Thought #34. Doomed.

Imagine what things would be like if the human race were hovering on the brink of extinction. The "Voluntary Human Extinction Movement" has already done their homework. You might be thinking  "Oh Jesus, seriously? Somebody help! That bloke's barking mad!" You may well laugh but I am in deadly earnest, this movement exists and they also have their own pun: VHEMT must be pronounced "vehement". 

According to an article published on the WWF website and entitled “How many species are we losing”, no less than 10,000 species are estimated to be dying out every year. Opportunistically, VHEMT presents an alternative to the human exploitation of nature. Only by taking part in their crusade against the human race should we restore the Earth's biosphere to its former glory.

Seemingly, the voluntary extinction of one species, the Homo Sapiens, is all we need to amend the legacy of centuries of neglect. The plan is simple: to stop breeding. I utterly dismiss this idea which is tantamount to fundamentalism beyond rational belief. It is true that overpopulation is not sustainable in the long term, but I would not go so far as to say humankind is virtually redundant.

Back in 1961, the Daily Mirror featured a story about rhinoceros on its front-page. Under the headline “Doomed" the reporter unearthed the rinhos condition of endangered species, and as yet we have been unable to save them. “As civilisation marches on, it bulldozes wild-life”, the article said. A statement that continues to be valid nowadays. 

However, conservationism has done a great job. Now, we know better than ever which are the species at risk and what we can do to reverse their critical situation. Organisations such as National Geographic, WWF  or the BBC have invested significantly in raising awareness of to this problem. For example, the production of documentaries such as Planet Earth, has awakened many of us from our blissful ignorance to an informed position.

As far as anyone knows, Earth is the only habitable planet in the universe. Our planet is rich and each species counts, humans included. Life is wonderful as it is. It does not take much brain to work out that our intellect will eventually develop the required new insights to tackle this problem. Imagine what would happen if the human race abandoned Mother Nature to her fate. Doomed.