Does It Matter?

Richard Leakey

Prepared by: Dr Sweetha Saji, Dept of English, St Albert’s

College (Autonomous)
 Introduction
• Paul Ehrlich’s analogy
• Those who say that there is no need to be alarmed about the collapse of biodiversity
saying that ecologists do not have precise data about the number of endangered
species, are compared to those who say that we should not be too much concerned
about the burning down of a genetic library since there is no clear evidence about the
exact time taken for complete destruction by fire.
• Leakey responds to the question,
“what would it matter to us and the rest of the world’s biota if half of its
species become extinct?”
• Three important areas of value identified by Leakey:
1. Economic
2. Ecosystem services
3. aesthetic

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 Response to Julian Simon
• Leakey repeats a question asked by many: Are all existing species necessary
for maintaining all three areas of value?
• People like Julian Simon would say no.
• In his debate with Norman Myers (a British environmentalist), Simon argues
that humans would not have benefitted if the early settlers of Mid West
United States had not killed some of these species.
• For Simon, the major measure of value are only economics and immediate
practicality. He finds hope in scientific and technical advances like seed
banks and genetic engineering.

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 Response to Julian Simon
• Leakey reminds his readers of Les Kaufman’s (evolutionary ecologist)
statement that we lose a part of the human soul if we allow the erosion of
the richness of the nature around us because we evolved within a world of
nature.
• Leakey counters Simon’s argument by asking how can we continue to use
the natural raw materials that are used in technologies for the next seven
billion years? Simon assumes that humans can take from the world of nature
in an unlimited way without causing any damage to ourselves or nature
itself.
• Just because historically such a view worked, it doesn’t mean that future
realities would be the same.

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 Be Aware of the Natural Economy of Earth-
Ecological Balance
• Inputs and outputs of the natural
economy of the Earth: the
ecosystem services. fungi
• Leakey poses few questions that do
not have answers yet:
• Can this system still be effective if any carbon plant
of its part is lost? dioxide rootlets
• Which are its most important
components?
• The only answer we have is “Homo
sapiens is not exempt from the rules
that govern the lives of all other oxygen water
organisms.

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 Two Possible responses to this ignorance:

How much of current

biodiversity we need in
Group 1 Group 2
order to sustain a healthy
Earth’s biota?
We recognize the
Because we don’t know if we
complexities of the system
Responses need it all, we can safely
and assume that we do need
assume we don’t need it.
the current biodiversity.

• The consequences of going wrong on the first response will be enormous.

• Ecologists who study available data believe that we need all or most of what we
currently have.
• If the biodiversity is continued to be destroyed nature could reach a threshold beyond
which it may not be able to sustain itself and us.

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Homo sapiens might not
only be the agent of the
sixth extinction, but also
risks being one of its
victims.
 Perspective of time
• Humans live in the present, and hence have limited vision for the future. We
need to look to our past and the future and accordingly make the right
decision, aimed at preserving our environment.
• We should not be satisfied with our current experience and imagination but
must learn from the past fossil records of life.
• Such learning can inform us that biological crises could be rapid, irreversible,
and unpredictable. Species communities are vulnerable and not always
resilient to external insult.
• Humans rarely see themselves as agents of extinction because they are used
to hearing about past dramatic events like asteroid impacts. But, we must
realise that mass extinction can also occur gradually, without being noticed,
but causing serious harm. In this process, along with other species, we are also
put in danger.

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 Lessons from the fossil records
1. Life has not been a static phenomenon with steady progression, but it is a
dynamic process.
• When a species dies, it causes a break in the continuous chain of genetic
links that has been ongoing for billions of years. We are responsible for that
break.
• All species have varied life spans and their tenure ends at various times
accordingly. If that is the case, anti-alarmists ask why should we waste time
and effort as they will disappear regardless of our efforts. Stephen Jay
Gould replies that it is like arguing that we shouldn’t treat an easily curable
childhood infection because we all will die anyway.
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 Lessons from the fossil records
2. After each mass extinction, through the wonderous and powerful creative
process of evolution, the gap is rapidly filled.
• New species that are formed involves a transformation of the dominant
form of life. In the current age of mammals, Homo sapiens are at the top
with high mental capacities.
• After the 6th extinction, diversity will return, while the agent of the
destruction (human being) is eliminated.

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 It raises a question: If nature
recovers extensively after
each mass extinction, why
should we be concerned
about causing the
extinction?
Answer: Although mass
extinctions are instantaneous (in
few years/centuries), recovery is a
slow process (5-25 million years).

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 • Average life span of other species: 1-10
million years (there’s no reason to think
that it does not apply to us)
• Homo sapiens were here for about
150,000 years—our tenure might extend
to another million years (being a large
terrestrial vertebrate) + our capacity for Implication:
destruction hastens our end. For certain, human
• Giant asteroids or comets could hit the beings will be no more,
and Earth and its
planet leading to extinction of majority of inhabitants will go on
species including humans (in recent years without us!
several small asteroids have passed close
to earth). Even if some humans would
survive, civilization would be shattered.

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 Two Different Approaches
• Many do not believe that humans
will become extinct and hopes that
we will live forever or that we will
exist until the planet ceases to exist ,
billions of years from now. They are
blind to reality.
• Some cling to the idea that we could
travel into space and colonise other
planets and live there.
• Both these ideas come from an
arrogant belief that Homo sapiens
are different from other species, are
above everything else, and are
invincible (undefeated).
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• Richard Leakey, like other
environmentalists believe that it is
our responsibility to ourselves and
the future generations that we
preserve our nest (planet Earth) and
do not destroy the wondrous
diversity of life upon which we
depend for our survival.
• As the one sentient creature on
Earth, it is our responsibility to
protect every other species.
• We must recognize our role in the
6th extinction and do everything
possible to stop the mass
destruction of numerous species.
 The sixth extinction
• 6th extinction will be similar to the previous ones in many ways.
• The most vulnerable species:
• Those with limited geographical distribution
• Those near the tropics
• Those with large body size
• It will be different from past extinctions in certain ways:
• More number of plant species will be wiped out
• However, in few million years time, rebound will occur, planet will take care of
itself.
• Why then should we be concerned?

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 We should be concerned because:
• We are the product of some chance event, like every other species—not come
from outer space

• This understanding of intimate connection with the rest of nature puts forth
certain ethical principles:

• It is our duty to protect them not because of our superiority but because we
are equally part of this Earth as every other species.

• Upon realising how the Earth’s biota works like an interactive whole, we see
ourselves as part of that whole.

• Knowing that Homo sapiens will one day be wiped out from Earth does not
give us the license to do whatever we choose while we are here.

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 Conclusion
• The author has made these observations from three perspectives: as a
palaeontologist, a conservationist, from a practical view.

• Humanity’s greatest challenge will be to help those who struggle to survive

and stopping the destruction of Earth’s resources.

• It can be achieved only if the different needs of rich and poor countries are
acknowledged.

• For the five extinctions that happened, we do not solid proof of the cause, the
answer to why it occurred. But for the 6th, we know. It’s us.

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