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Paul Grobstein's picture

some reflections on our biodiversity conversation so far

A few things that seem to me worth more discussion/consideration, maybe needing additional obervations:

How dependent is the story of "loss" on the definition of diversity? Quantitatively and qualitatively? Most attention is being paid to mega fauna/flora. Would the story be different if we paid more attention to the complete spectrum of living organisms, particularly microbes?

"Biodiversity" (however defined) involves a balance of loss and gain, but existing observations focus on loss. Would the story be different if more attention were paid to documenting gain?

How significant is the "human" perspective, ie concern about how things look to humans and what humans value/think is important? Would the story be different if we thought about things in the absence of humans? indifferent to human concerns? A new book, perhaps relevant: The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman.

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