[iamwil]

Well, it was the last of a group of trees that grew there in the middle of a desert. It held meaning to those that passed it by in a trek across a desert to a point of superstition. It may have breathed the same air with animals that are no longer with us. I think that's pretty unique.

It's not that I don't think ~150,000 people dying is sad in its own way, I don't know that any random one of them are in the same unique position as being the last of something. Perhaps, sometimes, we get someone that dies who's the last speaker of a dying language, or the last in a lineage of a tribe. I'd say that's sad, in the way the last tree dying is sad.

Take any random 150,000 people dying, it too is sad, but not in the same way.

Of course, it's easier for us to sympathize with humans than it is with trees, because we too are human. It's also easier for us to think that human endeavors are also more important than non-human ones.