Waiting for the Macaws: And Other Stories from the Age of Extinction [Paperback]

 

 

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It's no longer news that the human species is now considered an "outbreak" in the sense that we are an epidemic like AIDS or SARS. We are an organism that kills other life. Our methods are more subtle than some diseases. We don't often kill off whole species directly, but our lifestyle destroys the habitat they need to survive. Given how much attention we demand our medical services give to those other outbreaks of infectious organisms, it's still perplexing that we pay so little heed to our own destructive nature. According to Terry Glavin, it doesn't take much to see the result. He's done a great deal of observing our influence on other life, and in this excellent series of essays, he shares what he's found. With penetrating insights imparted in the finest story-telling manner, this book is a needed adjunct to the growing list of environmental works.

Unlike so many books covering the human devastation of our planet, Glavin doesn't overwhelm us with numbing numbers. This is, as he declares in the subtitle, "The Age of Extinctions" - the worst since an asteroid took out the dinosaurs and many other forms of life. There are some body counts, along with lists of which other animals have survived our depredations. The threat, however, is ongoing. In recent years we've seen the fish stocks - cod, tuna and salmon were once common fare on our tables - decline or disappear. Plant species, upon which many of our medicines depend, are being swathed away. A quarter of the mammals which ultimately led to us after the dinosaurs were taken out are threatened with following them. How many can we truly afford to lose?

Glavin's title is indicative. At a Costa Rican reserve, where he was assured the glorious Macaw was a regular visitor, he was forced to wait until just before leaving. He and his wife waded down a stream for a better viewing spot, only to climb out to be greeted by a sign warning them of crocodiles. He's visited many places in his survey, meeting people who could describe plentiful stocks of fish present a generation ago that are now gone. Whaling, which takes up a major segment of the book, is examined carefully. The question arises: "What is a 'sustainable' catch?" The answer lies in still better observation in the field and not in more pronouncements from distant bureaucrats. Glavin isn't a withering environmentalist. He understands the needs of people. He visits little villages, conversing with those who depend on the wild stocks and who understand what habitat means to them. And to us. We are the ones who must better understand our impact on our surroundings. He stresses that the loss of these creatures is our loss.

In the final analysis, of course, we are also the sole species with the power to cure the infestation. Various suggestions have been forwarded as the means to prevent further extinctions. Managed wildlife reserves is one idea, the "breeding zoo" is another. These and other proposals are desparation measures, in Glavin's view. They are an artificial means of "keeping the numbers up" while ignoring the fundamental question of how wildlife fits into the environment. It is the loss of habitat on which we must focus our attention and apply solutions. And that's something we aren't doing enough of. He notes that instead of our vaunted technologies and education systems increasing what we need to know, we are losing knowledge with every passing generation. It is up to us to reverse that trend, not only to help the wild species survive, but to accomplish our own survival. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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