Have you ever seen a dinosaur ?

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in August 2015

Dinosaurs lived on Earth, in the same planet we live now, millions of years ago. No human being has ever seen these pre-historical animals alive. Their existence was inferred when their bones were found and later reassembled, regaining their original structure. These remains, the fossils, bear witness of a form of life that no longer exists.

The dinosaurs were extinct by a still unknown cause. Theories sustain that, long ago, a celestial body that collided with our planet caused an enormous devastation. As a result, a great part of the living beings on earth became extinct. A cosmic tragedy would have happened, without the interference of (still non existing) humans.

To modern science, extinction is a natural phenomenon. Although it has always existed, currently it occurs more frequently. And this is considered abnormal within Nature’s equilibrium system. Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, human activity imparted deep changes on our planet. Parallel to this, extinction processes became more intense.

Case in point is the passenger pigeon. Considered the most abundant bird on the planet, it has been decimated by firearms hunt and extinct in 1914. A human invention has been badly utilized against defenseless animals, in a time of incipient ecological awareness. The result of this action was a farewell to an animal species.

Nature has its processes. And the human species, steadily more powerful, interfere in these processes in a devastating manner. Consciousness and human actions of the present time will determine, in great measure, the existence of our future Nature. It is up to us, 21st century citizens, to gather maximal efforts to avoid that more forms of life cease to exist due to human mishandling.