Edward O. Wilson's Future Of Life

To be or to be not...that is the question. Do we as a species live for the future or does humanity thus risk extinction? That was the question that entered my consciousness upon completion of Edward O. Wilson’s Future of Life. Almost two decades ago, this book was published. It probed at an issue that wasn’t novel at that time nor has it been reprimanded at this point in time. Within this book, Wilson raises concerns about the environment and even provides possible remedial plans. Written in such an interesting way, Wilson asks readers whether to try to alleviate the stresses on the environment or continue to ignore the issues at hand until more and more species, fauna and flora, reach the border of extinction. In his effort to warn the world …show more content…
each of the many organisms named within this book, possess complexities and morphological traits that seem to daunt the schema of certain animals today. Basically life, no matter how microscopic, can survive and often flourish in practically any location with water. These organisms can thrive in a great range of environments, even in areas of extremity. Take for example the bacterium, Pyrolobus fumarii, which thrives best near volcanic vents and the bacterium known for its radiation resilience, Deinococcus radiodurans. It is amazing to find out of elephant sized birds, Calophyllum trees capable of treating HIV, and other exotic organisms. But the amazement is severely dampened upon remembering the demise of these organisms. Earlier this week I assisted the Eco Allies in posting pictures of the recently deceased. Seeing several animals that only became extinct decades and only a few years ago, the posting was synonymous to a memorial for the extinct. The extinct and the present organisms, each have(had) their niche in their respective habitats/biomes. Many were energy producers such as phototrophs or carbon fixers, called chemotrophs. Most of these organisms,whether alive or deceased, were displaced from their niches and roles in the energy pyramid and thus has caused an imbalance of energy and …show more content…
Within Future of Life, Wilson coins all of humanity as the planetary killers. This term isn’t assigned to everyone lightly, since the debate over the ecosystem has been in the air for quite some years. Some people choose the strong environmentalist perspective, pleading for a halt to industrialization and of natural resource depletion; others prefer a strong economist view, with the advocation of no harm being done on the environment and predictions of global finance excluding the limits of the Earth. Due to massive deforestation projects, building of new roads and settlements, polluting of rivers,and et cetera massive alterations to global cycles have become abundant. For one the Carbon Cycle has been negatively impacted; with the decrease of carbon-harvesting organisms, i.e plants and trees, carbon and other greenhouse gases have accumulated in the upper atmosphere aiding in the escalation of global warming. The past century, or so, somewhat paints humanity as a mutation on the environment. In Biology, complications arise upon the deletion of one or more nucleotides, including frameshift deletion. By taking chunks of natural resources and forests away from the boundaries of the ecosystem, we humans are causing disastrous events, such as multitudes of extinctions. The concepts of natural selection and evolution becomes stunted as effects. Each species’