Human-caused climate change is greatly affecting the animals that inhabit the Earth. Carbon dioxide, methane and emission of other gases have gradually but definitely warmed the planet over the many years. Not only is the Earth getting hotter, it’s climate patterns are getting more unpredictable. “…a world in which some places get more rain, others less (74).” And the impact of this antropogenic climate change is huge for the majority of the animals that thrive better in certain temperatures.
The first example Marris gives is the American Pika. Pikas are very sensitive to the temperature of the environment in which they live. Experiments have proven that Pikas will die in 78 degree Fahrenheit heat in just a few hours (73). As the planet is getting warmer, they are moving higher up the mountain escaping from the climate changes in their usual habitats. But they can only move up higher for so much longer. Pikas will eventually reach the peak of the mountain and even the highest will become too warm for them to survive in. So to help the animals that are suffering because of humans’ dominance over nature, ecologists have come up with assisted migration. It is simply moving species from one place to another that is better and preferred by the species. Humans caused the climate change that may result in extinctions of many different animals and assisted migration is our hopeful attempt at saving the innocent ones who are suffering because of us.
There are, however, many concerns that arises from assisted migration. The process is definitely not natural. It is clearly human interference and disturbance on the Earth’s ecosystem. Marris makes the point that, “after a lifetime studying the infinitely complex workings of existing ecosystem, the idea of taking a species from one into the other willy-nilly sounds like a terrible idea (77).” Similar to rewilding, no one knows how the migrated species will adapt to their new environment. Whether they will not only survive but thrive or become invasive species or just die out. Our knowledge of the species and what they need to survive is very limited. They can easily be detrimentally affected by something as small as “some specific soil microbes or microclimatic condition” (77). Another problem is that not all troubled species can be moved and saved. As Marris mentions, species with more sentimental value as well as “well-loved species with rich and leisured supporters” will probably be migrated to a better home. But for the majority of the others, they will just remain to deal with the climate change themselves, move on their own and find their new habitat on their own, or eventually die out completely. After all, assisted migration is not going to be cheap to complete.
I think assisted migration is going to work and help save many animals from being extinct from this planet forever. I do believe that we’ve come to a sad place, that our dominance have been and continues to harm other living species that are equally as deserving as we are to live on Earth and to enjoy the fullness of nature. Humans do not own the planet but we act like we do and have caused great harm to others that inhabit it. It seems like the least we can do is move them to a better environment .
