6th Mass Extinction has been going on for at least 30 years.

Here is an link within the Cecil controversy, stating that scientists are concerned that we may be headed into the 6th mass extinction of Earth's life.

Ha !…….We have been in the beginnings of that 6th mass extinction for at least the last 30 years.  It has already started and everything indicates that nothing is going to stop it.

My only close friend is also a wildlife biologist and while I fight this tragedy of habitat and species loss and the ignorance that goes with it, Tom tells me "It's over Robert….just enjoy what is left of it."

The overwhelming majority of the people on Planet Earth could not care any less than they already do, about the fate of our natural world.  And there really is very little (if anything) that we who do care, can do to change that.  But I still try.  

http://time.com/3929419/scientists-sixth-extinction/

Robert King

Blck-shouldered Kite wrote:Here is an link within the Cecil controversy, stating that scientists are concerned that we may be headed into the 6th mass extinction of Earth's life.

Ha !…….We have been in the beginnings of that 6th mass extinction for at least the last 30 years.  It has already started and everything indicates that nothing is going to stop it.

My only close friend is also a wildlife biologist and while I fight this tragedy of habitat and species loss and the ignorance that goes with it, Tom tells me "It's over Robert….just enjoy what is left of it."

The overwhelming majority of the people on Planet Earth could not care any less than they already do, about the fate of our natural world.  And there really is very little (if anything) that we who do care, can do to change that.  But I still try.  

http://time.com/3929419/scientists-sixth-extinction/

Robert King

I agree with you Robert, but in a weird way we nature photographers actually contribute to this. Most photographers (me included) try for that special and beautiful image that helps people see the true natural beauty encapsulated in a single, small photographic frame, usually frozen in a fraction of a second (except of course photographing landscapes), But in reality those images represent only a tiny fraction of one percent of the real world - the world that is the tremendous loss of habitat and species world-wide  that you speak of, Maybe we as nature photographers should be photographing (and displaying) those tragic loses we suffer globally each and every day.Yup, there are some beautiful animals, birds, and landscapes out there, but is it our duty to show the bad stuff too, so that maybe other people would be influenced enough to want to get involved and at least slow down this global tragedy?

Here's something else to ponder:

http://news.yahoo.com/why-70-percent-wo ... 45805.html

Joe

Mark you made a good point that we all should look for those images that would show the damages and the destruction so as to bring attention to these problems. In fact these pictures interest me more than the pretty ones sometimes as they bring focus on how the planet is suffering.

Perhaps civilization just has put too much emphasis on having more, more, more... Bigger, better, faster, sleeker, more teky, and on... We just are on this merry go round that is driving the ecosystems into the ground. And then there is increasingly too many of us....(7.3 billion projected to be as high as 9.6 to 11 billion inn 2050). Well what happens to any predator species that has plenty but then proliferates it's numbers to the point that they consume too much? Right..they die back. Humans unfortunately think they, with their technology, can escape the laws of nature.. I don't think this is true...

The destruction is not going to end without the governments making more laws and regulations I'm afraid. Perhaps a grass roots movement, but those have no guarantee of permanence. Perhaps humans will need to lose it all before they learn a lesson.

For me the only really important thing about life is the life itself. We don't as anthropocentrics give other life enough weight when we bring out the balance beam. Everyday I hear people laugh and belittle the animals as if they were so much trash. And it seems everyone has their own prejudices against certain ones. Only law can reign in that kind of diversified indifference.... or a dictator. There's too many of us wanting to go too many directions and all assuming in the name of "Freedom" and therefore entitlement, we should be able to do so...


Paul

Mark Picard wrote:

Blck-shouldered Kite wrote:Here is an link within the Cecil controversy, stating that scientists are concerned that we may be headed into the 6th mass extinction of Earth's life.

Ha !…….We have been in the beginnings of that 6th mass extinction for at least the last 30 years.  It has already started and everything indicates that nothing is going to stop it.

My only close friend is also a wildlife biologist and while I fight this tragedy of habitat and species loss and the ignorance that goes with it, Tom tells me "It's over Robert….just enjoy what is left of it."

The overwhelming majority of the people on Planet Earth could not care any less than they already do, about the fate of our natural world.  And there really is very little (if anything) that we who do care, can do to change that.  But I still try.  

http://time.com/3929419/scientists-sixth-extinction/

Robert King

I agree with you Robert, but in a weird way we nature photographers actually contribute to this. Most photographers (me included) try for that special and beautiful image that helps people see the true natural beauty encapsulated in a single, small photographic frame, usually frozen in a fraction of a second (except of course photographing landscapes), But in reality those images represent only a tiny fraction of one percent of the real world - the world that is the tremendous loss of habitat and species world-wide  that you speak of, Maybe we as nature photographers should be photographing (and displaying) those tragic loses we suffer globally each and every day.Yup, there are some beautiful animals, birds, and landscapes out there, but is it our duty to show the bad stuff too, so that maybe other people would be influenced enough to want to get involved and at least slow down this global tragedy?

I could not agree with you more Mark.  Many times in my past, I had thought about the very thing you described here.   I had started to photograph the bad stuff but did not stay focused on it (accidental pun).  I need to begin photographing the negative stuff again and dedicate a gallery to it.  

Thanks Mark  

It does my heart good to find a few of you who realize the gravity of our world situation. Sadly, cataloging the evidence in photos does little as the bulk of our society are neither interested or willing to look art them just as our cataloging the atrocities of war, from Gettysburg to the present, have done nothing the slow our willingness to enter another unwinnable conflict.

Our problem stems from what Andy Borowitz facetiously wrote in the New Yorker last month:

MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report) – Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports.
The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them.
“These humans appear to have all the faculties necessary to receive and process information,” Davis Logsdon, one of the scientists who contributed to the study, said. “And yet, somehow, they have developed defenses that, for all intents and purposes, have rendered those faculties totally inactive.”
More worryingly, Logsdon said, “As facts have multiplied, their defenses against those facts have only grown more powerful.”
While scientists have no clear understanding of the mechanisms that prevent the fact-resistant humans from absorbing data, they theorize that the strain may have developed the ability to intercept and discard information en route from the auditory nerve to the brain. “The normal functions of human consciousness have been completely nullified,” Logsdon said.
While reaffirming the gloomy assessments of the study, Logsdon held out hope that the threat of fact-resistant humans could be mitigated in the future. “Our research is very preliminary, but it’s possible that they will become more receptive to facts once they are in an environment without food, water, or oxygen,” he said.

True, and it seems to be fueled by monetary interests, for the most part!

Joe

Interesting WD, and thanks.

Pretty clever of Andy Borowitz to use satire to expose this ignorance/indifference in humanity.

All the more important for us to advocate for nature to those who will listen.  We all will be surprised by the numbers we will sway to becoming wildlife/habitat conservationists.

And it really is fun too.  I think there are so very few who honestly do not like nature.   Most people actually love nature.

My buddy wildlife biologist (who I mentioned earlier) called me today to inform me of the win to ban bobcat trapping in California (a separate posting here).  Tom deeply loves nature as we do.  But he has been getting discouraged lately (and understandably) and recently told me that it is all over and to just enjoy what is left.  


Well, it ain't all over!  And Tom is getting fired up again.  He told me that he was quite impressed by the Center for Biological Diversity and that I should take a look at them.  Chuckle …..   My best friend forgot who told him about the Center for Biological Diversity. 

I really love this wildlife conservation organization.

And now from Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman:  "It's amazing what you can accomplish, as long as you do not care who gets the credit."

You are going to absolutely love this link; I did.  What great advice:

http://lifesbestadvice.com/2010/04/09/i ... he-credit/

Robert