The Resilience of Life

During the Permian Extinction, a mass extinction event which occurred roughly 251 million years ago, 96% of marine species were lost and 70% of vertebrate land-dwelling species were killed. It was the worst mass extinction the planet has ever seen.

And yet, here we are.

The Permian Extinction is by far the worst extinction event the planet has ever seen, but it's by no means the only. The most recent, which occurred 65 million years ago, wiped out the dinosaurs. There have been five major extinction events since life first percolated in earth's primordial seas, and many other smaller events. In total 99% of the species that have ever existed on earth are now extinct.

But life still flourishes.

I like to remember that when I start worrying about mankind's impact on the planet. We can do, and are actively doing a lot of damage to earth's ecosystem, and if we don't get ourselves in check it's just going to get worse. But even if we manage to pull off destruction on the scale of the Permian Extinction, which would be very difficult, life would manage to soldier on and reblossom after we're gone.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to provide an excuse for inaction. As a species we have unprecedented power over the well-being of our planet. We need to be good stewards of the world that birthed and sustains us, if not for its sake, than for ours. Continuing down our current path leads nowhere good. If we're not careful our species could end up on the pointy end of major mass extinction event number six.

But my point is that, even if this happens, life will rebound and repopulate with new forms and shapes we can't imagine. Life will continue to exist.

Until the sun supernovas and earth is swallowed whole. But that mother-of-all mass extinctions is a long way off.