgement will fall upon us.
Personally I feel we and other life are more endangered by human
competition for worldly power than the sort of malthusian hell hole that
envirionmental groups have been predicting for the last 20 years. I'm
not going to sit in denial that we are not fishing out the oceans
(thanks to the U.N. Law of the Sea) and causing other problems. And
there are some species that migrate or depend on water systems that move
over great distances thru multiple jusistictions- but why not take
action to save or enhance the prospects of species that can live in a
restricted habitat. There is a big difference between blue whales and
bluenose shiners.
It's a big list and big responsibility. If you don't mind, I'd like like
to borrow that some day for a SF novel I'm contemplating. It's a big
list- but you don't tackle it head on- you do it peicemeal and enlist
the aide of many people of diverse interests and let those who are
interested in shiners work on shiners and those interested in whales
work on whales and frogs, plants and so on.
This process is already happening anyway. Even in the abscence of
government funding or centralized planning- people are taking action to
save and conserve things- sometimes out of economic self interest or
just asthetic taste. Hobbyists- myself included collect and keep things
for personal gratification and I don't think we should feel guilty for
that. We are enchanted by the beauty of what we keep and often that
outweighs the profit incentive- there are lots of fish and other
critters that really have little market value or are too diffificult for
all but the most dedicated to keep.
But we do it anyways just for its own sake.
Jeff
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