Extinction or Suicide?

Some call it ‘climate change’.

In biology, extinction is the termination of an organism or of a group of organisms, usually a species.

The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point.

Because a species’ potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively.

This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus Taxonomy, where a species presumed extinct abruptly “reappears” after a period of apparent absence.

More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species that ever lived on Earth are estimated to have died out.

Through evolution, species arise through the process of speciation—where new varieties of organisms arise and thrive when they are able to find and exploit an ecological niche—and species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition.

A typical species becomes extinct within 10 million years of its first appearance, although some species, called living fossils, survive with virtually no morphological change for hundreds of millions of years.

Mass extinctions are relatively rare events; however, isolated extinctions are quite common. Only recently have extinctions been recorded and scientists have become alarmed at the current high rate of extinctions.

Most species that become extinct are never scientifically documented. Some scientists estimate that up to half of presently existing plant and animal species may become extinct by 2100.

A dagger symbol (†) placed next to the name of a species normally indicates its status as extinct.

Or are we doing this to ourselves?

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and substance abuse—including alcoholism and the use of benzodiazepines—are risk factors.

Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, such as from financial difficulties, troubles with relationships, or bullying.

Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide—such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance misuse; proper media reporting of suicide; and improving economic conditions. Even though crisis hotlines are common, there is little evidence for their effectiveness.

The most commonly used method of suicide varies between countries, and is partly related to the availability of effective means. Common methods of suicide include hanging, pesticide poisoning, and firearms. Suicides resulted in 828,000 global deaths in 2015, an increase from 712,000 deaths in 1990. This makes suicide the 10th leading cause of death worldwide.

Approximately 0.5% of people die by suicide. In a given year this is roughly 12 per 100,000 people. Three quarters of suicides globally occur in the low and middle-income countries. Rates of completed suicides are generally higher among men than among women, ranging from 1.5 times as much in the developing world to 3.5 times in the developed world. Suicide is generally most common among those over the age of 70; however, in certain countries, those aged between 15 and 30 are at the highest risk. Europe had the highest rates of suicide by region in 2015. There are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year. Non-fatal suicide attempts may lead to injury and long-term disabilities. In the Western world, attempts are more common among young people and among females.

Views on suicide have been influenced by broad existential themes such as religion, honor, and the meaning of life.

The religions traditionally consider suicide as an offense towards God, due to the belief in the sanctity of life. During the samurai era in Japan, a form of suicide known as seppuku (harakiri) was respected as a means of making up for failure or as a form of protest.

Suicide and attempted suicide, while previously illegal, are no longer so in most Western countries. It remains a criminal offense in many countries but who is going to jail? In the 20th and 21st centuries, suicide has been used on occasions as a form of protest, and kamikaze and suicide bombings have been used as a military or terrorist tactic.

Whatever definitions we want to call our actions of gluttony and waste, we will not survive and the next visitors will wonder why this jewel of a rock floating in space was so abused by its inhabitants.