By Yuri Bahti
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 4, 1998

Environmental balance needed

To the Editor:

This letter is in response to Eric Clingan's Jan. 21 article, "The Dodo and the Pygmy." Eric's narrow view of biodiversity is frightening, maybe he just has no idea what biodiversity is. In a nut-shell biodiversity is the study of living things and the relationships among them. This field of study exists because there exist RELATIONSHIPS between all living things (for example, see ecosystem if you missed that in high school). Why even those tofu and granola eating hippies at National Geographic are featuring a segment on biodiversity in their Millennium Series.

These relationships are not always clearly visible, like our dependence on certain plants and animals. Just because the pygmy owl seems insignificant does not mean it is so. These animals need to exist (sinceyou obviously think that they have no right to do so), if only so we have the opportunity to find these relationships and help to create a balance between urban sprawl and nature. I find it ironic that you said, "...but the current unbending will of many environmentalists is equally destructive to the efforts of mankind to create a world in balance with their surroundings." What kind of balance is there when we destroy everything in our path? It's this type of Don Diamondesque thinking that's destroying the natural environment that makes Tucson a great place to live.

Yuri Bahti
Psychology Senior