Someday we’re going to hit the cascade point, where we’ve simultaneously and severely damaged or disrupted so many ecosystems that they won’t be able to recover and it all just collapses.
Clear-cutting of forests throughout North America, Britain, New Zealand are other examples. Recent collapses of kelp forests off the coast of California. Not to mention coral reefs dying and the great desertification of western China.
It's happening all over. It's here now.
There's so much we can do better, and we are trying. Pine, etc we don't care about cutting down. Ngāi Tahu a South Island Maōri tribe actually own a lot of these forests and the idea is that when they're felled for timber, natives are grown in place. I hope they keep that up, and to be fair, they're not really in need of much more money considering they are the richest tribe in NZ as they've re-invested everything they got after the Treaty of Waitangi.
We should do more though, always.
If you ever visit, there's places in Stewart Island for example that have been completely made rodent free - and things are blooming there. On a school camp (we stayed on a yacht for a week), we got to experience a magical full moon-lit beach and got to witness all the wee kiwis come out and play. It was the most magical sight I've ever seen.
Don't get me wrong, I think we should be in panic mode and start a full redirection of public funds towards serious preservation of natural species and habitats, with carbon sequestration implementations, both short and long term solutions, and a serious jobs program to implement all of the above.
But it won't happen because the public is too removed from the problem. Most people haven't felt any real impact, and we probably won't be able to get massive legislation passed until that point, and I fear it will be too late once they do.
They'll find out when shelves are empty or prices go x 10.
Ocean acidification, the methane clathrate gun, some of the most serious climate issues that we've identified aren't even within the window of public discussion. The Green New Deal isn't even close to being passed.
I can't even imagine America pulling together to pass a boring infrastructure bill right now. I honestly can't fathom how previous presidents got anything done at all, let alone the massive public works projects that shaped America in the middle of the 20th century.