Quote:
Originally Posted by The One and Only...
You seem to forget something. I don't care about the ecosystem.
I only care about the human race.
I would love to see your opinions backed up by scientific claims. If we can eliminate every undesirable species, keep some for food, and keep plants so as to maintain producers, the ecosystem would be perfectly fine - aside from the fact the the majority of earth would be industrialized.
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Somebody needs to take a good course in Biology. No, make that two.
If you only care about the "human race," then why don't you transport yourself & your "desirable species" into a little bubble, away from all this "environment" and "ecosystem" stuff (who needs that eco-crap anyways?). Surely you could survive without it...
Wrong.
Everything is connected. Every single bacterium, bird, tiger, plant, virus, ocean, rock, grass, everything correlates with the other. How did you think we got this far without it? The Earth has been around far longer than humans have; it is its own self-sustaining system. Now, with the arrival of humans and the industrial age, are we really having a problem with the balance of the Earth.
Even insignificant thing (to you) are significant. Bacteria are the basis of the food chain. And, they create 1/2 of the world's oxygen.
80-90% of insects are decomposers, pollinators, or food.
Without the enviroment, we have no economy. Take this for example: a lot of our products come from wood. Wood comes from trees. Trees live in forests. Animals, plants, and insects existing in a healthy forest work together. Water and nutients help build the trees, while organisms living in the soil keep it rich in bio-matter. Fungi (such as microcorrizhal fungus) living in the soil help decompose detritus, and also protect trees from disease. In addition they feed off the tree's sugars, so the relationship is mutual.
You could say we can make a tree farm then. Wrong again. Tree farms are far too "clean" to ever replace a healthy forest. Also, a healthy forest needs layers of different sized trees, because they also provide shelter for animals. Another example, when the ground has dead trees, known as nurse logs, it helps put nutrients back into the soil, a source of energy. Animals consume this energy, and then we consume the animals--or the energy is recycled back into Earth. Either way, it is a win-win situation.
We mustn't forget the food web. If one key species is ruled out then the whole food web could crumble, or cause disease and famine, or cause overpopulation/underpopulation. How do we know what the key species is? It could be anything from a gnat to a rabbit. It is not up to us to pick & choose what species lives and what species dies.
Disrupting nature's natural cycles affects everything: carnivores, herbivores, decomposers and composers alike. And, most importantly to you--US. A damaged Earth is a damaged Economy.
What we must do is maintain riparian zones/watersheds, keep a forest rich and diverse in life, and log selectively. Species will thrive, and that way "endangered" may become something of the past. But with humans taking over the Earth like a disease, the future for the health of Earth is grim. It's people's ignorance like yours that contribute to its demise. Get your facts straight and pull your head out of your ass. Thank you. *mic click*