E-Bay bans all ivory sales!

[A. G. Maisey]

Fearn, we are not in disagreement.

Please read my post again.

Elephants are a part of "life as we know it".

From the macro perspective elephants are probably no more, and no less important than Patagonian cockroaches---they're just bigger and more lovable.

Yes, elephants are important, I am aware of the arguments you have put, but they are only important in the preservation of a status quo, and the preservation of a status quo is not the nature of the planet upon which we live.

The simple, unadorned fact of the matter is that our own kind has become too numerous, and the means of disposing of the by-products of our existence have become too few, and are becoming fewer with every passing minute, whilst we become ever more numerous.

Earth will survive. We may not.

This is not at all about elephants.

I don't really want to continue this discussion. I have the tendency to think in very large perspectives. I think in terms of hundreds and thousands of years, and against historical backdrops. In matters such as this,I tend to think in broad sweeps and in philosophical terms. This makes for very boring general discussion.

I did try to make my initial post more or less light hearted and generalist, but now we have reached this point, I could only continue discussion if I became even less readable than I already am. I erred in opening this line of discussion, and I regret it. Could we perhaps move away from deathly serious matters to more entertaining ones?