this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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Yeah, getting rid of malaria in large parts of the world was one of the great successes of the 1900's, and a large reason for that was the drainage of wetlands. Part of the reason I personally cannot at all sympathize with folks who want to restore the wetlands. Particularly with the world heating up, it's likely to result in a surge of mosquito-borne disease.
I'm not convinced reducing a human disease is worth the destruction of those environments. It's not all about us and that warming you mentioned is a direct result of us acting like it is.
There are also other ways to deal with mosquito populations that don't involve destroying the habits of other animals.
I fundamentally disagree. Our mastery over nature is what allows us to even care about such esoteric things. As a humanist, I consider climate change a problem because it poses a threat to humans, much like mosquitoes do.
If we really had mastery over nature, we wouldn't have a lot of the problems that we do. And the potential threat to us is my whole point; upsetting certain balances could be very bad for us. I don't think we understand enough about life to be able to say what the effects of eliminating entire ecosystems are, let alone whether they are worth it.