The myth that Earth was made for humans persists to this day. Yet the natural sciences have long convincingly demonstrated that a series of coincidences played a decisive role in the evolution of our biosphere – and ultimately in that of humans as well: The conditions on our Earth are so improbable that they can hardly have occurred more than once in our galaxy. A planet that has given rise to multicellular animals – and, in one species, even technological intelligence – is likely a very rare phenomenon in the vastness of space. But if the blue planet is so incredibly unique, what does that mean for how we treat it?
In the most astonishing detail, Martin Gorke describes the incredibly improbable lottery win that cosmic evolution has bestowed upon us with our Earth: a place to live, a place whose diversity we must preserve with all our might.to all animals, plants, mountains, rivers, species, ecosystems, and, not least, the planet Earth.
Essay
Martin Gorke, born in 1958, studied biology and philosophy in Bochum and Bayreuth and earned his doctorate in both subjects. He then spent seven years as a nature conservation officer on the bird island of Norderoog in the North Frisian Wadden Sea. In 2008, he completed his habilitation at the University of Greifswald. In 2016, he was appointed to the Chair of Environmental Ethics there. In his two books, Artensterben (Species Extinction) (1999) and Eigenwert der Natur (The Intrinsic Value of Nature) (2018), Martin Gorke advocates a holistic environmental ethics.
