[carbadtraingood]

The way we treat the destruction of species and habitat at our hands as a necessary side effect of progress is alarming.

Removing a species from the planet is like removing a screw from an airplane in flight - you can probably remove a lot of screws before there's a problem, but you will eventually crash catastrophically if you keep at it.

[eljimmy]

I think we as a species must rid ourselves of selfishness and greed. We need to think beyond the timelines of our own existence.

Alas, I fear those traits may be too deeply rooted in our our own nature and nurture that our demise may be inevitable.

[PuppyTailWags]

I want to push against the narrative that selfishness and greed is inherent. The currently dominant society might socialize its people to prioritize selfishness and greed but not all societies do and not all societies must.

[bmitc]

Selfishness and greed is at the heart of humanity. Just look at every lawn covering every plot of land. They are examples of pure greed. Almost no one uses parts of their lawn regularly, and so they only exist for vanity purposes.

There is a reason why many restoration and native plant proponents teach about empathy. One needs to gain empathy for plant and wildlife struggle before being able to enact change.

We could solve a lot of problems almost immediately if we had even a modicum amount of collective empathy.

[downboots]

It means mostly anyone can help contributing by converting part of that lawn

Native species make the most sense but there are plenty of other beneficial weeds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneficial_weed

Like a victory garden, but war of a different nature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

[JKCalhoun]

To be a contrarian, perhaps the societies that prioritize selfishness end up dominating as a result.

I act with optimism, teach optimism to my children. When left to my inner thoughts however I worry about the future of our species.

[angst_ridden]

Dominating? In the way a bacteria dominates a petrie dish until it exhausts all the resources and dies off?

[JKCalhoun]

Exactly.

[eljimmy]

I agree, not all societies are like this. However, an argument can be made that it is inherent because it is dominant.

[zmgsabst]

Species disappear all the time.

The issue, in so much as there is one, is the speed at which that change is happening.

[carbadtraingood]

Note I specifically said "at our hands" to suggest exactly this. Nature gonna nature, agreed. What we're doing is different.

[nemo44x]

Aren’t we nature too? Isn’t every species of living thing trying to thrive as much as possible in a ceaseless competition for space and resources?

Are we the shepards of the world or just another organic life?

[carbadtraingood]

No. We were nature, but we're progressing faster than natural processes can adapt.