The most likely scenario for humans to become extinct is that we cannot alter our behavior patterns. The normal event is that a species emerges to fill a niche, lives there for a while, then, when that environment changes, unless the species changes its way of life, sometimes drastically, it dies out. Pandas, at the moment, are causing concern because they do not appear to be able to adapt to other types of food from bamboo and seem reluctant to mate. In spite of much research they are still a puzzle. Extinction is happening to huge numbers of plants and animals because their environments are disappearing and there is nowhere for them to go.
Humans are a species which is extremely good at adaptation. We live in areas as diverse as the arctic wastes and tropical areas, from deserts to marshes, from grass plains to dense rain forest. However, we are stubborn and think we can control our world without acknowledging the power of the natural environments. We are arrogant enough to think we can do as we wish and nature will put up with it. Yet, the simple action of a tree root can destroy a carefully made footpath and short of taking down the tree we can do nothing about it.
The natural world runs according to its own rules. The weather systems dictate where the precipitation falls and the tectonic plates move according to the workings of the planet. Earthquakes and volcanos happen when the pressures underground are right.
Humans cannot make any of that change but we can release chemicals into the atmosphere which alters the make up of air which changes how it affects plants and animals as well as buildings. Acid rain ‘weathers’ the smartest buildings, wearing away details of carvings and changing the environment, damaging leaves and killing trees. We can create an unbelievable ugliness of waste as a result of mining and manufacturing processes which leave waterways dead, devoid of animals and plants. We are capable of making our own environment uninhabitable.
We can build destructive bombs which could destroy the planet completely or certainly make it uninhabitable for our species. This comes with our continuous attempts to be at the top of the ladder, the alpha group, and we make wars to gain control of territory, money, property and enslave other humans. Literature through the ages has pleaded for peace and harmony but it seems man is hellbent on doing the opposite. While most of us wish to live in tranquility and enjoy what is a beautiful world, there are some determined to make impossible rules to be followed, to impose their will on others and generally go about making a good job of ruining the world.
We seems to being a good job of causing our own extinction.
