During the Pleistocene age, when man emerged on the scene, biosphere was extremely rich and diverse. This was not to last. With man came over-hunting, over-fishing, and over-populating, resulting in the driving of innumerable species to extinction. Fertile land was reduced to desert, as happened in the mesopatamian valley, and species after species driven to extinction through hunting or habitat destruction. We are presently witnessing a biocide of incomprehensible proportions, as the oceans are overfished, the jungles chopped down, and the last stands of rainforest cleared for farmland or beef cattle. There is a myth that this is only a failing of modern technological man, who is alienated from nature, and not of those tribal peoples who live in "harmony" with their environment. This falacy can be shown up simply by noting that whenever in the past man has migrated into new territories, the local fauna beomes extinct, a process that began with the "stone age overkill" of the late Pleistocene. So called "primitive" cultures therefore are just as guilty of this as modern ones, the Roussean myth of the "noble savage" notwithstanding. This is indicated even now by the custodians of such cutures demanding (and being given) traditional hunting rights of endangered species, but with modern rifles and motor vehicles mind you! Traditional tribal or modern capitalist, it seems to make no difference, man is ensuring the destruction of the biosphere.
Tragically, it seems that Nature is coming to an end, at least for the present, and that it is the human species that is the cause. Man's dominance of the planet and misuse of technology has already driven countless thousands of species to extinction, and we will most likely see in our lifetimes the destruction of the last stands of rainforest, coral reef etc (whether through wilfull greed or simply pollution and other unavoidable factors), and with them, millions of species, most unknown to science. The only species that will survive will be those that can adapt to and flourish in man's polluted environments.
The Phanerozoic eon therefore can be said to have lasted until the late Pleistocene epoch, being replaced by the Noospheric eon. In terms of sequence in cosmic history, the Phanerozoic or mature biosphere is that period between the immature unicelluar prokaryote-protistan biosphere of the Precambrian and the immature and nascent mature noosphere of the present human age and future Technozoic era.
Not just about wolves (although that too),
the author of this beautifully made site
thriough his love of wolves invokes the infinite
beauty and preciousness of all of nature.
Will humankind ever be able to live in harmony
and respect with the
rest of Gaia - or are we really witnessing
the
end of nature?
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