Originally posted by: BrigitPheonix
The point trx is not that either species has more value than another....it is that they are both essential. The environment does more for humans than we all realize (this is called ecosystem services), and by putting some arbitrary 'value' on any species undermines most things. Just because society at this point puts a phenomenally higher value on human life than any other species does not mean that it is correct. The only reason a fireman would rush into a building and save a human as opposed to saving a slug from a forest fire is because other humans are emotionally tied to that human. But this is not the point.... As I have said before, both sides need to put aside their stereotypes of one another and realize that their are extremists on both sides, but these extremists are the minority and are not the ones affecting change. Even some of what you all would deem 'extreme environmentalists' realize that a complete reversion back to total wilderness is not possible, because it could (and most certainly would) perhaps lead to our extinction (but as we are going on our current trajectory we are headed there anyway). So herein lies the problem: There are so many different species out there that we don't know all they are doing to keep our current ecosystems functioning, and people want to look at all these species as less valuable than humans. When a species dies off, it leaves a hole in the ecosystem that can not be filled (unless by an invasive species which would cause the decimation of yet another species) and eventually the ecosystem collapses. I could go into specific examples, but that could take days. So here's the take home message: humans are stupid and don't fully grasp all that nature does for us and we are destroying it at the same rate we are coming to understand it. I'm not asking people to live in caves, just think about how we are affecting our world around us.