Triage in the wild linda.hammerschmid January 30, 2016 5404 ASK THE HAMMER Don’t you love it when “experts” and “politicians” decide to play Gods? As if deciding which species should be saved at the expense of others is a Godly Act. There is only one species on this plant for which herculean efforts should not be used to save. Can you guess which? Reading that the White sturgeon is now among Canada’s 10 endangered species at risk is certainly cause for pause. Although its ancestors thrived for 200 million years, it is now struggling. Why? Same answer as above. Us. At 8 billion plus inhabitants and counting, there is no end in sight to the destruction we heap upon our planet on a daily basis. Electric cars, solar power, green living, water filtration, and climate change symposiums etc., are all fine and good but they alone will never eradicate the problems that are wreaked upon Mother Earth by Us. How many more billions or maybe only millions, of Us will it take to bend the scales far enough down to herald in our inevitable destruction? At the rhythm of waste and abuse this planet suffers at our hands, I do not believe we have to worry about the next ice age or global warming. We will self-destruct because that is what we do. As I have written before, Darwinism has been dealt a near fatal blow by what we currently describe as “advances” in modern medicine. We keep ourselves alive far longer than our shelf life warrants, causing the inevitable destruction of the planet as a result. Wars and plagues used to cull our members, but even though, throughout the world, wars erupt, plagues have mostly been eradicated. The end result, too many trying to survive on less and less. We did this to ourselves and we only have ourselves to blame. Ultimately, the end of the original 1968 movie “Planet of the Apes” may occur, not that apes take over (although who knows), but that we humans destroy ourselves. Ironically, it may be the only way to save all the other endangered species, see the creation of new ones and save the planet. Harsh, yes. Realistic, certainly. Inevitable, of course, unless what? Terrible as it will sound, I have always believed that plagues were bestowed upon us to reduce the population naturally. But then we found cures to most, if not all, such natural solutions. So what did Mother Earth send us? The Bomb, Sars, Asian Flu, Bird Flu, Ebola, Aids, etc… and, to help her along, certain parents and celebrities advocate a policy of non vaccination ensuring perhaps generations of humans susceptible, once again, to the ultimate natural solutions of Mother Nature. But will that be enough to save the world? To start over? I unfortunately am in doubt. The oceans will continue to be polluted, we will make barren the land and the food supply will end. Is this the legacy we leave behind? Stark, but unless the global population stops exponentially increasing, this is the future of the generations to come. Of course maybe we will have by then left the planet for other settlements, Mars for instance. But until life as we currently know it drastically changes here, until we change, the human race may soon also make it unto the endangered list and who will then decide what herculean efforts should, or should not, be made to save us from ourselves? Happy New Year! Me Hammerschmid is a practicing Family Law Attorney since 1982 and Senior Partner at Hammerschmid & Associates, 1 Westmount Square, Suite 1290; and a founding and current member (past Secretary for 28 years) of the Family Law Association of Quebec. She can be reached at 514-846-1013 or [email protected]. Inquiries treated confidentially. A frequent guest inn CBC TV/Radio, CTV and CJAD on Family Law; Me Hammerschmid is a monthly guest with Dr. Laurie Betito on CJAD’s Passion, on the last Thursday of each month. © 2016 Linda Hammerschmid