The loss of biodiversity is a bit like the loss of magic

“One thing about which fish know exactly nothing is water, since they have no anti-environment which would enable them to perceive the element they live in.” ― Marshall McLuhan, War & Peace in the Global Village (1968)

I find myself thinking, frequently, in my more amusing daydreams about magic and the many stories and universes created by great writers and great thinkers.  

The consistent theme across these stories is that they overwhelmingly exist in a time and place in their universes where the magic of their world is somehow... less.  They exist as inheritors of an era where magic was (once upon a time) everywhere.  It was powerful, often an age of heroes, where mythology, legend, and history intertwine.  That time of the past seems somehow unbelievable yet undeniably true.  And now, it is weakened, if not outright gone.

If magic existed everywhere, would a person even notice it.? Would magic exist in such universes and worlds, like air in our world or water for a fish?  Could you even see or define something when its entire presence is an unknown benefit to you?   Do we exist in a world so wonderful and magical that we don't possess the ability to see it?

In such a universe, where magic is everywhere, you would not start to notice it until it began to slip away.  It would not have words until it needed words to define it.

In this world, biodiversity is the magic of our age.  We did not really notice or really think about the birds in the trees, not really, until they stopped singing.  We did not consider how a beaver dam provided habitat for fish, birds, bugs, amphibians, and other rodents until all the dams were removed.  

I think about the near apocalypse of the North American bison.  Millions of animals... gone.  And with them, bird species disappeared, entire cultures disappeared, grasslands plowed, and... here we are still.  But the future is terrifying. 

A hero's journey in this world in an attempt to learn their magic and add value to the world through rewilding efforts by bringing back species and reclaiming habitats.  Perhaps an act of heroism in our time is to plant milkweed for the monarch butterflies.  Stop killing the insects.  Slow down and hit the brakes for animals crossing our highways that run through the middle of their habitats.