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Now There's No Room 

I suppose this song is an epilogue to The Sibylline Books. 

I was thinking a about all the expressions in the English language using animals as a metaphor.  Wolves at the door, elephant's memory, eagle eyes, busy as a bee...  When you think about it, there are a lot of them.  And now we're approaching a time when these expressions will be referring to things that no longer exist. 

They'll all be dead as the dodo. 

People try to argue for the preservation of wildlife by seeing its direct value to humans.  'Don't cut down the rain forests because they might contain cures for human diseases'.  'Don't kill all the bees because they pollinate many of our crops'. 

Absolutely true. But to me, the destruction of the planet's biodiversity is also an aesthetic crime worse than demolishing every art gallery in the world.  Every plant, animal, fungus and microbe alive today has an unbroken evolutionary history all the way back to the first emergence of life nearly four billion years ago.  And we're mindlessly erasing it all. 

Mother Earth kindly stepped in to do the vocals for this one.  Maybe we should listen before it's too late?

Listen here.

The Sibylline Books 

According to legend, Tarquinius - a pre-Christian-era king of Rome, once had a fairly disastrous haggle with a prophetess - or Sibyl, when he wanted to buy nine scrolls of precious wisdom from her.  She named a price, which he refused.  In response, the Sibyl cast three scrolls into the fire.  She offered the six remaining scrolls at the same price, and when Tarquinius protested, she burned another three.  He eventually bought the last three scrolls at the original price, fearing to lose them all. 

Douglas Adams re-told this story in his book, 'Last Chance to See', about his experiences travelling around the world with biologist Mark Carwardine, in search of some of the world's most endangered animals.  Adams' version is an allegory for the extinctions we're causing - not understanding the true worth of what we're losing. 

Since then, one of the animal subjects of his book - the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji - has become extinct.  Another, the northern white rhino, exists now only as a half dozen individuals in zoos.  Adams' account inspired this song.  It's a story, so settle down, and when you're sitting comfortably, I'll begin. 

Listen here.

Douglas Adams - Last Chance to See
 

What's it all about? 

When you're young, you learn about falling in love.  The resultant elation and/or despair is usually the most powerful thing that has happened to you up to that point, so it's not surprising that if you write songs, that's what you write about.

As you get older, you live and love, and inevitably lose some you love.  You start to realise that the world around you is not a static thing; that ten years is fleeting and full of change.

Then there's the state of the world.  When I was born, there were half as many people on the planet, and there were already signs of strain.  I remember confident claims that the Earth's resources were infinite.  We now live in a world of 'peak oil'.  I remember campaigns to save a single iconic species from extinction, but now we're destroying entire habitats. 

So these days, I'm preoccupied with all the ways we're screwing things up, and all the forces that conspire to maintain this catastrophic momentum. 

Some choose to believe what makes them comfortable, rather than what's true.  Others exploit that tendency for their own ends.  Many know in their hearts that things are in a terrible state, but feel too overwhelmed to do anything about it.  They occupy themselves with manageable problems and day-to-day pleasures; never daring to look up. 

On the other hand, there are a few signs of hope; a few people who make a noticeable change for the good, and I write about them too. 

© 2011 Jeff Parker. caglecartoons.com