Courtesy of Moth on New Anthropocene, after David Robertson;
The following video is only 40 seconds long. Please watch it.
This is a video is of a thylacine, a marsupial tiger; Thylacinus cynocephalus. It is extinct.
Habitat destruction, pollution and climate change are now causing the extinction of more creatures than ever before in the history of our planet.
“current extinction rates are 50 to 500 times higher than extinction rates in the fossil record […] This is an extremely conservative estimate, as it does not account for undocumented extinctions”
2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. A Global Species Assessment
Extinction isn’t just for today, it’s forever.
On the day I die I’ll say at least I fucking tried.
Will you?
Wibble 
Last I heard, there are about 150 to 200 extinctions every day, we have entered the next (man made) great extinction. This video brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know what else I can do but I am ready to do as much as possible to stop the destruction, we need to make drastic changes in the way we live. Thank you for spreading the word.
LikeLike
Tears often spring to my eyes these days. I’m not in a position to do other than cajole and try to educate (myself and others), and hope that this does some good. The real problem is that deliberate decisions on the part of individuals to consider the environment more (though Western governments love to promote that as though it’s a real solution) matter little; the big problems are the huge corporate polluters, and the only way to turn them around is to correct the insanity of the business profit motive.
And I can’t see that happening without barricades in the streets, myself.
I went to see Just Do It the other day: I was struck by the irony of governments implementing anti-terrorism legislation that allows police to terrorise peaceful demonstrators. You don’t need any conspiracy theories to realise it’s the ones who stand to lose their wealth and power who have brought this about, and successfully promoted the wasteful and counterproductive ‘War on Terror’ to the point that even the proverbial average man (or woman) in the street backs it — or at least won’t stand up and say “hold on just a minute…”
I’m reading Moral Ground: ethical action for a planet in peril (a very readable collection of short essays) at the moment, and Alan Weisman’s piece ‘Obligation to Posterity?’ makes the very good point that you don’t get results by trying to promote morally right behaviour: you get results by encouraging people to act from selfish greed and fear :(
LikeLike
It is such a bad reality that it is really hard to think about head-on. When writing the original post I had tears in my eyes; yet there is a feeling of utter frustration and helplessness of the scale and complexity of the problem. I try, like you, to raise these issues, and talk openly and frankly about them whenever I can, and do live reasonably lightly – but I also understand that the system I live in means that my own actions are reasonably irrelevant. Frustrating – but we must try, because if we don’t, who will?
LikeLike
Exactly. We each do whatever we can do when we’re up to it: nobody can expect any more of us, and I try to tell myself not to be too hard on myself that I cannot do more.
On the other hand, I feel quite strongly that Those Who (Have Placed Themselves In A Position To) Lead Us all too often demonstrate a lack of understanding that I think can only be attributed to either laziness or disingenuousness — and in my book no ‘leader’ should have either of these traits.
Oops. Sorry about the rant…
LikeLike
Pingback: It matters not whether you win or lose… | Wibble
The mirror test, as Chomsky calls it. Can you look yourself in the eye?
LikeLike
Who, me? Yes.
I’m doing what I can.
More than that, I feel I cannot do; I’m harnessed by the society I live in, and to do more, society must change to allow me to live my life more sustainably.
LikeLike
Ah crap, sorry, that’s the Internet for you, strips all tone of voice out. I can see how that “can you look yourself in the eye” came across as a challenge and an “inyerface”. I meant it in a rhetorical “you” as in whoever is taking the test, but the absence of a semi-colon and quote marks around that last sentence make it an unintended Supreme Asshole Move. Sorry – I have just ten minutes ago written a post (scheduled for tomorrow) about the thylacine video!
Best wishes
Dwight Towers (say hullo to Moth for me – he’ll vouch for my bona fides)
LikeLike
The Internet: a medium that enables miscommunication over vast distances. But fear not: although I did take your comment as a personal challenge, I didn’t read any malice in it. I think it’s good to stop and reappraise one’s behaviour now and again; and after responding to your post I pondered awhile on the difference between ‘protests’ and ‘demonstrations’ and realised that perhaps I do too much of the former and too little of the latter. So, thank you for the prompt to do better!
LikeLike
Pingback: Beautiful Russians and the end of the world «
Pingback: Schrödinger’s Leopard | Wibble