Today's "Arts and Letters Daily" links to the article below with the blurb: "Eco-ignorance. Up to 95 percent of organisms in the soil are unknown to science, and by the end of the century, one-quarter of them will wriggle off this mortal coil into oblivion..." http://places.designobserver.com/feature/a-home-before-the-end-of-the-world/26568/
The author of the article, Adelheid Fischer, opens with a discussion of a book, of which she writes: "The fundamental issue here, I think, is not that Cunningham got the details wrong, but that he didn't seem to care about getting them right… So what makes us think that it's okay to play fast and loose when it comes to matters of natural history?" A little further down Fischer writes: "Our ignorance is truly staggering. According to some estimates, 95 percent of organisms in the soil alone are unknown to science. […] "According to some estimates, by the end of the 21st century, one-quarter or more of all species of plants and animals now living will have gone extinct or been issued a non-refundable one-way ticket off the planet." Leaving aside that someone complaining about loose writing then glibly cites figures on the basis of "according to some estimates", does anyone have any idea how there can be anything but the vaguest estimates of how many organisms in the soil are unknown to science? Or of how many plants and species of animals will have gone extinct or be heading for extinction by the end of the century, especially as apparently huge numbers of plants and animals remain undiscovered. Are such estimates anything more than more-or-less educated guesses highly dependent on personal agendas? Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=11177 or send a blank email to leave-11177-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
