It begins

Yesterday it was reported that Europe's mountains had less snow on them than ever before, and that a tree had blossomed in October instead of next February (never mind March, its traditional date). Today, the Independent reports that the Chinese white-finned dolphin, which has swum the Yangtze river for 20 million years, has vanished and is feared extinct (see here).

Maybe when Europe's middle classes turn up at the Alps this winter to find their snow is no longer there, maybe then they'll wake up to what their actions are doing. But I somehow doubt it; we'll continue to say that every human life - all six billion of them - is somehow more precious than entire species like the bajji dolphin, right up until the point when we trigger the next mass extinction. What an ironic end we will have made for our self-acclaimed species.