The End Of The Wild Analysis

The text that I found most interesting was The End of the Wild because the author Stephen M. Meyer manages in 97 small pages to offer an extremely powerful argument and dissection of the biodiversity predicament us humans are in. He paints a grim picture of the loss of the wilderness. Calls the wilderness “a landscape where the handprint of humanity is invisible” and “where the forces of natural selection smother those of human selection.” (8)

Meyer sees the effects of human activity and intervention leading to a three types of life; comprised of weedy species, relic species, and ghost species. Weedy species, such as dandelions, coyotes, and white-tailed deer, thrive in environments that have been settled and have become dominated by humans.

They are usually found in remote areas, but in the age of globalization, their remote areas have become few and far between, some examples of relic species are African elephants and giant pandas. Finally the ghost species, which include large fish caught for human consumption, such as tuna and swordfish, and wild animals, such as African lions, which are killed because they threaten livestock. The ghost species, in Meyer’s opinion are, unfortunately, destined to become extinct because they cannot adapt quickly enough to the pressures caused by humans or because humans intentionally eradicate them. These points are very interesting as I had never looked at it that way, I knew about the endangered species list but didn’t go much beyond that as to categorizing it further. Meyer gave me a new insight as to how much people have changed the world, the fact that we categorize animals as endangered is a big enough warning, but we also fail to recognize, or choose to ignore, that they gained this status we give to them because of our actions. He is telling how natural selection is being replaced by human selection. Because humans now choose what is most important and least negatively impacting to the planet, as told by humans. This fits the