Mass Extinction?

                According to “a new study” that has been “hailed by outside experts”,  species of plants and animals are becoming extinct “at least” 1,000 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the planet. Species now are disappearing from Earth about 10 times faster than biologists had previously believed said the study’s lead author. The study also "found" a dramatically lower rate of extinction in the past then scientists had thought.

                Imagine that. This time, they are dead-on accurate, however. Really! Usually, when data is adjusted, or serious, long-term, quantative measurements are changed as a result of, say, new technologies, etc., they are done so incrementally. If there truly is a high level of confidence and certainty  in these measurements.

                This study’s conclusion that species are becoming extinct 1,000 times faster than they did before homo-sapiens gummed up the works- which is 10 times faster than they had thought prior to said study- is an admittance that they were, in essence, 1,000 percent off in their previous belief! But, again, not to worry, this one is spot on! (How do you know this now? The past is just further in the past then it was).

                Furthermore, and remarkably, the lead author went on to say that “we are on the verge of the sixth extinction. Whether we avoid it or not will depend on our actions.”

                You see, five times in the past, a vast majority of the world’s life has been extinguished in what have been called mass extinctions. The most recent was 65 million years ago. The first was 445 million years ago. In the third ‘event’ 252 million years ago, called “The Great Dying”,  83% of all living things on Earth perished.

                You may have detected a pattern here. Mankind wasn’t a factor in any of these. That’s right,  all of the scientifically –acknowledged mass extinctions, including one in which 80-90% of all species were snuffed out, occurred …before we did. The United States didn’t exist. Neither did the Koch brothers. There was no energy production.  No greenhouse gasses. No cows. No cities, no urban sprawl, no building or developing of any kind. There were no human beings.

                Yet, as with global warming, experts now  “know” that-  though we had nothing to do with any earlier occurrence- the next round is totally on us.

                Objectivity? “Fairness?”

                What other species is aware of, and concerned with, other species becoming extinct? (From my observations, mosquitoes and deer ticks- among many, o.k. all, others- wouldn’t be prime candidates for this thoughtfulness).

                And are scientists and experts worried that, for example, Christians are becoming extinct in certain parts of the Middle East... and on college campuses and in portions of large  cities across America for that matter?

                In general I love animals. Really love wild places. Love an unspoiled vista…I’d wager more than most. Guarantee you more than most liberals in big cities.

                But the extinctions that trouble me the most? Those of logic… and freedom of thought and speech.