Dear Fellow Earthlings,
Just what is it that we should be trying to save? Each of you will have your own answer to to this question.
So I will put forth mine.
We need to save ourselves from ourselves. If top predators never meet, they need not fight. Tigers and orcas are generally not a threat to each other. However, the vector known as humans are capable of putting tigers and orcas into "the same cage". In that case, gruesome scenarios ensue. If the cage is "on dry land" the tiger will surely prevail; if it holds deep water, then the orca will triumph. The more water that is permitted to flow into the cage, the greater are the orca's chances, while only a small amount of water will be insufficient to support it as the tiger "roams at will' over the terrain that constitutes an orca's heavy body when it is deprived of the buoyancy it would have in deep water.
So it is with everything. If speakers of Guató, a language found (in plummeting numbers) along the border of Brazil and Bolivia, had never met people who themselves (or their ancestors) had come to South America from across the Atlantic Ocean, then the Guató people's language and culture would probably not be disappearing. The pathogens, alcohol, religions, and guns brought to the Pantanal region of South America would not have injured, decimated, and -- finally -- eliminated Guató language and culture -- if not the Guató people (as a distinct branch of homo sapiens) themselves!
A good camera -- likewise -- is no match for a mobile device that can not only take pictures, but also develop them, edit them, and send them all over the world in just a few seconds. No longer is it necessary for a photographer to carefully remove "film" from kerm camera, and utilize kerm expertise in a "darkroom" to bring out kerm individual interpretation of what the photo should express to those who would look at it. However, cameras should continue to be manufactured in order to provide people with the option of taking a picture -- not of generating a computer file.
The greatest speeches ever delivered and recorded for our future consideration are likewise, not likely to survive when they are eroded by copying and recopying, intentionally reworded by those who do not agree with their contents, and literally removed from history either intentionally, or through the ravages of time -- particularly if no ways have been developed to preserve them.
If we humans continue to let all that we know be destroyed by the forces of excessive change, we will have no foundation on which to build a future that allows both diversity and homogeneity! For example, the United States cannot be a microcosm of every culture, religion, and life form on Earth, just as Earth cannot feature all that can be found in the United States.
Steve Walker
Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.