Going extinct is the rule, not the exception.

[TLA]

Why do we work so hard to keep species from going extinct. Why do we protect them at a human cost. Did you know there a dumbass little minnow that lives in the irrigation canals in central Calif and this little piece of crap fish is going extinct so the farmers can't get water to the crops because this silly little minnow might get sucked into the pumps and killed. I hate to tell ya but going extinct is the absolute rule. Not going extinct is a total exception.

Think of the cost in human suffering, money, loss of jobs, higher priced food, dust bowls and more all to protect the last of a species that wasn't fit for survival. Sure we changed the habitat but mother nature changes habitat a lot more quickly than humans do and mother nature is responsible for things going extinct. After all, it is survival of the fittest. How many billions have we spent on whooping cranes? How much have we lost because of the spotted owl.

What if by  keeping the spotted owl or the damn minnow in central calif from going extinct we are preventing another species from emerging better equipped to take on current conditions. Perhaps we are prolonging their misery. Perhaps natural predation put them in their position for possible extinction perhaps humans did. Doesn't matter as for all practical purposes the minnows and the owls are extinct. When we value a silly minnow or a damn owl more than we value health care for all we are a very screwed nation.

You see, 99.9% of every species that has ever walked, swam of flew on this planet has gone extinct. Extinction is the norm. It's how it's always been and in general always will be. Billions for owls and minnows, pennies for babies. Our priorities are grossly misplaced.

[TLA]

Ya know, by keeping the spotted owl and some silly minnows alive we may be preventing the evolution of another species that would have been better able to take their place. Perhaps we are harming mother nature more by not letting species go extinct.

If nature is to be believed other species arise to fill the niche left by the species that went extinct. Animals, people, the earth and everything on it is in a constant state of evolution. That's how it is, that's how it's been and that's probably how it always will be. It's how we and other life forms advance./

So think about it. What harm could we be causing by not letting species go extinct as a natural course of events.

[TLA]

Saw an ad today to save the polar bear from going extinct. Don't remember who sponsored it but the message was clear, the polar bear habitat is disappearing and they will go extinct. Well, doesn't it seem to you like there are tons of polar bears in zoo's around the world. It's not likely poar bears will ever go extinct. Whoa, hey, the ought to put spotted owls and snail darters in zoo's so they don't go extinct.

Unfortunately there is little, if anything we can do to save the polar bears habitat. For that the ice sheets and glaciers need to quit melting at a record pace. Climate change, or global warming if that's your choice of words, is to far advanced for us to do much about it. Until the world stops putting out green house gases polar bears are pretty well screwed. Except for the ones in the zoos.