If there were no humans on Earth, there would be no stupid animals writing senseless articles like that. It's a PETA pipe dream, however "logical" it may sound to the gullible few. Who is paying people to write "dreams"? (Probably the same people spending tax money for artists who aren't qualified and skilled enough to sell their "art" [like scrap metal welded together with no theme or end vision] on the free market. Us!)
FYI,
The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is a research center of the University of California, Santa Barbara. It has no affiliation with PETA.
Funding is provided by the National Science Foundation, the State of California, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
NCEAS supports cross-disciplinary research that uses existing data to address major fundamental issues in ecology and allied fields, and their application to management and policy. NCEAS is a unique institution with an explicit mission to foster synthesis and analysis, turn information into understanding and, through effective collaboration, alter how science is conducted.
They are trying to help us.
bsmith