New York City is justifiably famous for being one the most diverse places in the world, in human/cultural terms. But it turns out that the city is equally notable for its biodiversity, according to an article in New York magazine (that I found out about in Tom Scocca's blog). Partly, it seems that it's not just humans that land in New York City as immigrants and find the city a hosptitable place – the population of "invasive species" is huge. But it all seems to sort of work. Kind of just like the human experiment called NYC.
Interesting.
I read about things like this. I reflect on the complex coexistence of nature and urbanism that I see in a country like South Korea (which I read is the second most densely populated country in the world, after Bangladesh – if you take city-states such as Singapore and Monaco out of the running). I begin to wonder if those "population alarmists," who feel that the world is doomed due to human overpopulation, are completely wrong. Human population is, without a doubt, radically altering ecosystems – including, of course, global climate change. But… that doesn't mean that these radically altered ecosystems will necessarily "collapse" or be unsustainable.
I guess, when you get right down to it, I'm not a apocalypticist, but rather a transhumanist, in futurist matters.