Overpopulation v. Willful Stupidity

[mbpi at juno.com]

Keeping things in context, since this IS "supposed" to be a
butterfly-related listserv...
 
In my humble opinion (which I'm sure will be shot full of holes by the
rabid archivists with their stockpiled artillery of irrefutable
literature), I don't believe that "overpopulation" is the REAL problem in
the degredation of adequate habitat and the extirpation/extinction of the
biodiversity of local and transient populations.  I believe it is the
result of greed, ignorance, a lack of appreciation, poor planning, and a
lack of foresight.
 
Witness the Passenger Pigeon:  it was exterminated at a time when the US
was barely populated and the numbers of Passenger Pigeons FAR exceeded
the number of people on the continent!  The North American Bison almost
met the same fate...for equally self-indulgent reasons...and by a
relative "handful" of the population. ( And I won't even go into the
Peregrine Falcon and the Bald Eagle, for fear of re-opening that can of
worms!!!!)
 
Flash forward to the late 20th century.  We've come a long way in
"raising our consciousness," but we still adhere to our proscribed mantra
of "self-indulgence..." even more so than in the past because we "know" a
lot more and have easy access to that knowledge.  Except NOW, we use that
knowledge to rationalize our way out of sticky situtations that we DON'T
want to be "held accountable" for.
 
No, I don't think "overpopulation" is the problem:  I think it is just as
easy for one "collecter" to exterminate a local population, as it was for
a small nation east of the Mississippi to eradicate the entire Passenger
Pigeon population.  This is not a slam-damning soliloquy against
collectors:  I believe there IS a place for RESPONSIBLE collecting for
research...not for self-gratuitious greed.  I think capitalistic
"developers" wreak far more havoc with the biodiversity of indemic
populations than collectors:  and for every "new development" there is a
city-scape or rural environment left a "ghost town" by the scramble to
inhabit these newly invested domains.  That's where the "planners" SHOULD
come into THEIR consciousness of rethinking these abandoned neighborhoods
to INCREASE the biodiversity rather than maintain the sterilization that
drove the dissatisfied tennants out to begin with...  Big cities (and big
corporations) seem to have a vendetta for corraling people into
hermetically sealed, inhumane environments.  It has nothing to do with
"overpopulation," it is simply a lack of regard for anything living...
 
I could go on and on (like so many others on this listserv), but I'm
through.
 
Go ahead:  throw your stones!!!!
 
M.B. Prondzinski
USA
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