As my dear old friend George* once pointed out, well, well over 95% of all the species that have existed on the planet Earth are GONE. Extinct. Dead. Kaput. Deceased. They are no more. They have ceased to be. They’ve passed on, expired, and gone to meet their maker. They’re stiffs. Bereft of life, they rest in peace. Their metabolic processes are now of interest only to historians. They’re off the twig. They’ve kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. They are EX-SPECIES.
We didn’t kill them all. Not even close, in fact. The only constant on Earth is change. The planet is a dynamical system, whose elements change in response to other elements changing. So we’re dumping plastic all over the place. Eventually lifeforms will evolve who will use this to their advantage. I for one am sick and tired of all this ‘ZOMG SAVE THE PLANET!!!111’ bullshit.
If we’re talking the long-term health of the planet, I have to agree with those who say our impacts are insignificant in the very long run.
If we’re talking about the earth’s continued ability to support humans, I’ll go with
Fossil fuel dependence
chemical-dependent agriculture
deforestation
habitat destruction for various non-forest species
overpopulation (as a magnifier of the above)
As to Shalmanese’s comment about grass, I think the most damaging thing it did was make humans possible. Where would we be without wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, etc.? All just kinds of grass, those are …
