Confronting existential crises: The current state of the environment and a pathway for a better future

Author: Euan G Ritchie

Published in: The Victorian Naturalist

Abstract

“Dad, the world is missing amazing animals, I wish extinction wasn’t forever.” — Rohan Martin Ritchie, aged 5.

Our son is now 17, and noteworthy recent conservation wins in the interim deserve celebration and gratitude. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat ‘Lasiorhinus krefftii’ once numbered fewer than 50 individuals restricted entirely to Epping Forest National Park, Queensland, but, through concerted care, this marsupial earthmover has bounced back from the brink of oblivion to a total population now exceeding 400 individuals, spread across multiple locations (The Wombat Foundation 2025).

I wish I could say such significant wins were the prevailing narrative, but the extinction and climate crises are deepening, rapidly.

Ritchie EG (2025). Confronting existential crises: The current state of the environment and a pathway for a better future. The Victorian Naturalist. PDF LINK