The Best Thing We Can Do For The Earth

The best thing we can do for the Earth is to commit mass suicide.

Normally, this sounds like some sarcastic remark I would make in response to a really dumb idea, but actually I mean it. Very high on my reading list is Alan Weisman's The World Without Us, reviewed today in the Times. Weisman points out that while the immediate decline of humans would lead to plants and animals dealing with our mess, particularly of the nuclear variety, over time, the planet would recover from the worst species ever to set foot on it.

In other news, the Chinese have made it their goal to kill every animal in Myanmar to satisfy their growing taste for exotic meat and medicine.