Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

We Are Direct Drivers of Extinction

On May 6, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a branch of the massive United Nations tree, released a new report. It said, briefly stated, that many species we depend on — pollinators, for example — are in deep trouble. They are melting away under our relentless quest for human comfort and an estimated million species are in danger of extinction.

The five “direct drivers” of the disappearance are: changes in land and sea use, which includes such things as urbanization and over-fishing; direct exploitation of organisms, which includes such things as trophy hunting, trophy fishing, and taking over land and sea to raise organisms that humans use (or taking land and sea to serve as giant trash dumps); climate change; pollution; invasive alien species.

We could spend an afternoon chatting about any one of the topics. Eradicating alien species, for example, would mean ridding North America of everything farmers raise and we use, from almonds to zucchinis. Folks who study native species can’t even agree on what exactly was here when Columbus first set foot on the continent. Even the beloved honeybee is an alien, or more exactly a group of aliens as several breeds of honeybees have been imported to pollinate the fruit trees, veggies, flowers and berries our forefathers brought from Europe, Asia and Africa. To eliminate America’s alien species, we’d have to learn to use an entirely new ecosystem.

But conquering any one of the direct drivers would take gigantic acts, and we’re not going to do it. Anyway, it’s more interesting to think about what’s not said in the report: We need to get a grip on the burgeoning human population. Although it’s occasionally mentioned that human population has doubled in the last 50 years, it’s not listed as a “direct driver” of the extinctions. Perhaps the authors thought we would naturally realize that each of the “drivers” is related to our numbers and lifestyles, but I think the neglect has more to do with our embarrassment about being seen as suggesting that some babies, even those of our own kith and kin, are surplus baggage.

Those kids, the wanted ones in your family, aren’t the ones I’m talking about. Those — your kith and kin — are here because of rational decisions made by your intelligent relatives. All I’m saying is that equally intelligent relatives, of you or people you know, have made equally rational decisions and concluded that they want to remain child-free. Maybe they want more time to travel or pursue other passions—the arts, or a research project that just won’t let them go. Maybe they don’t want to enter the financial rat race to support a family. The reasons are as different as the people, and it turns out that the childless are part of a growing group. The birth rate has fallen to the lowest number in history. So, let’s celebrate!

The direct drivers are almost impossible to change without first putting a check on population growth. And, society is ready to move on this change.

While moms, dads and grandparents look forward to their special Hallmark holidays in the spring and early summer, a select group of “child-free” enthusiasts has begun to publicize their chosen lifestyle. On International Child-Free Day, August 1, they announce the winners of their child-free contest, chosen from nominees that have done excellent work for humanity while managing to resist the pleas of grandparents that they continue the family line.

Without addressing the need for human population stabilization, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report absolutely sounds a doomsday clang for biodiversity and that includes us, the human species. Robert Watson, the British chemist and panel chairman for the report, did his best to underline the deep meaning of the decline in biodiversity, calling it “the foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide” and adding, “We need to link it to human well-being; that’s the crucial thing. Otherwise we’re going to look like a bunch of tree-huggers.”

The impact of the report was immediate. Columnists wrote that they were depressed. They blamed the greed of the capitalist system. It is interesting to imagine the pundits working out their arguments and then, column written, going out for a latte. There is something in the human mind that allows us to deny responsibility, even when challenged by facts gathered by an international panel of experts. Something inside us says, “meh” with a big shrug. If not that, why are we ever handed a plastic straw for a drink in a styrofoam cup? Shouldn’t those days be over?

But, no, we’re not going to change. And, the resources available to humanity, like resources for all species, are shrinking. For more on that, refer to the last sentence of the first paragraph of this column. We humans are part of nature, no matter how much we refuse believe it.

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is *The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History*. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, June 15, 2019

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