One hundred and fifty years. That's all it took for our species to overturn a history that began four billion years ago. An imperceptible fraction of the time it took life to reach its current extraordinary complexity, but more than enough to call everything into question.
Today, the vast majority of us observe biodiversity only through a screenAnd perhaps that's why we're not too concerned about life on the planet crumbling at such a terrifying rate. Because, after all, we'll be able to continue seeing it.
But I wonder what our children and grandchildren will think of us., when they in turn look at a tiger, a bee, an elephant, or a whale on the monitors of their devices, knowing that those animals no longer exist. And that we are the planetary tragedy of that immense disappearance. we saw it happen liveEpisode after episode, like watching a TV series. Without lifting a finger to stop it. Indeed, contributing to its script every day.
Hello, welcome back. I'm Tommaso D'Errico and this is Rendez-vous, a newsletter produced by I'm not afraid of the wolf dedicated to the intertwining — often invisible and sometimes explosive — between humans and wildlife.
In the first two episodes we talked about conflicts and how difficult it is for us humans to coexist with wild animals. Today we change perspective, and we do it from a double point of view: that of a small mountain inhabitant forced to live with us, and of those who try in every way to take care of him.
Enjoy the reading!
Towards the Age of Solitude
Among the many consequences of the changes we humans have imposed on Earth, one of the most dramatic and irreversible is the extinction of a disproportionate and growing number of life forms. Extinctions themselves are a natural fact on our planet., are part of the game and represent a fundamental component in the mechanisms of evolution.
Five times throughout geological time, planetary phenomena known as mass extinctions have reshuffled the deck of life, almost entirely reshaping biological communities and ecosystems. These natural apocalypses—the most famous of which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago—occurred over tens of thousands of years. Today, however, biological diversity is eroding at an unprecedented rate, measurable on the time scale of our existences.
The scientific community is almost in agreement in defining the current one the sixth mass extinction: the first caused by a single species, and by far the fastest of all.
According to various studies, between 50 and 80 living species disappear every day in the world. Every single day. This means that, By the time you read this newsletter, at least one species will have ceased to exist.And the frequency seems to be accelerating, as if life were slipping away from the planet at a speed we can no longer even measure.
La IUCN — the International Union for Conservation of Nature — through the compilation of the Red List, a global archive that documents the conservation status of the planet's animal and plant species, has assessed the risk of extinction of over 172.000 species worldwide and the result is dramatic: more than 48.000 are now at risk and between now and the end of the century – that is, within the lifetime of today's children – a million species could disappear from the face of the Earth, that is, half of all known ones.
The art of living maintenance
The consequences would be disastrous for everyone, for those who disappear but also for those who remain, including us. From all forms of animal, plant, and microbial life, in fact, the functioning of ecosystems depends on it and from these the provision of those services – called precisely “ecosystem services” – that make our daily existence possible: the availability of drinking water, clean air and raw materials, soil fertility, climate regulation, disease control, pollination and all the natural cycles that guarantee resources and stability.
But the issue concerns us closely for another reason: If we are responsible for the current collapse, we also have the power to change things.
For years, conservation biologists have been fighting to protect the most vulnerable species, addressing not only technical and scientific issues, but also social, political, and economic ones. Conservation is a true art., made of choices, compromises, pragmatism and vision, expressed through complex protection projects that require the support of institutions and society.
One of them is a shy and silent creature, so discreet that we struggle to comprehend how fragile it is. A shadow like so many others, growing thinner day after day.
Wild Ghosts
Encountering a stoat is a rare occurrence, even for those who seek them out every day. Marco Granata, a doctoral student at the University of Turin who has studied them for years, swears they can drive you crazy. They are so elusive that he calls them the “wild ghosts”. "Unfortunately, not only in a metaphorical sense," he underlines regretfully, "but also because they really risk becoming ghosts."
In recent years, however, with climate change and the progressive reduction of snowfall, The stoats' superpower is becoming a handicapTheir coats change color depending on the hours of daylight, but if it no longer snows like it used to, stoats remain white even on dark terrain, thus becoming more visible to foxes and birds of prey.
This dress code error pushes the stoats to rise in altitude, but this obviously represents a problem. «It is a “escalator to extinction”» Marco argues, «because once they finish climbing the mountains, there will literally be no more room for them».
Ghostbusters
The need to fill this void is what drove Marco to dedicate his scientific work to stoats. His doctoral project at the University of Turin, which he shares on social media through his page Ermlin Project, it's today the only one active in Italy and one of the few in Europe and it not only aims to evaluate the state of conservation of the stoat in the Alps, but also to tell their story to the general public.
Studying these little spirits is an almost desperate undertaking, as Marco discovered to his cost, scouring ravines and scree slopes in southern Piedmont for months in search of footprints and excrement, braving the cold, fatigue, uncertainty, and gathering very little evidence. Over time, however, and with a healthy dose of persistence, he began to perfect more promising techniques.
Using models that integrate the main climate change scenarios, Marco and his team have demonstrated how, between now and 2100, due to a drastic reduction in habitat The stoat could disappear from many Alpine regionsA worrying result that should serve, if nothing else, to classify it as a vulnerable species, bringing attention to an animal that has been ignored for too long.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, stoats have already found themselves in the spotlight. The National Olympic Committee has in fact chosen them as symbol of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, with the idea that their liveliness could embody the values of the event, starting with the ability to adapt to a challenging habitat like the mountain one. A beautiful paradox, since winter sports will continue to compete with stoats and other high-altitude species for the last scraps of snow-covered spaces in the coming years, as has already been the case for some time.
Marco took the matter philosophically and had the brilliant idea of addressing a appeal to CONI and the Regions involved: allocate a small portion of Olympic funds to the creation of a stoat monitoring networkon a large scale, so as to translate Olympic popularity into a concrete opportunity for conservation. We're talking about crumbs, after all: the estimated turnover for Milan-Cortina 2026 exceeds five billion euros, considering tourism, infrastructure and investments.
Seen this way, the Olympics represent a golden opportunity to at least partially compensate a creature that has never caused us problems, while we cannot say the same for ourselves. But the issue goes further: Tina and Milo, the two smiling mascots that are already going around the world, were born from a competition aimed at primary and secondary school studentsIt is also to them that we owe a future in which these animals are not just memories or illustrations.
The time of healing
As a good scientist, Marco never gives in to catastrophism: instead, he finds enthusiasm in the wonders that nature is still capable of offering us. His message is clear: There is still so much beauty out there and each of us can do our part to protect it.Because the art of conservation does not arise from formulas or models, but from the gaze we choose to cast on the world. It is passion before technique, and a feeling of care even before science.
Before we say goodbye, I remind you that the full version of this episode of Rendez-vous is available in podcast version on Spotify e Youtube, where you can listen directly to Marco Granata's voice and words.
Finally, I would like to point out two books: for those who would like to delve deeper into today's topic.
Ever more alone. The planet on the brink of the sixth extinction. (il Mulino, 2023) is written by zoologist Maurizio Casiraghi: a simple book that addresses complex issues, well-researched and suitable for everyone.
Marco Granata, on the other hand, is the author of Invisible Bestiary: A Guide to the Animals of Our Cities (il Saggiatore, 2022). In this book Marco does not talk about ermines or extreme environments, but on the contrary he shows us how wildlife can thrive anywhere, even among traffic lights and concrete walls, and how the species most capable of adapting to our presence are those most likely to survive.
And that's all for this episode. In upcoming episodes, we'll return to discuss endangered species, but also new hopes and how technology, in a future that is already here, could make coexistence increasingly easier—even with those animals that scare us the most.
Good luck and good coexistence to everyone.
We'll meet again here in a month's time at our usual rendezvous.