Only You Can Prevent Forests

Take it all, wilderness!

It’ll last longer. Photo: Jaroslav Kuba

So, what’s happening in nature?

“Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth’s remaining wilderness in the last 25 years and there may be none left within a century if trends continue, according to an authoritative new study. Researchers found a vast area the size of two Alaskas — 3.3m square kilometres — had been tarnished by human activities between 1993 and today, which experts said was a ‘shockingly bad’ and ‘profoundly large number’.”

Yes, there’s more:

Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth’s wilderness in 25 years – study

I don’t want to sound a pessimistic note here but isn’t it time we stop pretending that there’s some way we can fix this? Even if the political will existed to support a legitimate effort, which it does not (and, given the way things are structured, probably never will with the degree of unanimity necessary to actually make some sort of difference), we are already too far gone for some sort of miracle reversal to occur. I always have to laugh when people suggest that human ingenuity might provide a solution. Human ingenuity is what got us into this mess in the first place! The worst thing that ever happened to this planet is human ingenuity. We’re fucked and that’s all there is to it. If you have kids I suggest you take them on a trip to show them what’s left as soon as possible, and then teach them how to run long distances very fast. They’ll always have the memories, and the training will come in handy a few years down the road when life consists mainly of racing away from fires.