Life in the Balance

Niles Eldredge lays it on the line in this book, which will probably not be read by those who most need to heed its message. Eldredge maintains that the human conquest of nature is resulting in the sixth mass extinction of life on earth. If we were coal miners, we'd be ignoring our dead canaries right now--witness the increasing rarity of amphibians, the mounting evidence of anthropogenic climate change, the wholesale destruction of the most fragile, biologically rich places on Earth, all for the sake of human desires. In textbook cases of the tragedy of the commons, he shows just how difficult it is to make holistic judgments in the face of individual need. Who would begrudge a starving child a meal of an undescribed and disappearing fish species? Eldredge doesn't spare greedy politicians and thoughtless industry chiefs, who apparently plan to continue selling us the products of environmental destruction until there's nothing left to destroy. The book's message is not without optimism, though, and Eldredge gives examples of how quickly some biomes can heal themselves given a little breathing room. The hope lies in control and moderation of our appetites, and in the celebration of biodiversity, the appreciation of underappreciated species. --Therese Littleton