The End of the World as We Know It?

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time an article like Liam Mannix’s “The End of the World as We Know It: Are we on the Brink of a Mass Extinction?” (October 17) sees the light of the day in Australia. (If readers know of similar articles in overseas newspapers considered serious, please, let me know).

That it appears in The Sydney Morning Herald (although it has recently suffered financially, it remains our Antipodean equivalent of the The New York Times), suggests readers should read it.

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Personally, I don’t want to add much to Mannix’s article, so that readers can decide for themselves. I won’t suggest any, but it’s easy to come up with Google searches on the subject. Readers may find different perspectives on the subject.

Still, there is something I must explain. There is good reason to believe the world is entering uncharted waters, which means that one’s prognostications become more dependent on one’s location in the pessimist/optimist continuum. Alas, I am chronically pessimistic.

I’d also like to remind Mannix and readers that Homo sapiens is an animal species (if readers went through his article, they’ll understand that) and I’d like to suggest them having a careful look at Craig Welch’s “Arctic Permafrost is Thawing Fast. That Affects us All” (National Geographic, September issue).

Finally, I invite readers to read the “Scientists’ Declaration of Support for Non-Violent Direct Action Against Government Inaction Over the Climate and Ecological Emergency” (Reuters coverage on October 13)