Endangered Species

About a generation ago we passed laws to conserve the wild places that endangered fish, wildlife and plants need to survive.

Some promising things have come of those efforts:

…Wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone

…Chinook Salmon protected by redesign of Columbia River dams

…Eagles and Peregrine Falcons repopulating West after DDT banned

…Northern Spotted Owl wins protection

…Grizzly removed from endangered list

…Red Wolf and Florida Grasshopper Sparrow being breed in captivity (fingers crossed)

The human population was one billion in 1800, today we are nearly eight billion. The more we consume and discard, the less there is for our fellow species. In Darwin’s words, survival of the fittest.

Scientists calculate we’ve now altered more than half of the earth’s land surface. They’re starting to refer to this present in geological history as the “Anthropocene” epoch (from the Greek meaning humans).

They want us to understand that if we continue doing the things that drive animals into extinction, we’ll eventually cross an invisible line and we’ll become one more in a long line of endangered species.