Large crowds at book presentation
5 December 2019
Photo: UHH/CeNak, Gerisch
Christoph Kucklick, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Geo”, Fritz Habekuß from the “Zeit” newspaper, and CeNak director Matthias Glaubrecht and his publisher Johannes Jacob from the C. Bertelsmann publishing house (from left) at the Zoological Museum
“Humankind’s pioneer spirit is also the cause of its impending doom,” said CeNak director Matthias Glaubrecht when announcing his new book on evolution’s end, Das Ende der Evolution. Der Mensch und die Vernichtung der Arten. The evolutionary biologist discussed his ideas with Fritz Habekuß, science editor of the Zeit, Christoph Kucklick, editor-in-chief of Geo, and numerous guests at the Zoological Museum. The book also caused a stir in the media.
This satellite photo of the rain forest shows nothing more than a carpet of brown patches. The sold-out audience at the Zoological Museum also saw diagrams and statistics on the disappearance of animal species that painted a gloomy picture of the condition of the planet. “Homo sapiens is a born exploiter of environmental resources,” says author Matthias Glaubrecht.
And because of the constant growth of the human population, “private problems become problems of global dimension.” Homo sapiens needs settlement and farming space and uses resources–and ever more. Humankind’s success story is unique, but in the Anthropocene, the epoch of man, it is approaching a dimension “that could topple the ecosystem.”
While Fritz Habekuß read passages from the 1000-page work about mass extinction, the evolutionary biologist Glaubrecht backed up his theses with data and statistics. Understanding these numbers proved a bit tricky, said Christoph Kucklick in the subsequent discussion. Won’t nature be able to adapt to the changed conditions, to even create a type of “new nature”?
“I’m skeptical about this kind of ‘eco-positivism’ from the Anthropocene fans,” countered Matthias Glaubrecht. In the past 40 years, the biomass of insects has shrunk by nearly three-quarters, which in turn affects other animal species and plants. “We have to see the ecosystem as a whole and in context.” Audience members mentioned the disappearance of hares, earthworms, and blackbirds. These kinds of subjective impressions are often proven by scientific studies, said Glaubrecht. Often, however, there is a dearth of objective long-term data, for hedgehogs, for example.
Although the climate crisis has even made it to the business sections of large newspapers, the extinction of species across the globe tends to get little space. Fritz Habekuß: “The media shouldn’t report on these topics separately, but treat them as interrelated phenomena.” The panel also discussed the question of what makes Homo sapiens different from animals. Among other things, humans kept other animals, like cats, for their own pleasure. And these have become, at least in Europe and North America, a threat to birds and small animals.
Of course, the “end of evolution” is, from a biological perspective, not realistic, admitted Glaubrecht. “What I mean is the end of evolution as we know it. Especially the dramatic dwindling of the animal and plant kingdoms. The book also offers a rescue scenario. Putting an end to sterile yard landscaping would be a good start. And fostering nature-friendly agriculture. In fact, however, at least half of the earth’s surface would have to be designated as a nature preserve. Finally, the evolution expert warned about our lifestyle: “Those of us in the western, industrialized countries can’t keep living the way we have done for the past decades.” (mik)
The book “Das Ende der Evolution. Der Mensch und die Vernichtung der Arten” is published by C. Bertelsmann. The podcast “Das Ende der Welt ist näher, als gedacht” (The end of the world is closer than you think), a discussion between Dieter Kassel and Matthias Glaubrecht on the Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio program, is available on the CeNak Press and Media page.