By Malcolm King
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 12, 1997

Greed contributes to extinction

Editor:

Seldom have I seen in print such ignorance as the comment made by Ms. Dellamalva (Cloning, Nov. 3): "If a species was meant to die out, then it was meant to die out." Unless one is a religious fundamentalist who believes in strict determinism , then one must realize that, in recent centuries, most significant extinctions have occurred because of man's ill-considered actions (check out the passenger pigeon and the dodo bird).

Sure, natural selection eliminates many species. But this is a whole lot different from extinctions which weren't "meant" to happen - and did because of man's greed, hubris, or stupidity. I'm saddened that a fellow creative writing student would publish such glaring nonsense.

Further, the preachy sentiments about helping the poor and homeless are completely irrelevant to the piece. Please, Ms. Dellamalva, spare yourself such embarrassment by having having [sic.] someone you trust edit your work before you publish it.

Malcolm King
Creative writing Senior