sunset's gemlog!

The Long Defeat: The New Regime and the Delta Smelt

"Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and untroubled joy. So do not trouble it, do not harass them, do not deprive them of their joy, do not go against God's intent. Man, do not exhale yourself above the animals: they are without sin, while you in your majesty defile the earth by your appearance on it, and you leave the traces of your defilement behind you." --Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

One day, very soon - maybe this year - you are going to see a headline that a tiny fish, the Delta smelt, Hypomesus transpacificus, is extinct in the wild.

It won't be a big headline. It will be tucked away far below news of the outrages perpetrated by the tech oligarchs, or of humanity's endless wars. The Delta smelt is not, after all, charismatic. It isn't very interesting. It's small, slender, and silvery. It was abundant, with numbers in the millions, until the 1980s - but its decline has been steep, and it has been on the edge of extinction for some time. Much of this is because the Delta smelt has the distinct misfortune of depending on annual freshwater flows in a state that has an immense need for water for its agricultural sector - especially for cattle feed.

On 20 January, the newly inaugurated President of the United States, presumably during a break from attacking trans people and immigrants, ordered that fresh water be diverted from the outflows relevant to the smelt be diverted for agricultural use. This has been a political issue in California; Trump was voicing the opinions of many when he called the Delta smelt an "essentially worthless fish."

Perhaps it was doomed regardless. The combination of human-induced hydrological changes and the introduction of invasive species that have outcompeted native fish have been devastating for the smelt. To my mind, though, no living animal is "worthless", and characterizing it as such is revealing of poor morals and an inability to consider the essential value and dignity of living things. For a man who professes to be a Christian, the President seems profoundly ignorant of the innate value of the Creation and the things within it that participate in Providence.[1]

Perhaps it is idealistic of me, but in every kind of animal that humanity deems expendable, I see a profound beauty that is lost to the world. The passenger pigeon, once almost inconceivably abundant, was erased from the world in the span of roughly a century. Thylacines were hunted down to the last animal, seen as a threat to livestock. Dodos went extinct due to over-hunting in the space of decades. In every one of these kinds of animals, something of incomparable meaning was lost, and will never return.

These aren't isolated examples. Animals are in a state of severe decline, especially insects and amphibians. The world - this providential work of infinite beauty and wonder - is dying, and our leaders only sneer in response. The President, a very old man, is unlikely to see how bad things will get when ecological collapse hits a tipping point. His oligarchs and court jesters may know that they will live to see that day - but they likely believe their wealth will protect them and console them. This strikes me as a deeply sad and empty way to view the world - and ultimately false.

This will be a difficult period for many of us. The dignity and safety of many of our fellow human beings is under attack. Please take care of yourself, and prioritize your own safety. Please practice solidarity and hospitality with our friends and neighbors - Jews, Muslims, immigrants, trans people, people of color - who are under threat right now.

And please spare a thought for the "essentially worthless" animals who, seen as beneath humanity's contempt, are being casually erased from this world.

[1] My own views on the subject can be found in my "Therioxenia" post.