They were living beings, just like so many on this Earth. They had a place to live, a way of living, and had been around, doing that, for millions of years. But in a couple of hundred years, humans managed to kill them all.
Something like that has happened many times in history. Many animals have died out.
Perhaps this is impossible to avoid when there are so many people, all taking up some space and in the need of food, that must be grown or caught, so that all of this takes up an increasing amount of space – leaving little space left for the wildlife.
But it does make the claim sound a bit hollow, that there is this place on Earth that is full of life – once, all of Earth was full of life. We don't need to look very far to see a reason for this to have changed.
Yes, we must give room for nature. That will again require that we can put a dampener on our economical thinking and simply declare wildlife more valuable than money.
I like the way you say, "yet..." God forbid if humans were to reach south.
Penguins look like little humans dressed in trench coats.... I love penguins too!
Plastic is the bane of human existence. And I do love penguins...
I really didn't know that. Those poor, lovely creatures...
They were living beings, just like so many on this Earth. They had a place to live, a way of living, and had been around, doing that, for millions of years. But in a couple of hundred years, humans managed to kill them all.
Something like that has happened many times in history. Many animals have died out.
Perhaps this is impossible to avoid when there are so many people, all taking up some space and in the need of food, that must be grown or caught, so that all of this takes up an increasing amount of space – leaving little space left for the wildlife.
But it does make the claim sound a bit hollow, that there is this place on Earth that is full of life – once, all of Earth was full of life. We don't need to look very far to see a reason for this to have changed.
I sometimes hope nature just takes back over what it was rightfully hers.
Yes, we must give room for nature. That will again require that we can put a dampener on our economical thinking and simply declare wildlife more valuable than money.
Wow! This article from The Atlantic – about plastic – is definitely worth reading, if you have access:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/08/microplastics-exposure-health-risks/683249/