Mass Extinctions are Natural
Extinctions are natural. And since mankind is a part of nature, then extinctions caused by mankind are natural too. Of course some people believe that anything that mankind does or make is not natural. Thus, the extinctions caused by man is not natural. I think this is just an argument over semantics, and no one is arguing that fact that extinctions are natural and normal.
The real issue is that the natural rate of extinctions before mankind was typically much lower than the rate of extinctions with mankind.
However, nature is seldom static... at least not for long. As a result, there were numerous periods of time before mankind when a large number of extinctions occurred. These periods of time are called extinction events or more commonly referred as mass extinctions. Therefore, mass extinctions are natural too.
The problem is that the world is probably undergoing another mass extinction, and no one knows the possibly affects this will have on humanity and the planet.
In general, the planet will adapt given time, and more robust and diverse species will arise on the ashes of this mass extinction. However, it is impossible to guess the short-term ramifications a mass extinction would have on mankind.
The worse case scenario is that smaller diverse ecosystems will first collapse throughout the world, followed by a much large global ecosystem collapse since all small ecosystems are actually interconnected and interdependent. As a result, there could be massive food shortages that could cause global starvation and wars over resources.
The best case scenario is that the only plants and animals that are guaranteed to survive this mass extinction event are the plants and animals that are directly useful to mankind such as food being farmed on large scales or household pets and landscape plants, as well as very resilient pests. We would have to also save the food sources of the plants and animals that are useful to mankind too, including what those foods eat too, and so on. Of course other species would survive too, but not because of mankind's benevolence.
Mass extinctions are natural and it may be way too late to stop the current mass extinction, but saving the species that mankind needs should always be a priority.
by Phil for Humanity
on 03/27/2010