Mass Extinction

We are currently living through a mass extinction. This is described as the "Holocene extinction event" where "nearly 70% of biologists view the present era as part of a mass extinction event, possibly one of the fastest ever, according to a 1998 survey by the American Museum of Natural History."

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ the Tiger, which is my favourite animal, is classed as endangered with a trend towards a decreasing population size. Sadly it appears as though a Tiger is worth more dead than it is alive.

What bothers me is that, with the exception of some advocacy groups and some environmentalists, hardly anyone is doing anything about this. The reason is most likely that everyone finds themselves in the same trap that I do: we are trapped in the rat-race. This forces us to look after ourselves without having any time for other things. This is the saddest characteristic of the system we find ourselves in. Individuals cannot do anything about it but just like Climate Change, we can do something about it as a collective.

So I ask myself: where are the leaders of the 21st century? Where are the people with vision? Are they too busy furnishing and renting out their 3rd and 4th houses?

So the conversation around the dinner table in the near future goes like this:
"The other day I saw something moving in the garden, I got such a fright."
"It must have been a rat."
"Of course it was a rat. That's all that is left on the planet. Humans and rats."
"So why did you get a fright?"
"Well I thought all the rats were farmed in cages at Rat Farm Inc, how on earth did it get to my garden?"
"I read somewhere there are still some wild rats running around."
"No ways. That's just terrifying. I'm gonna buy myself a shotgun!"
"Here, we go, the rat burgers are ready"
"Nice handbag. The rat pelt goes nicely with your rat pelt shoes and jacket."
"So what is it your husband does for a living?"
"He's a genetic engineer - rat genomics. He's trying to make rattigers. And yours?"
"He's making a horror documentary called 'attack of the killer rats'."