Civilised(?) Europe’s uncivilised environmental behaviour
Word Vyaasa. Edition 02.
A few years ago, I had travelled to the Sariska wildlife sanctuary in the north-western state of Rajasthan in India. Though I've pleasant memories of that trip, one particular visual has stuck like a thorn in my mind since then. It was a wall painting of sorts, upon which the resident Maharajas had proudly notified how many tigers each of their visiting dignitaries, the British lords and viceroys had shot in their visits. I felt so disgusted by it that, that feeling still lingers. Throughout the trip afterwards, I kept asking myself, why?
That memory was again brought in sharp relief by two articles I read recently. In one, author Robbie Arnott writes about the devastating impact of wildfires in Australia. In the other, we see what the white settlers did to the native bison population in North America.
Here are the links:
On Literary Hub, author Robbie Arnott writes in his article 'Megafires and Mass Extinction: Searching for Hope at the End of the Natural World'
“Australia is the world leader in mammal extinctions, the undisputed champion of furry death. Humans have lived on the continent for over 65,000 years, but these manmade mass killings have only been present for the last 230. Since the beginning of the British colonial regime in 1788, 28 species have been ripped out of existence. That’s about one or two for each decade, and accounts for 35 percent of the world’s modern mammal extinctions. At the moment, 56 species are classified as threatened. Another 52 are near-threatened.”
https://lithub.com/megafires-and-mass-extinction-searching-for-hope-at-the-end-of-the-natural-world/
Historical photo of mountain of bison skulls documents animals on the brink of extinction
“The most famous photograph of bison extermination is a grisly image of a mountain of bison skulls. It was taken outside of Michigan Carbon Works in Rougeville, Mich., in 1892. At the close of the 18th century, there were between 30 and 60 million bison on the continent. By the time of this photograph, that population was reduced to only 456 wild bison.”
Why?
What massively egomaniacal streak those so-called civilized Europeans, especially the Britishers possessed that made them exterminate the megafauna of the lands they colonized?
Has anyone ever asked this question? If yes, has anyone bothered to answer it?