Introduction/Prologue The Future of Life After reading Edward O. Wilson’s prologue to The Future of Life one thing is apparent: today’s society is too busy to notice its own ruthless acts that are destroying the natural world. Wilson begins with a letter to Henry David Thoreau explaining how the world has changed since his death. Wilson explains changes such as, global warming, deforestation, and extinction. He continues by statistically showing how the world is disastrously losing life and diversity. However, in solution he sheds light onto multiple ideas of his own. His organized ideas of change could most definitely help alleviate some of the world’s issues today. I personally am in agreement; today’s society is far to busy looking down …show more content…
Wilson goes into great detail about some of the most outrageous life forms on our planet, also known as extremophiles. Organisms that live in destructively hot habitats and deathly cold locations are just the beginning to the unique and beautiful organisms our Earth houses. He explains the true extent of our Earth’s melting pot of diversity when he says, “You do not have to visit distant places, or even rise from your seat, to experience the luxuriance of biodiversity. You yourself are a rainforest of a kind. There is a good chance that tiny spiderlike mites build nests at the base of your eyelashes” (Wilson 20), showing that there simply is life on every inch of this planet. In comparison, just walking to school I can see everything from beautiful Eastern Gold Finches down to the green algae cloaking the pond’s surface. Just like it was emphasized in this chapter, Earth holds an infinite range of diversity amongst its species. The world around us is as diverse as it gets. To let such unique animals etch their way onto the endangered list would be a crime. The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) website reports sixteen critically endangered species, spanning from the ocean dwelling Hawksbill Turtle to the mile high Mountain Gorilla. Though all these animals have very similar relatives losing any one of these endangered animals is losing a small piece of our planets biodiversity, a beautiful thing we are blessed to see. Or as Wilson said when talking about the biosphere, “It is a miracle we have been given” (Wilson 21), something we as humans must take ultimate responsibility