Word: pig
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...raises questions about what sort of ideals are represented by mass-produced miniatures like parts of model train sets and cake-decorating figures. In the show, Claire’s charcoal and pastel compositions—one a barnyard scene replete with barn, silo, tractor, cow, pig and rabbits and the other a forest scene with model trees, deer, squirrels and a Boy Scout—are ominously dark and shadowy. The mix of static and lively toy-like figures creates a kind of grotesque fairy-tale scene that is oddly delightful, the most evocative work in the show...
...pig-tailed bandicoot is noteworthy because it encapsulates the contradictions conservationists face when they rail against the extinction of plants and animals. I drew the bandicoot example from the new book titled The Future of Life by Pellegrino University Research Professor E. O. Wilson, who spoke at ARCO Forum last week about the crisis facing thousands of species of plants and animals that have been driven to the brink of extinction in part by human activity. He makes a very convincing argument that humans can save untold thousands—perhaps even millions—of species by protecting their...
...remote rainforests could be the source of potent human drugs. Some animals are necessary to keep pests from eating away farmers’ fields. But vast numbers of species are unlikely to be useful to humans. They may be interesting for scientists and pleasing to look at, but the pig-tailed bandicoots of the world are not often missed. That unconcern may be for the best. Spending millions of dollars to save, say, the California condor can divert precious resources away from saving entire ecosystems with scores or even hundreds of species. The sad truth is that the natural world...
Even so, the question remains: is it really bad if species such as the pig-tailed bandicoot go extinct? Wilson attempts to explain the value of biodiversity, using a combination of utilitarian and purely moral arguments for saving species. Humanity, he argues, is driving straight for a cliff, and driving fast. Two hundred thousand humans are born each day, and conservative projections have the world population topping off around 10 billion late this century. With so many humans competing for rapidly-shrinking resources, both food and water are likely to become exceedingly scarce. And when animals have to compete with...
Instead of worrying about individual species, environmentalists should worry primarily about entire ecosystems. The pig-tailed bandicoot had no mourners. But the ecosystem in the entire Australian outback is the concern of millions of people. It is in our best interest to preserve large swaths of wilderness and thereby save as many species as possible. It plays to human self-interest because a diversity of species makes land and sea more productive in the long-term. Many conservation groups have been involved in drives to buy up tracts of wilderness to preserve them from rapacious corporations. Such efforts (which Wilson...