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Phil Bunch
-----Original Message-----
To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L
Date: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 16:55
Subject: Re: Extinction & Loss of Habitat
>
>Thank you Ron,
>
>I am actually a good-natured person who likes to challenge
conventional
>views. And I agree with you completely about marmosets.
>
>I wish there were an alternative for those people who chop down the
natural
>world to make a living. I think the majority are helplessly poor. And
they
>certainly don't know about the complexities of an ecosystem. I
believe one
>day we will solve the crisis, but I think quite a bit more
destruction will
>take place first. I am not in favor of it. I am resigned to it and
hope it
>can be minimized.
>
>I'll have to take your advice about American slang. I am quite
cognizant
>about slang as I am the slang consultant for our European colleagues
who
>work here in the US (I work for Henkel of Duesseldorf, Germany). I
find
>that our coworkers arrive with a very good command of English but
they
>cannot understand anything discussed in our meetings.
>
>I have had two other comments to me from the list to my private
e-mail. The
>whole subject of extinction and the history of life is a passion of
mine.
>Thanks for responding.
>
>
>
> "Ron Iles"
>
of list AROID-L
> m.net>
> Sent by: cc:
> aroid-l@mobot. Fax to:
> org Subject: Extinction &
Loss of Habitat
>
>
> 11/07/01 02:47
> PM
> Please respond
> to aroid-l
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Ted
>
>Can I congratulate you on provoking discourse & then taking part most
>sensitively so that everybody could both agree & agree to disagree
without
>anybody losing their dignities in the face of hurt insecure egos!
If you
>or any other optimistic person was to be written off the list then I
would
>certainly not remain silent. I would however request that you do
not use
>Yank-slang that we Old world peoplemost don't understand - like
"cool" &
>"parking lot".
>
>Obtusely under the above heading - If only marmosets could war
against
>Man's
>visionless eco-terrorism, then I'd be the first to request instant
>re-incarnation.
>
>Ron
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From:
>To: "Multiple recipients of list AROID-L"
>Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 4:16 PM
>Subject: One Last Comment
>
>
>
>I knew when this started that my comment would touch a nerve among
the more
>ideological among the list members. I guess I am just an optimist
about the
>world. Throughout the history of life (as we know it currently) there
have
>been some pretty remarkable cataclysms where the number of species
have
>been reduced dramatically by all estimates. It is probably the case
that at
>any given "stable" time that a large fraction of the extant species
exist
>in a rather precarious situation. Something comes along and shakes
things
>up (and I suppose this could be construed as "habitat loss" except
that as
>that phrase is usually used in today's parlance it means the whole
"parking
>lot" business - not "natural" climate changes, vulcanization, meteor
>strikes, ice ages, etc.) and a host of the more specialized species
get the
>rug pulled out from under them. In fact, if the "trajectory" of all
the
>species present at any one time could be known and plotted, one would
find
>that some are on the ascendency, vigorous, robust, while others are
in
>decline, weak and prone to succumb to shocks of various sorts.
Naturally,
>some of the weak species are really cool from the parachial human
>perspective. A lot of the coolest plants that this list likes are in
that
>category. But from the standpoint of the history of the world,
whether
>people like a particular life form does not matter very much.
>
>To be sure, people are now able to intervene in evolution in both
good ways
>and bad. We can make parking lots and we can artificially propagate
cool
>plants and animals and keep them going. From the comments I read
about the
>Philodendron spiritus-sancti it is not clear why it is such a rare
plant.
>Maybe it is because some preferred habitat is now a parking lot.
Maybe it
>is because the plant was being overwhelmed by more successful species
and
>is hanging naturally on the edge of extinction. Someone brought up
the
>Franklinia issue a day or so ago.The reason Franklinia was hanging by
a
>thread when rescued had nothing to do with loss of habitat then.
There is
>no lack of habitat for Franklinia to be reintroduced into the "wild"
today.
>
>The point is that species extinction is a really old thing and that
for the
>vast majority of extinctions human parking lot building had
absolutely no
>role. That this is happening today is not a valid opposing argument.
>
>I will now be silent on this topic unless people want to write me
off-list.
>
>ted.held@hstna.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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