The real Endangered Species

I will never forget the only Humanist Conference I ever attended. It took place in Washington, D.C. as hundreds of individuals gathered from around the nation, all focused on the gloom and doom of the earth. Well, it wasn't earth they were worried about but rather the size of the human footprint on earth. I was frequently told during this two-day conference that if humans don't change their ways, the earth would only last seven more years. Four have gone by since then so I guess we are down to our last three. The funny thing is that every single one of the attendees had a similar answer when I asked them how they had changed their daily life to help prevent abuse to mother earth. They basically said, "We are in a very competitive business and if we changed our daily lifestyle, we couldn't be competitive and successful." Oh! I get it now. Everybody else should change but they can't afford to.

You are most likely not aware of the fact that on May 22, we were supposed to celebrate International Biodiversity Day. Some, like the Humanists of the world, would like us to believe that humans are causing such things as the loss of biodiversity and global warming. I still wonder how bad people's knowledge of history must be in order to believe that the habits of Americans since 1940 are solely responsible for the warming of the earth. I was taught that an Ice Age occurred on the North American continent thousands of years ago and since most of our country is now ice free, when exactly was it that the earth began warming?

More relevant in today's rhetoric is the supposed loss of biodiversity at hand of humans. The following would be a typical statement as it relates to the subject from one the modern profiteering pseudo-environmental organizations:

"Biodiversity in these ecosystems is under threat from a variety of human activities. The transformation of habitats for human use, mostly agricultural, and increases in overexploitation, including overgrazing, has led to the degradation of up to 20 percent of dry lands and ecosystems."

That just doesn't compute according to Mark Dowie who teaches science at the University of California Berkley Graduate School of Journalism. He reports that in 1962 there were 1,000 protected areas worldwide. Today there are 108,000, with more being added daily. In fact in excess of 12 percent of the earth's surface is considered off limits to production. That is an area larger than the entire landmass of Africa. The real problem, according to Dowie and documented by scientific data, is that 90 percent of the biodiversity exists outside of the protected areas in lands that are managed by humans. This proves that preservation does not promote biodiversity but conversation does.

Look at the train wreck we have in the United States in the name of The Endangered Species Act. "Our" government continues to restrict the proper use of natural resources in the name of minimizing species extinction. There have been nearly 1500 species placed on the list since it's inception and the plan has less than a 1 percent success rate. Unless of course you consider the critical habitat designation for some species that can't even be proven to exist. This debate recently surfaced again about the Preble meadow jumping mouse that has critical habitat designation even though, as Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal said, "The additional scientific study once again confirms that there is no such beast as a Preble's meadow jumping mouse," Freudenthal said in a release. :What has been called a Preble's meadow jumping mouse is genetically indistinguishable from other jumping mice currently thriving in no less than 14 states."

Understanding that humans are part of the ecosystem continues to be a challenge for far too many Americans. Unbelievably, the individuals that live the farthest from the land seem to think they know what is best of those of us who live here. We understand that an animal's place in the food chain is directly below that of humans. The disconnect doesn't exist simply with heavy pocketed do-gooders but also some government officials who are proving that they don't have a clue about predator-prey relationships either.

Colorado has been home to numerous human predator encounters. There have been 23 documented bear attacks on humans in Colorado since 1998, according to data from the Division of Wildlife. But this recent statement sounds like it comes directly from some Disney movie that my daughters would watch instead of something from a Wildlife expert:

"A mountain lion that witnesses said walked into a house in a neighborhood, ate a pet cat and the cat's dry cat food before being captured will be rehabilitated, wildlife officials said. The 50-pound young mountain lion, captured after the Sunday afternoon incident, will be released in the wild in the fall after it gains maturity at a rehabilitation center over the summer, said Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife."

You tell me who is the best candidate for rehabilitation? At some point our society is going to need to stand up and say we don't apologize for being human. Intelligence, stewardship and commitment to the land and the living being that exist as tenants of the earth provide the best eco-system, but we fail to recognize that because the only true endangered specie today seems to be common sense.

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.

Date: 5/25/06

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