UC Merced vs. Fariy Shrimp (vs Humanity)

The California conservation fairy shrimp, an endangered species is holding up construction at UC Merced. While most people support saving the whales, eagles, or other charismatic creatures, the half inch long crustacean doesn’t have as much support. Many people think that building a university is much more important than a little shrimp and that there would be no big loss to the world if there were a few less animals floating around in vernal pools, or even if there were fewer vernal pools.
While it may be a bit of a jump, I think the question “what would the earth look like without fairy shrimp?” just begs the question “what would the earth look like without humans?” Conveniently, New Scientist magazine has the answer.
If Human life completely disappeared from the face of the planet, most of our currently environmentally problems would correct themselves in a few decades, and after a few centuries most of the signs of civilization would disintegrate. It’s a bit sobering to realize that the most dominate species on earth could ever be merely a spec of history.