In response I tell them about another animal that is far more destructive to the environment. How it kills more native wildlife than all other introduced species put together. How its rampant overpopulation of almost every continent except Antarctica seriously affects the viability if life on earth. That’s right it’s homo sapiens, better known as humans.
It is elitist and premature that humans have dubbed themselves homo sapiens. The term means “wise man”. I think that considering the religio-superstitious nature of humans, a more appropriate term would be “homo superstitious” being “superstitious man”. When faith based beliefs wane from the minds of humans and are sufficiently replaced with scientific rationalism and social empathy, we may then be justified in defining ourselves as homo sapiens.
If we don’t reverse population growth so that natural attrition reduces our numbers to a manageable level, a fast spreading disease will likely do it the hard way. The Earth can probably only sustain a human population of 2 to 3 billion at a standard of living that all would like to enjoy. We are not yet wise.
oOo
