we need to stop exploiting the natural world.......

.............for our own good, otherwise 

we ourselves may well end up as an endangered species too...............

Years ago our local zoo had a cage, containing the world's most dangerous predator

Homo Sapiens

On the back wall of the cage was a mirror, so when you looked into this cage, you took a good look at yourself, reflecting on this statement and even finding truth in it. I know I did.

Homo sapiens is Latin for "wise man", which at times gives us far more credit than we deserve and a label we do not always live up to. Us who supposedly is the wisest of all creatures on God's green earth, sometimes makes me ashamed, cause sadly, as a species, we can be very destructive, self-righteous, aggressive, self-centered and greedy.

The day I found out that 3 family members were catching, killing and putting needles in our butterflies, to put them in display boxes on the walls, I almost lost all my regards for them. I often think about it and have had a hard time overcoming this, I do not understand them at all or their actions, which in my eyes are wrong and maybe that is why this fact was hidden from me throughout childhood - maybe cause everyone in the family knew my opinions about these things and how I felt about it.

You see I too collect butterflies, but I would NEVER harm them or remove them from nature and when I put them on the wall, to display my findings, mine are far more beautiful, cause they are still alive and fly freely as they should.

Sometimes I gently catch a moth between my hands, without touching its wings or harming it in anyway, inside my home ect. but only to release it outside again and it is truly very rewarding watching it flying free where it belongs.

And when opening my hands outside - bye bye little friend fly safely on your way - cause this is who I am and how I want to be.

What really annoys me is like a former neighbor of mine, who would step on "my" butterflies if encountering one outside my door, and again another human being lost a great deal of my regards. 

And make no mistake about it, I too have taken from nature and destroyed it, I myself helped pushing our native poppies to the edge, with my comings and goings and this is how I try to make up for that, by changing these comings and goings. This is my fine for the stupidity I once displayed and to me the saddeste part of this is, that not even love makes us perfect, nor does it prevent stupidity, even though I wish that it did.

Something else that makes me angry concerns the two of my countrymen collecting butterflies in Norway, more specifically, the person, from my hometown, recently mentioned in the press. In my opinion out in the woods and I do know what that case looks like in my eyes.

This is a person who denies having collected protected butterflies in Norway, but on the other hand, do admits to previously having collected butterflies, the person knew was protected. Who actually gets to appear as someone feeling victimised and deprived of his 4 decades life's work, collecting butterflies throughout Europe, including species he knew was protected by law.

According to the article, this is someone who claims to be just like you and me, quite ordinary, who just has a scientific reference collection, like lots of people. But a person who is a member of scientific associations, which sends DNA analyzes to universities and publishes articles on the discovery of new butterfly species, is not ordinary, like you and me, this is a person holding a post of duty and care, a position in society with some very specific obligation, which, in my view, only makes matters so much worse.

Where I really get offended, it is by this statement "catching a few doesn't matter. Destruction of their habitats, nitrogen emissions from agriculture and road construction is a far greater threat, including climate change", where would we be if all of us just did that, and just hide our wrong doing behind climate change and suchlike? 

Besides since when has 35-40 butterflies been just a few? And since when has it been necessary to catch that many of one butterfly species, to maintain just one scientific reference collection?

One day I was out photographing butterflies and bumble bees, walking on a path a mother with two boys also walked the path, when a butterfly is crossing the path, the youngest wants to catch it and gets a fit, not getting permission to do so. Through the facial expressions and body language of the mother, I get the impression the she gets mad at me, for prevent her from allowing him to catch it and by that the cause of his bad behavior.

Somewhere deep down, I kind of think there's something fundamentally wrong with us as a species and it is beyond me how on earth we has come as far as we have. With all our knowledge and skills, with al we have ever made, how can we not do better, with everything we have ever achieved, and that is a lot, this is the bedst we can do, you tell me, how is that?