This thread gets more and more interesting - not least because it's
highlighting the complexity of human behavior when faced with the often
contradictory pressures for both exploitation and conservation of natural
resources. I, too, read the article to which Charles refers, and it's
well-known that there were human-caused extinctions long before the
"modern" period with which we tend to associate the attitudes in question.
It's also true that hunting organizations have in this century sometimes
made a key contribution to habitat and species preservation, if only to
ensure a steady supply of creatures to kill. The phenomenon to which Gene
& I have referred is just as real - in _some_ "undeveloped" societies
even in recent times cultural attitudes persist that heavily favor
conservation. Perhaps the extreme example (and the best example of the
ambivalence) is the African tribespeople (Kalahari region, if I remember
right) who eat beef, but harvest it one slice at a time from cattle which
heal and live to provide more slices later.... Probably no human society
has ever had a pure, unsullied and fail-proof conservation ethic, but
some societies have built more pressures for conservation into their
culture than others. And isn't that what we should be doing: educating,
encouraging, infecting people with enthusiasm for the benefits of
conservation, sometimes through the example of other societies that have
some special wisdom to offer in this respect? We have to legislate too,
but we sometimes neglect the education as we wrangle over the laws.

On Fri, 21 Apr 1995, Charles Easterberg wrote:

> I used to believe the myth of the Primitive Man Conservation Ethic too,
> because I wanted to, but no longer. It's been pretty well said, but I'd
> like to add a couple more examples from the world of birds. An article a
> few years ago (I've forgotten where) said that it appears that more bird
> species have apparently been made extinct on the Hawaiian Islands by the
> Polynesians before white man's technology and attitudes arrived than
> since, which surprised me.
>
> Second, recall the roc (elephant bird), a giant Madagascar species, and
> the moa family of New Zealand, wiped out by the locals without thought for
> the future; a classic case of "killing the goose which lays the golden
> egg" if ever there was one. My assessment is that most, if not all,
> humans or at least their cultures, are basically capitalists at heart, and
> if exploitation of something for a perceived gain is possible, they (we)
> will do it. BTW, I'd love to be proven wrong.
>
> Charles Easterberg
> University of Washington
> easterbg at u.washington.edu
>

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