[Taxacom] Endangered Species Day

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All,
      Today is Endangered Species Day.  I personally directed my
attention on this day to the critically endangered species, Lepidochelys
kempii.  News reports today indicate that a young turtle of this species
was rescued from the oil along the Louisiana coast and is being cleaned
and cared for.  It is just one turtle, but still troubling in a species
that has become so critically endangered.      
       This species is between a rock and a hard place.  It has long
been the victim of hunters (of both adult turtles and their eggs), as
well as drowning in the nets of shrimpers and fishermen.  Getting the
latter to use escape nets (so turtles, dolphins, etc., don't drowned in
their nets) has been resisted by many, so the recent fishing ban may
actually help on that front.  However, at the same time, they now face
the great increase in oil pollution in the Gulf due to the oil spill.
Which threat is worse remains to be seen.     
       In any case, the biggest enemy to the existence of such species
is clearly from humans (the population of which is the exact opposite of
endangered).  Like mosquitoes and cockroaches, the world would be much
better off with a stable (better yet, reduced) population of humans.
Therefore, every shipment of food (especially to the developing world in
particular) should include equally appropriate (i.e., large) supplies of
condoms.  Otherwise, those who are well-fed over the short-term end up
producing too many children who will then end up suffering in the
future.  Malthus warned against this sort of short-sighted cruelty long
ago, and yet the "be fruitful and multiply" mentality continues to
stupidly and short-sightedly contribute to future human misery.  It
would be the height of human compassion to prevent the births of
millions of mostly unwanted babies, rather than let them grow up in a
world of food shortage, war, rape, child abuse, and cruel diseases.  Too
many that preach "the right to life" ignore the fact that their
single-minded approach leads to mere QUANTITY of human life, but
continues to diminish the QUALITY of that life in much of the world.
Even in the wealthy industrial nations, too many children live in
poverty and/or suffer abuse.  If their births had been proactively
avoided, such suffering would have been minimized, and the suffering is
far worse in poorer nations.  The message is simple.  More condoms will
help to curb human population growth, and biodiversity of other species
will in turn benefit as well.          
      ---------Ken Kinman