We always sadly hear or read about some animals which are no more (extinct) -  many thanks to human being, - such as the westAfrica black rhinoceros, the Tasmanian tiger, the passenger pigeon and the Zanzibar leopard to mention but a sad few of the increasingly growing list. What would happen if all the people disappeared in one day or gradually until the human race will be extinct!

Speaking about extinction, there are some ethnic groups that have long disappeared from the face of the earth into oblivion. Such groups include: the Ware people in Tanzania who are believed to have died out by 1900, the Jangiland the Koningo people among so many others. If such people have had their candles snuffed out, what about us? Won’t we face a similar end?

A group called the Voluntary Human extinction asserts that our dying out is expected and therefore, we first of all need to stop having babies so that we do not contribute to the already existing earthly problems and two that since we are going to eventually die so reproduction is a waste of time.

What would be the first thing to go? Would it be the houses, cars or electrical appliances that we work so hard to acquire? Obviously, animals would take over the earth as they would reclaim their original homes, maybe forests would flourish again with all sorts of living organisms, animals, plants and water cycles would probably increase. But can the environment properly balance again with all the damage we have managed to bring to it? With time, factories that

Plastics, that take one million plus years to decay may perhaps begin the rotting process.

Reminds me of the profound lines from Percy Shelly’s poem, Ozymandias, which say;

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare!

If that is a future possibility for our world then you and I have a right to be very concerned!

Lois Nakibuuka is an educator and counsellor

lnakibuuka@yahoo.com