Wednesday, May 18, 2005

End of the Wild

"Over the next 100 years or so as many as half of the Earth's species, representing a quarter of the planet's genetic stock, will either completely or functionally disappear. The land and the oceans will continue to teem with life, but it will be a peculiarly homogenized assemblage of organisms naturally and unnaturally selected for their compatibility with one fundamental force: us. Nothing -- not national or international laws, global bioreserves, local sustainability schemes, nor even 'wildlands' fantasies -- can change the current course. The path for biological evolution is now set for the next million years. And in this sense 'the extinction crisis' -- the race to save the composition, structure, and organization of biodiversity as it exists today -- is over, and we have lost."

Perhaps Michael Crichton can treat us to another heart-warming "it's all just a leftist conspiracy" novel. A little ignorance goes a long way.

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