Today's extremely spicy take is that endangered species protection is a very expensive national vanity project
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If there've been very few of you around for a very long time and the environment isn't collapsing around you, if anything you've provided a lotta evidence that you ain't no keystone species
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I'm not suggesting that we pull all resources and regulations intended to slow the inevitable decline of reject species I'm not insane I'm suggesting that we pool our resources globally and go all-in on the Okapi, which is objectively the best onepic.twitter.com/dooKhPz7V3
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I know, I know: the elephants! We don't have 'em. They're not a part of our national vanity project. This is the longhorn fairy shrimp, which lives in seasonal pools of water in rock indentations. It is endangered because "live in tiny seasonal pools" is a shitty life strategy.pic.twitter.com/CfPUbILJic
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Nothing much eats the vernal pool fairy shrimp & it doesn't eat much of anything, either. It just sorta hangs out in the deceptively deep gross puddles that you accidentally ruin your shoes in. We've set aside 13,000 acres specifically for this shrimp. https://www.fws.gov/cno/es/images/Graphics/VPFS_5-yr%20review%20CNO%20FINAL%2027Sept07.pdf …
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These are the recommendations from the 76-page conservation report on this shrimp linked above. I have no idea how much all of this would cost, but you'll hopefully forgive me for thinking that maybe we should just... notpic.twitter.com/Xy6D454Z68
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End of conversation
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Counterpoint: The environment *is* collapsing around us, and often in ways that reverse to a surprisingly large degree when you e.g. reintroduce predators.
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We've got some good evidence that (some of) the megafauna are surprisingly important. Elephants seem super important for avoiding desertification. Bringing bison (and wolves!) back to Yellowstone has been pretty relevant.
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Sometimes the ecosystem *is* collapsing around them, and we just weren't paying good attention because it happens "slowly" by the scale on which we pay attention. Or it started collapsing decades before we did.
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Unless of course the environment is collapsing in ways that aren’t immediately evident that we may not fully realize until too late
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