Scientists failed to find the Miss Waldron's Red
Colobus monkey in six years of surveys- it is now
officially extinct, the Yahoo News told me yesterday.
The first extinct primate of the twentieth century
(apparently, the surveys ended in '99, but for some
reason the announcement of this was delayed until
yesterday). This type of primate has not been seen in
over twenty years, and is likely gone for good.
I consider this yet another point not to take lightly
when we consider what is happening to our world every
day.
10 percent of the 608 species and subspecies of
primates on three continents are officially in the
danger zone or imperiled. An additional ten percent
are not currently considered "in jeopardy" but will
dissappear within a few decades if their land and
habitat is not preserved.
Data on extinct or endangered species is available
here:
http://www.wcmc.org.uk/
though I'm certain you all know well enough what the
danger is- our diminishing and weakening biosphere.
Many have stated that the advancement of technology
will soon resolve these problems- and certainly it
will serve as an aid in their alleviation, but in our
era, action on our part is necessary in order to stop
the destruction of this environment.
I've noticed a trend of what you might call, "armchair
environmentalists." People who will strongly
criticize polluting companies in private conversation
with each other, who might recycle, who might write an
editorial peice to the newspaper, might even have a
poster on their wall somewhere, or a bumper sticker on
their car, but whose interest in the environment is
otherwise editorial. Few in the modern day seem
willing to truly do anything about the environment,
and I think this is in part due to social factors
counteracting any sort of activism.
One needs look only so far as the results of the WTO
"riot" to see why people are afraid of trying to
accomplish anything. Eye-witness accounts report the
use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and other deterrents,
as well as physical attacks and long-term harrasement
to drive protesters to the point of frenzy. There
were also reports of plainclothes cops acting as
rioters in order to stir up action-
"I believe also the police had their own people in
there, encouraging people to break stuff - if people
think I may be exaggerating, I saw supposed protesters
- they were screaming and so on - and then later, when
everything was over, the same people tackled other
protestors and put handcuffs on them."
-Witness account from the WTO protest
This kind of thing, paired with the public view of
activists as somewhat crazy, makes people not want to
put any serious effort into causes they believe in.
One wonders if there aren't more "armchair
extropians", "closet environmentalists" and other
sorts living in prohibitive environments where their
voices cannot be heard, or perhaps only their voices
cannot be heard, out of fear of violating social
norms. Even feeling strongly about things seems to be
discouraged in the modern day- both from the popular
cynicism that seems to be on the rise, and the idea
that any effort of any kind is useless. There is a
large group of people who are politically independant
but vote for either democrats or republicans as "the
lesser of two evils" one of which will, "inevitably
win anyways."
I suppose I should change the subject, at this point,
from "extinction", as I was originally going to title
this article, to "apathy", which is a more fitting
term. Not on any individual part, but on a social
level, an aggregate and synergistic apathy, which
pervades much of our society, and which when combined
with a social structure that is supposedly open but
secretely rigid in mentality, creates a powerful enemy.
=====
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