Humans see themselves as powerful and in control of the land. Why wouldn’t we? We have workable thumbs and larger thinking brains than most species. Other species do build their own communities, but humans can tear them down with a quick swift of a bulldozer. We drive them away from their homes by building our own homes—unnecessary homes, especially here on Long Island.

I drive to school and notice that more multi-million-dollar developments are going up with no one buying. Is there a need for them? I argue: absolutely not. Long Islanders than continue to complain that we have a deer problem. Maybe it’s not because the deer population is growing; maybe it’s because we are decreasing their living space to expand our own overbearing population.

Can humans actually be the inferior species on planet Earth? Am I crazy for thinking that we are? Plants, insects, and animals are what built this planet. They occupied this land long before humans showed up, and once we did, we took over; we drove other species to extinction. We grew and grew and made these species home into our own and took credit for it. We overpowered them and made them look inferior.

Our growing population made their native land into something foreign. They needed to learn to cope and adapt to sharing the land with us. Do we, though? More than often, the answer is no. As stated, we take away their homes for our own benefit; we kill them for food, clothing, medicine, hair products, makeup products, research, experimentation, and the list goes on and on.

The majority of humans depend on other species to survive, but other species don’t need us. In fact, they would be much better off without us taking over their lands.

We kill these species and put them in danger and no one blinks an eye, but when there’s a report of another species taking a human’s life, it makes the news for weeks. We have the brain capacity to understand that what we are doing is wrong (even though, sadly, most people would argue that it’s not), and we can get away with it because most other species are relatively defenseless compared to our technology, such as guns. When other species kill, they do it out of instinct. They recognize a danger (which we are) and take a strike to take defense. They feel threatened, so they must protect themselves and their young if they’re nearby.

Another issue was recently brought to my attention. The Senate is making quick movements on legislation in allowing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be opened for oil and gas exploration and development.

Again, this is only benefiting the human species.

If this gets approved, many wildlife species are at serious risk, and for what? What it boils down to is another opportunity to obtain more money, money we do not need at the risk of losing an entire species. Because of the increasing ice loss, Polar Bears depend on this refuge to raise their young, and that’s just one example of a species in danger.

So, I ask you, are these species the invasive species to the land we inhabit...or are we?