Chapter15

Who’stheDevil?

SpeciesExtinctionandEnvironmentalistThoughtinStarTrek

DollyJørgensen

Spock:Tohuntaspeciestoextinctionisnotlogical.Dr.GillianTaylor:Whoeversaidthehumanracewaslogical?

—StarTrekIV:TheVoyageHomeInStarTrekIV:TheVoyageHome , the inhabitantsof twenty-third-centuryEarthlearn all toowell thepriceof their illogical behavior.Byhunting thehumpbackwhaletoextinctioninthetwenty-firstcentury,humankindhadsealeditsownfate.Thehumpbackshadbeen incommunicationwithaliens in the twentiethcentury,but they had no descendants to reply to an alien probe visiting the planet twocenturies later.Earth seemed tobeon thevergeof destruction, as the seeminglyomnipotentprobedemandedareply.Luckily,theEnterprisecrewsavedtheEarthinhabitants fromawaterygravewith thehelpof time travel,abiologist,nuclearfuelfromanavalvessel,plexiglas,andtwotwentieth-centurywhales.

Sometimeswe thinkof science fictionaspresentingescapist,made-up fantasyworlds.Fromitsbeginningsinthe1960suntilthepresent,however,StarTrekhascommented on contemporary social issues, establishing itself as part of a largerdiscourseon thestateof theworld.1Contemporaryenvironmentalconcernsareamajor theme inStarTrek. In this chapter,we showhow the portrayal of animalspecies’ extinction in the television shows andmovies traces gradual changes inenvironmentalistthinkingoverthelastforty-fiveyears.

Although species extinction could include themass destruction ofworlds andtheextinctionofpeoples,likethelossoftheVulcansinthe2009movie StarTrekorthecivilwarthatwipedoutthepopulationofCheron(TOS,“LetThatBeYour

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LastBattlefield”), thefocushereisoncreaturesequivalent toanimalsrather thancivilizations that areconsideredequivalent tohumans.By limiting thediscussionto creatures considered to be animals,we can place species extinctionwithin theprevailingenvironmentalistthoughtofthetwentiethcentury.StarTrek has presented species extinction as a complexproblem, one that has

evolved over the course of the series’ history. In the 1960s, a growingenvironmental movement stressed the need to save species from extinction, yettherewasatensionbetweenspeciesextinctionandhumanneeds.Inthe1980s,therisingrateofspeciesextinctioncoupledwithourknowledgegapsabout the rolesof species in the web of life created the sense of ecological crisis.Environmentalistsaroundtheworldbegantoconcentrateonso-calledcharismaticspecies, suchaswhales,becauseattractiveandcompellingspeciescouldmotivatelargemembershipinconservationistgroups.Inthe1990s,theprevailingsentimentwas thathumansneeded to takeactive roles inconservation, including relocatingindividual animals to preserve the species under threat. These changes inenvironmentalist thought have made their way into various incarnations ofStarTrek.

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LiveandLetLiveAlthough not the first episode filmed forStar Trek, “The Man Trap” was theepisode network executives selected to launch the series on television onSeptember8,1966.Intheepisode,thecrewencountersacreaturefromtheplanetM-113, which begins to kill members of the crew of theEnterprise in order toobtainsaltfromtheirblood.Itisthelastofitskind.Althoughatthebeginningofthe episode, the ancient inhabitants of M-113 are called a “civilization” in thecaptain’s comments, the alien is never treated as being equivalent to humans.When the archeologistRobertCrater admits that he knew about the creature, helikens it to the buffalo (technically the animal is the American bison,Bisonbison):

Crater:Shewasthelastofherkind.Kirk:Thelastofherkind?Crater: The last of its kind. Earth history, remember? Like the passengerpigeonorbuffalo....Spock:TheEarthbuffalo.Whataboutit?Crater:Oncethereweremillionsofthem;prairiesblackwiththem.Oneherdcoveredthreewholestates,andwhentheymoved,theywerelikethunder.Spock:Andnowthey’regone.Isthatwhatyoumean?Crater: Like the creatures here. Once there were millions of them. Nowthere’soneleft.The dialogue implies that the bison had been wiped out like the passenger

pigeon,whichbecameextinct in1914even thoughbillionsofpigeonsexisted inNorth America when the Europeans arrived. The bison was almost hunted toextinction in the late nineteenth century by commercial hunterswho slaughteredmillions for the skins. Privately owned herds and protected herds in Westernnationalparkslargelysavedtheanimalfromeradication.2Theneardemiseofthebison became a widely acknowledged environmental misstep by the turn of thecentury, and efforts to save the bison were lauded in popular magazines. 3Although the bison was not a threatened species by the 1960s, it had becomeiconic as a symbol of near extinction.The writers ofStar Trek, projecting twocenturiesintothefuture,thusdecidedthatbisoncouldstillbecomeextinctbythetwenty-thirdcentury.

Extinctionhasbeencalled“thegreatthemeof20thcenturyconservation.”4Bythe 1960s, endangered and threatened species had become a hot topic. In 1961,

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sixteen of the world’s leading conservationists signed the Morges Manifesto,which became the foundational document for the World Wildlife Fund (nowknown as theWWF).Themanifesto poignantly blamedmodern civilization forthelossofanimalsworldwide:“Allovertheworldtodayvastnumbersoffineandharmless wild creatures are losing their lives, or their homes, in an orgy ofthoughtless and needless destruction. In the name of advancing civilization theyare being shot or trappedout of existence on land taken to be exploited. . . . Inthise [sic] senseless orgy the nineteen-sixties promise to beat all past records forwipingout theworld’swild life.”5TheWWF,with its focus on savingwildlifefrom extinction, grew into the world’s leading conservation organization, withnearly five million members across the globe by the time of its fifty-yearanniversary.6

TheWWF attempted to keep species threatenedwith extinction in the publicconsciousness.TherewereplanstoconstructaWorldWildlifeFederationPavilionfor Expo ’67 in Montreal, which served as the Canadian centennial celebrationand theWorld’sFair in 1967.Thepavilionwasplannedwith three sections, thefirsttohighlightextinctanimalssuchasthedodo,thesecondtodisplaypresentlyendangered species such as the whooping crane, and the third to show speciessavedfromextinction,includingtheAmericanbison.7Although thepavilionwasnotbuilt, theplansdemonstratetheinterestpeoplehadinendangeredspeciesandtheidentificationofthebisonasaspeciesundertheformerthreatofextinction.

Legislators in the United States likewise had become intensely interested inprotecting endangered speciesby the1960s, although interest inprotectinggamelikemigratory birds stretches back to the late nineteenth century.TheLand andWater Conservation Fund Act of 1965 offered the first formal recognition ofendangeredspeciesbyallowingCongresstopurchaseland“forthepreservationofspeciesoffishorwildlifethatarethreatenedwithextinction.”8In1966,Congresspassed the Endangered Species Preservation Act, the first federal endangeredspecieslegislation,whichstatedbluntly,“OneoftheunfortunateconsequencesofgrowthanddevelopmentintheUnitedStateshasbeentheexterminationofsomenative species of fish and wildlife.”9 These legislative moves demonstrate thatendangered species were clearly on the national agenda in the 1960s.10 Theallusiontothefateofthebisonin“TheManTrap”fitswithinthisbroadersocialconcernaboutendangeredspecies.

At thesame time,however, there isa tension in“TheManTrap”between theendangered species and harm to humans. ProfessorCrater defends the creature’sactionsasasurvivalmechanismforanalmostextinctspecies.“Theyneededsalttostay alive.There was no more salt. It’s the last one.The buffalo.There is nodifference.”Kirkretortsthatthereisonedifference:“Yourcreatureiskillingmy

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people”(TOS, “TheManTrap”).Savinganimals fromextinction is fine,as longasthehumanpriceisnottoohigh.Intheend,SpockpleadswithMcCoytoshootthe creature as it attempts to killKirk by feeding on his body salt.McCoy firesandsavesKirk.

This anthropocentric view of what is worth saving fit with the prevailingsentimentsaboutendangeredspeciesduringthe1960s.Endangeredandthreatenedspecieswerenotseenasvaluableinandofthemselves,butratherbecauseoftheir“educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value” to humans, a conceptwe now call “ecosystem services.”11 The balance between animal and humanwelfare came under scrutiny in the 1970s when conservationists fought a legalbattleover the listingof thesnaildarterasanendangeredspecies,whichdelayedtheconstructionofahydroelectricpowerdaminTennessee. In theend, thesnaildarter, like the “man trap” creature of planetM-113, was sacrificed for humanwelfare.12

There isa twingeofremorse in the lastsceneof theepisodewhenSpockasksthe captain if something is wrong, and Kirk replies, “I was thinking about thebuffalo, Mister Spock” (TOS, “The Man Trap”). But there is also an impliedcontrast between the justification for the extermination of the M-113 creature,whichwasthreateningtheship’screw,andthebison,whichhadbeenslaughteredforrampantcommercialgain.Thiscontrastbetweendirectthreatandcommercialgain would appear as a common thread inStar Trek’s portrayal of endangeredspecies.

Later in the first season, “TheDevil in theDark” presentswhat could be thesame story—anunseencreature iskillingminerson JanusVI, a strategicminingplanet that produces vital pergium, a radioactive element, and other costlyminerals,anditmustbehunted.Yetthestorytwiststorevealthattheminershaveinfactbeenkillingthesoon-to-hatchchildrenoftheHorta,leavingtheraceonthevergeofextinction.CaptainKirk turns intoaprotectorof theHorta, recognizingthat the creature is only protecting itself. Science and reason factor into thedecisiontoallowtheHortatolive—permittingtheHortatoexist,infact,benefitshumans.

Intheepisode,Spockfirstsuggeststhatthecreaturemaybethelastofitskindwhenheandthecaptainencounteramazeoftunnelsthatcouldn’thavebeenmadebyanaverageanimal:

Kirk:Thenwe’redealingwithmorethanonecreature,despiteyourtricorderreadings,orwehaveacreaturewithanextremelylonglifespan.Spock:Oritisthelastofaraceofcreatureswhichmadethesetunnels.Ifso,if it is the only survivor of a dead race, to kill it would be a crime againstscience.

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Kirk:MisterSpock,ourmission is toprotect thiscolony, toget thepergiummovingagain.Thisisnotazoologicalexpedition.Maintainaconstantreadingon the creature. Ifwehave to,we’ll use our phasers to cut our own tunnels.We’ll try tosurround it. I’msorry,MisterSpock,but I’mafraid thecreaturemustdie.Spock:Iseenoalternativemyself,Captain.Itmerelyseemsapity.

Spock’ssentimentisnotamoralorethicalargumentagainstextinction,butratherascientificone.Spockbelievesthecreaturewouldbeusefulasanobjectofstudybecauseit is thefirstsilicon-basedlife-formtheFederationhaseverencountered.ThisanthropocentrictakeonextinctionreflectsbothSpock’sscientificorientationand the common 1960s environmentalist approach of focusing on the humanbenefitofkillinganimals.

AlthoughKirk insists that the creaturemust be killed regardless of being thelastofitskind,whenhecomesface-to-facewithit,hechangeshismind.Becausethecreaturedoesnot immediatelyattackhim,Kirkdecides to forgohisplanandtotrytofigureoutwhatismotivatingthecreature.SpockproposestodoaVulcanmindmeldwiththealienlife-form.Duringthejoining,hecriesoutintheHorta’svoice, “Murder. Of thousands. Devils! Eternity ends.The chamber of the ages.Thealtaroftomorrow.Murderers.Stopthem!Kill!Strikeback!Monsters!...Itis the end of life. Eternity stops.Go out into the tunnel.To the chamber of theages.Cryforthechildren”(TOS,“TheDevilintheDark”).

Through themindmeld Spock learns that the silicon nodules that theminershavebeendestroyingareHortaeggs.Theminersareinfactthedevilsinthedark,not the Horta.As Spock later explains to the miners, “There have been manygenerations of Horta on this planet. Every fifty thousand years, the entire racedies, all but one, like this one, but the eggs live. She cares for them, protectsthem.Andwhen theyhatch, she is themother to them, thousandsof them.Thiscreaturehereisthemotherofherrace”(TOS,“TheDevilintheDark”).

TheHorta’sactionsarethenjustified,because“shefoughtbackintheonlywayshe knew how, as anymotherwould fightwhen her children are in danger,” asKirkexplains it (TOS, “TheDevil in theDark”).According toWilliamShatner,this twist of turning theHorta from a killer to a sympathetic creaturemade theepisode“intelligentandhighlycompelling.”13

Yet the resolution of the Horta’s potential extinction does not come fromKirk’s moral argument alone—the miners could still have decided that it waspreferable for the Horta species to die out in order to protect their mininginterests.ButKirkoffersupasolutionthatbenefitstheminers:Gentlemen,theHortamovesthroughrockthewaywemovethroughair,andit leaves tunnels.Thegreatestnaturalminers in theuniverse. It seems tome

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we could make an agreement, reach amodus vivendi. They tunnel. Youcollect and process, and your process operation would be a thousand timesmoreprofitable.(TOS,“TheDevilintheDark”)

Kirk’s suggestion is right on target—theheadof theminingoperation reports atthe end of the episode that the Horta children are tunneling out enormousquantitiesofminerals,andbothsidesarecontent.Inthisepisode, theendangeredspecies was transformed from a threat to a benefit, and thus it was saved fromcertaindoom.

The conflict between conservation and development was a central concern ofthe twentieth century. The environmentalist movement of the 1960s was aresponsetothehumandegradationofnature,butitcouldnotignorehumanneeds.Unlike in “The ManTrap” when the last individual of a species is killed, theHorta survives because a balance is struck betweenwhat is good for nature andwhatisgoodforhumans.

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WhatWeDon’tKnowCanHurtUs“The Devil in the Dark” revealed that what we don’t knowcan hurt us. Theminers did not understand that the silicon nodules were the Horta eggs; bydestroying them, they incurred thewrathof theHortamother andnearlymissedoutonharnessingthepowerofthousandsoflittleminersworkingontheirbehalf.Creaturesandhumanscouldhaveasymbioticrelationship.Thiswouldbecomethemajor theme of the fourth motion picture in theStar Trek series,The VoyageHome.

InTheVoyageHome,Earthisundersiegefromanalienprobe,andaftersomequick analysis, Spock deciphers the probe’s signal as the song of a humpbackwhale (Megaptera novaeangliae). Unfortunately, humpback whales were huntedtoextinctioninthetwenty-firstcentury,sothecrewoftheEnterprisehastomakeatripbackintimetofindawhaleandreturnittothetwenty-thirdcentury.

The environmentalist theme ofThe Voyage Home was no accident. LeonardNimoy, who directed the film, was reading the Pulitzer Prize–winning bookBiophiliaby theecologistEdwardO.Wilsonat the time that script ideas for themoviewerebeingdeveloped. InBiophilia,Wilsonargued thathumanshave“theinnate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes.”14Wilson believed thathumanswant tobearoundnaturebecause theyare intimately linkedwithnature;in fact, all species are linked together in webs that could crumble if even onespeciesisremoved.AccordingtoNimoy,thisideacaughthisattention:Inhiswork,Wilsontalksaboutthevastnumbersofspeciesbecomingextinct,andpredicted thatby the1990s,Earthwould loseasmanyas10,000speciesper year.That’s one species perhour!Most disturbingly,manyof these lostspecieswouldneverhavebeencatalogued;wewouldneverhavethechancetoknowwhattheywereorwhatfunctiontheyperformedinthecycleofnature.Theywouldsimplyvanishwithoutleavingbehindarecordoftheirexistence.ThegrimfuturepaintedbyBiophiliahauntedmythoughts.15

The notion that species can be extirpatedwithout us ever knowing their role orpurpose was key for Nimoy. In a conversation Nimoy had with a friend aboutBiophilia and endangered species, the humpbackwhale came up as an example.Becausescientistsareunsureaboutthefunctionofwhalesong,Nimoydecidedonaplotline for themovie that focusedonhowwhatwedon’tknow—the functionof thewhalesong—canhurtus,becausewe’vecaused thewhales’extinctionandnowwe’reindanger.16

The choice of the whale as the species under threat was fitting for a moviefilmedandreleasedin1986,becauseofthehistoryoftheantiwhalingmovement.

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The International Whaling Commission (IWC), a voluntary internationalorganization founded in1946 to reviewand revisewhalingstandardsworldwide,had instituted a ban on all commercial hunting of humpback whales and bluewhales (Balaenoptera musculus) in 1966.17 The Convention on InternationalTradeinEndangeredSpeciesofWildFaunaandFlora(CITES),an internationalagreement that tookeffect in1975 to limit international trade inwildplants andanimals, listed several species of whale, including humpback, blue, and greywhales,asendangeredspecies.18Twovocalenvironmentalistprotestorganizationsspecifically targeted what they considered illegal whaling activities in the late1970s and early 1980s. Greenpeace launched its antiwhaling campaign in 1975,whichincludedharassingwhalingshipsatsea,especially inIcelandicwaters,andthe militant organization Sea Shepherd began targeting whaling ships in 1978,includingrammingshipsatseaandsinkingshipsinport.19Antiwhalingsentimentwasgrowingfierceby1980.

Very few governments objected to protecting large whales, but the IWCenteredaseaofcontroversyin1982whenitmovedtoextendtheprotection.Thatyear,backedbynumerousnonwhalingcountrymembers,theIWCimplementedamoratorium on all commercial whaling worldwide, regardless of the species,scheduled to begin in late 1985. Several countries active in whaling of smallerwhaletypes,includingJapan,Norway,andIceland,votedagainstthemeasureandcontinuedhuntingwhales.

The action ofThe Voyage Home occurs within this context. When theEnterprisecrew(whoaremanningaKlingonBird-of-Prey)travelsbackintimeto1985tosearchforahumpbackwhale,theystumbleupontheCetaceanInstituteinSan Francisco. On a guided tour of the facility, Dr. GillianTaylor introducesCaptainKirkandMr.Spocktotheplightofwhalesinthetwentiethcentury:Sincethedawnoftime,menhaveharvestedwhalesforavarietyofpurposes,mostofwhichcanbeachievedsyntheticallyat thispoint.Onehundredyearsago, using hand-thrown harpoons, man did plenty of damage, but that isnothingcomparedtowhathehasachievedinthiscentury.This ismankind’slegacy, whales hunted to the brink of extinction.Virtually gone is the bluewhale, the largest creature ever to inhabit the Earth. Despite all attempts atbanningwhaling,therearestillcountriesandpiratescurrentlyengagedintheslaughter of these inoffensive creatures. Where the humpback whale oncenumberedinthehundredsofthousands,todaytherearelessthantenthousandspecimens alive and those that are taken are no longer fully grown. Inaddition, many of the females are killed, while still bearing unborn calves.(StarTrekIV:TheVoyageHome)

During her talk, graphic video footage of a whale hunt and bloody slaughter is

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shown to the guests. Dr. Taylor’s monologue reflects clearly the antiwhalingsentiment and the controversies over the continuation ofwhaling practices as of1985.

When theship is ready to takeon itsoceanicpassengers,Dr.Taylordiscoversthat the institute’shumpbackwhales,GeorgeandGracie,havebeenreleased intothePacific.Thecrewhurries to track thewhalesanddiscoversawhaling ship isnearby.Asourheroesspeedtowardthewhales,thewhalingshipisclosingin.Thewhalers “are largely bearded; they are Northern Europeans, maybe Swedes,IcelandersorRussians,allfamousasHumpbackhunters.”20Thewhalersgetreadyfor the kill; they load their harpoon, and when the whales breech, they fire it.Sulu manages to fly the Bird-of-Prey in between the harpoon and the whale,forcingtheharpoontofallharmlesslyintothewater.Thewholesequencemimicsa commonantiwhalingpracticeusedbyGreenpeaceofmovingpeople inZodiacinflatableboatsbetweenawhalingshipanditsprey.21

TheVoyageHome reflects several 1980s ideas about extinction.The twenty-third-centuryinterlopersinthetwentiethcenturyknowthathumpbackwhaleswillbehuntedtoextinction,andthiswillhaveaprice.Kirkpoignantlycommentsneartheendof themoviewhengazingatGeorgeandGracieonboard the ship: “It’sironic.Whenmanwaskillingthesecreatures,hewasdestroyinghisownfuture.”The linepicksuponBiophilia’semphasisonawebof life facing thechallengesof globally rising extinction rates. It also taps into contemporary antiwhalingfervorandtheconcernsaboutthefutureofwhales.ManyhavecalledStarTrekIVoneofthegreatestenvironmentalmoviesofalltime.

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InterveningtoRightPastWrongsIn the1990sStarTrek reachedout toanewgenerationwithanall-newcast,andthey embraced new ideas about extinction and the human role in preventing it.Olderenvironmentalistconceptsofpreventinganimalextinctionforthebenefitofhumans gave way to the notions of preventing extinction for the sake of theanimals themselves. Humans were called upon to intervene and to right pastwrongs.TheNextGeneration episode “NewGround,”which aired in1992, included a

subplotaboutextinctandsoon-to-beextinctanimals.Aspartofaschoolouting,agroup of students visiting the Biolab onboard theEnterprise-D are told about amissiontorelocatetheendangeredCorvangilvo.Theteacheris talkingabout thewhite rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), which became extinct in the twenty-secondcentury,whentheshow’sviewersjointheclass:Asthevalueoftheirhornsincreased,thenumberofwhiterhinosinthewildkept falling,until theyfinallybecameextinctabout twocenturiesago.Now,I’d like to showyouapairof animalswe’re trying to save fromextinction.Wouldyoufollowme?They’refromCorvanTwo,wheretheirhomesintherainforests are being threatened by industrial pollutants. They’re calledCorvan gilvos. They’re a little shy. The eating habits of gilvos are verysimilar to those ofEarth’s draco lizards,which died out over three hundredyears ago. There are only fourteen gilvos left on Corvan Two. We’retransplanting these two to the protected planet Brentalia, where they shouldthrive(TNG,“NewGround”).Inthismonologue, theteachercites twoexamplesofextinctspecies: thewhite

rhino, from overhunting, and the draco lizard, from the loss of its rain foresthabitat. Neither of these animals was extinct in 1992, but both were undermounting pressure of extinction by humans. The white rhino has been on theCITESAppendixIlist,whichbansallcommercialtradeintheanimalorproductsmadefromtheanimal,since1977.22AccordingtotheWorldConservationUnion(IUCN), an estimated 17,480 white rhinos remained in the wild as of 2008.Poachinginorder toacquiretherhino’shorn,whichisusedinChinesemedicineandasornateMiddleEasterndecoration,isthemainthreattothespecies.23Dracolizardsareafamilyoflizardswithmembranesthatallowthemtoglideamongthetreetops; they are known as flying dragons. They live in rain forests insoutheasternAsia,andalthoughtheIUCNdoesnotconsiderthemthreatened,theirhabitatlossmaybeconsiderable.24Itwasnotabigstretchtothinkthatthesetypesofanimalsmightbecomeextinctbythetwenty-secondcentury.

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In “NewGround,” there are only fourteen of the fictional gilvos left, so theEnterprise is transporting a pair of them to a planet with “protected” status,presumably like a national park where industrial development is limited orbanned. This kind of movement of threatened or endangered species was agrowingpracticeinthelate1980sand1990s.Concernsaboutlocalextinctionsofanimalsinareaswheretheypreviouslylivedpromptedscientistsinthe1970sand1980stostartreintroducinganimalsfromstockthatstillexistedelsewhere.High-profile reintroductions of some attractive and compelling species, including theArabianoryx inOman,golden lion tamarinds inBrazil, andperegrine falcons inNorthAmerica, served as conservation media events, showcasing the handling,transport, and release of the animals to better the environment.25 In addition toputtingspeciesbackintoareaswheretheyhadbeenextirpated,someanimalswererelocatedtonewareasinordertoconservethem.

Thegrowingpracticeofintroducingandreintroducinganimalspromptedsomeconcerns in the scientific community. In 1987, the IUCN issued a positionstatementtosetthestandardsforthemovementofspeciesbecause“translocations[thepracticeof relocating species] arepowerful tools for themanagementof thenaturalandmanmadeenvironmentwhich,properlyused,canbringgreatbenefitstonatural biological systems and tomanbut likeother powerful tools theyhavethe potential to cause enormousdamage ifmisused.”26The IUCN also created aRe-introduction Specialist Group in 1988 to draft the guidelines for wildlifereintroduction projects and to disseminate information to scientists around theworldaboutreintroductionexperiences.27Theseguidelinespermittheintroductionof species from one location to another for conservation “only as a last resortwhennoopportunities for re-introduction into theoriginal siteor range exist.”28ThegilvosofCorvanwouldqualifyforsuchdrasticmeasuressincetheirnumbershaddwindledandtheirhabitathadbecomeuninhabitable.

The episode portrays the mission to conserve the gilvo as a seriousresponsibility.When fire threatens to consume theBiolab housing the creatures,Worf’s son,Alexander, who has been injured, pleads with Riker to save them.The potential consequence of losing awhole speciesweighs heavily on the boy.Just in the nick of time, Riker carries the gilvos to safety while Worf savesAlexander.Humansmustintervenetosaveendangeredspecies;lettingthemdieisunthinkable.

Notallextinctionisserious,however.Savingaspeciesfromextinctionfoundalighter treatment in theDeep SpaceNine episode “Trials andTribble-ations” in1996.Inthisepisode,whichincludestimetraveltothetwenty-thirdcenturyandameeting between theDeep SpaceNine andStar Trek crews, we learn about theplightof the tribbles. In theoriginalseriesepisode“TheTroublewithTribbles,”

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the tribbles on Space Station K7 showed their affection by purring for allhumanoids, except Klingons, at whom they hissed. The Klingons returned thesentiment.Someyearslater,thecrewoftheEnterprisefoundthatCyranoJones,atwo-bit trader, has sold some tribbles on a Klingon planet, which prompted theKlingons to genetically engineer a tribble predator called a glommer (TOS:Animated Series, “MoreTribbles, MoreTroubles”). In the “Trials andTribble-ations”episode,wefindoutthatinthelatetwenty-thirdcentury,Klingonshunteddown the tribbles and even destroyed their homeworld in order to eradicate thespecies.Uponhearingabouttheintentionalslaughter,oneoftheDeepSpaceNinecrew, Odo, remarks, “Another glorious chapter in Klingon history.Tell me, dothey still sing songs of the Great Tribble Hunt?” (DS9, “Trials and Tribble-ations”)Although theKlingons hadworked diligently to rid the universe of thetribble, the time-travelingDeepSpaceNine crewendsupbringingbacka tribbletothetwenty-fourthcentury,thusunintentionallyreintroducingit.Inthisseriesofepisodes spanning across multipleStar Trek shows, tribbles are seen as anecologicalmenace, but their reintroduction is depicted in a lighthearted, comicalfashion.

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TheEnterprise’sEvolvingEnvironmentalMission

During the last decadesof the twentieth century, the environmentalistmovementcame of age.As it developed into a mass movement, it gradually changed itsarguments and strategies for persuading the public that endangered species areworth saving.Although depicting a universe two hundred years (andmore) intothefuture,theenvironmentalismexhibitedinStarTrekreflectsthesechanges.The1960sseriesportrayedhumansasathreattoanimalspecies,butnotwithoutcause.Inboth“TheManTrap”and“TheDevil in theDark,”humanwelfarecamefirstandforemost.TheextinctionofthecreatureofM-113wasjustifiedbecauseofthethreat it posed to theEnterprise crew, whereas the Horta’s survival actuallybenefitedtheFederation.

By the 1980s, concerns about the unnecessary killing of animals took centerstage.Environmentalistswere heavily protestingwhale hunts,which they saw asimmoral slaughter, while the biologist Edward Wilson was warning againstrapidly rising extinction rates and its unknown consequences. The plot ofStarTrek IV: TheVoyageHome brought these two concerns together, lamenting thedestructive power of humans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Thedecade of the 1990s brought stress on humans as agents of positive change.TheFederation actively intervened to save the Corvan gilvo from extinction,relocating the species to a new, safe habitat in “New Ground.” Althoughunintentional, the crew ofDeep Space Nine likewise saved the tribble fromextinctionbyrelocatingonetothefuture.Anenvironmentalethoscenteredontheanimalsandtheirwelfaretookoverfromamorehuman-focusedoneasStarTrekdeveloped.StarTrek is far fromanescapist show—thepeoplebehind it activelyused the

story lines as an arena for exploring contemporary political and social issues,helping to bring some of these to the forefront of the mainstreammedia; thus,contemporaryenvironmentalconcernsmadetheirwayintostorytellingaroundthetwenty-third century. How theEnterprise and its crew interacted with newlydiscovered creatures on faraway planets and how humans had affected Earth’sanimals back home were vital elements ofStar Trek’s evolving environmentalmessage.Humansmight be the devils destroying life, but theymight also be itssaviors. TheEnterprise’s mission “to seek out new life forms and newcivilizations”might aptly havebeen augmentedwith the phrase “and to preservetheoldones.”

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Notes

1.DanielBernardi,“StarTrekinthe1960s:Liberal-HumanismandtheProductionofRace,”ScienceFictionStudies24,no.2(1997):209–225.2.AndrewIsenberg,TheDestructionoftheBison:AnEnvironmentalHistory,1750–1920(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2000).3.Forexample,“TheVanishingHerd,”PopularMechanics,January1931,115–116.4.WilliamMarkAdams,AgainstExtinction:TheStoryofConservation(London:Earthscan,2004),25.5.MorgesManifesto,scanavailableonlineathttp://assets.panda.org/downloads/morgesmanifesto.pdf.6.WorldWildlifeFund,“50thAnniversary—Celebrating50YearsandLookingtotheFuture,”http://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/anniversary/index.html.7.BrunoPaulStenson,“TheWorldWildlifeFederationPavilion,”http://expo67.ncf.ca/world_wildlife_federation_p1.html.8.LandandWaterConservationFundAct,PublicLaw88–578,78U.S.StatutesatLarge,897.9.EndangeredSpeciesPreservationAct,PublicLaw89–669,80U.S.StatutesatLarge,926.10.J.MichaelScott,DaleD.Goble,andFrankW.Davis,eds.,TheEndangeredSpeciesActatThirty:ConservingBiodiversityinHuman-DominatedLandscapes(Washington,DC:IslandPress,2006).11.EndangeredSpeciesPreservationAct.12.AlthoughtheTellicoDamwasexemptedfromtheEndangeredSpeciesActandthedamwasbuilt,thesnaildarterwaslaterintroducedsuccessfullytoanotherriverandwassavedfromextinction.Forahistoryofthesnaildarter,seeShannonC.Petersen,ActingforEndangeredSpecies:TheStatutoryArk(Lawrence:UniversityofKansasPress,2002).13.WilliamShatnerwithChrisKreski,StarTrekMemories(NewYork:HarperCollins,1993),163.14.EdwardO.Wilson,Biophilia(Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1984).15.LeonardNimoy,IAmSpock(London:Century,1995),250.16.Seeibid.,250–252,foradiscussionofBiophiliaandtheplotdevelopment.17.Theprotectionwasphasedinfordifferentpartsoftheworld,butby1966itwasglobal.Foradiscussionofhumpbacks,seeJamesH.JohnsonandAllenA.

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http://assets.panda.org/downloads/morgesmanifesto.pdfhttp://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/anniversary/index.htmlhttp://expo67.ncf.ca/world_wildlife_federation_p1.html

Wolman,“TheHumpbackWhale,Megapteranovaeangliae,”MarineFisheriesReview46(1984):30–37.18.ConventiononInternationalTradeinEndangeredSpeciesofWildFaunaandFlora(CITES),“AnnotatedCITESAppendicesandReservations”(2008),www.cites.org/eng/resources/pub/checklist08/Checklist.pdf.19.Greenpeace,“HistoryofGreenpeaceCampaigntoSavetheWhales,”http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/campaign-history/;SeaShepherdConservationSociety,“TheHistoryofSeaShepherdConservationSocietyandWhaling,”http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/sea-shepherd-history.html.20.StarTrekIVshootingscript,March11,1986,http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/Trek/Star_Trek_IV.htm.21.SeethedescriptionofGreenpeace’sactionagainsttheRussianshipDalniyVostokinDavidDay,TheWhaleWar(London:Routledge&KeganPaul,1987).22.CITES,“AnnotatedCITESAppendicesandReservations.”23.IUCNSSCAfricanRhinoSpecialistGroup2008,“Ceratotheriumsimum”inIUCN2010,IUCNRedListofThreatenedSpecies,Version2010.4,www.iucnredlist.org.24.SeethevariouslistingsfordracolizardsinIUCN2010,IUCNRedListofThreatenedSpecies,Version2010.4,www.iucnredlist.org.25.PhilipSeddon,DougArmstrong,andRichardMaloney,“DevelopingtheScienceofReintroductionBiology,”ConservationBiology21(2007):303–312.26.IUCN,PositionStatementonTranslocationofLivingOrganisms(Gland,Switzerland:IUCN,1987).27.Seehttp://www.iucnsscrsg.orgforinformationabouttheorganization.28.IUCN,GuidelinesforRe-introductions(Gland,Switzerland:IUCN,1998).

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http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/pub/checklist08/Checklist.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/campaign-history/http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/sea-shepherd-history.htmlhttp://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/Trek/Star_Trek_IV.htmhttp://www.iucnredlist.orghttp://www.iucnredlist.orghttp://www.iucnsscrsg.org

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