But then we have fire ants and cockroaches and mosquitoes.... proof of Satan

Yup! And in the 1950s “all out war" on fire ants, U.S. states got matching federal funds to spray 22 million acres with the DDT-related chemicals heptachlor and dieldrin, at a total cost to the taxpayers of around 7 billion dollars. Rachel Carson called it a “sales bonanza” for the chemical arms industry. At some point in this battle, however, cotton farmers noticed that the supposedly enemy ants ate crop-destroying boll weevils. And during the spraying campaign, so many people reported large-scale deaths of animals and birds, that the Food and Drug Administration advised banning the use of heptachlor on food crops.

ya just can't win

Maybe not! But learning what's helpful about each species could be better than winning

"Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place." ~ Margaret J. Wheatley

Yeah, we have unintended consequences of our intentions. We wanted to eliminate the unwanted species, and didn't mean it to end up ruining the system

Actually, no species should be considered "unwanted" since everything impacts everything else. If a person sees some creature as "unnecessary" that is just their ignorance of our ecosystem. Look at now how scientists are worried about so many insects now endangered. In the past, farmers and ranchers thought beavers were unnecessary and "pests", but it wasn't until the later part of the 20th century that ecologists learned just what a vital role that they, alone, play in the ecosystem. Everything God created serves a purpose-- eliminate just 1 thing out of the picture and we will regret the wide ranging consequences we will suffer.

That's right Stacy. Maybe we're starting to learn some appreciation for other creatures, and we'll increasingly look for some mutual benefit, instead of just killing whatever we don't respect.

Well, I won't hold my breathe-- humankind seems incredibly dense. Just when they discover how important one thing is when it is in danger of being gone, or already obliterated, they have labelled something else as unimportant.

Waiting can cause oxygen depletion. Clearly, the distinctions we make between good and evil creatures change over time. We might move the boundaries that separate allies from enemies, but we still draw the lines somewhere. If we achieved even-handedness, we'd view all species as having some role in the biosphere and try to keep the food chain balanced. Our biases, however, are commonly extreme. Some cultures make certain animals out to be angels, and almost every culture makes several into demons.

you might like this book....

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Brian wrote: "Waiting can cause oxygen depletion. Clearly, the distinctions we make between good and evil creatures change over time. We might move the boundaries that separate allies from enemies, but we still ..."

I agree. >oxygen depletion< hahaha! I think every creature should be seen as equally important, as everyone of them plays an invaluable role. Sadly though, it seems science seems to put them all on sort of scale from very valuable to not much at all.

Thanks Michael,
looks good

I like it that people now have appreciation societies for bats and sloths

It certainly helps.