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Today the guiding hand of natural selection is unmistakably human. With these words Stephen M. Meyer begins a stunningly clear-eyed view of the extinction crisis. Marshalling evidence from the last ten years of research, he argues that nothing -- not national or international laws, global bioreserves, local sustainability schemes, or "wildlands" -- will change the course we have set: the loss of half of the earth’s species by the end of the century. We will come to share the planet only with species that thrive in human-dominated environments.
Although we have lost the race to save biodiversity, Meyer argues, we still must act. Without intervention, the ecosystems we depend on for a range of services -- including water purification and storm damage control -- could fail, and the global spread of pests and disease carriers could explode. If humanity is to survive, we must give up both the idea that we can restore wilderness and the haphazard strategy of protecting species-specific habitats. Instead, our conservation efforts should begin to focus on transregional "meta-reserves" designed primarily to protect the crucial functions of ecosystems.
Stephen M. Meyer is a professor of political science at MIT. In June 2006 he received a National Park Service Conservation Hero award; he also received the 2005 Frances W. Sargent Award from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
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