It's haunting to realize that half of the languages of the world are teetering on the brink of extinction.

A species on the brink of extinction isn't going to reverse after only 30 years.

We need to find out more about how stripers live. Stripers came close to the brink of extinction 25 years ago. Other species are still in trouble. Rutgers is leading the effort along the Jersey Shore to study our fisheries. I hope Net Free steers clear of nets and won't end up on a dinner table. We have something to learn form Net Free and the other tagged fish.

This is an exciting year ... witnessing a population on the brink of extinction exhibit signs that it might actually make it, that it might have a fighting chance.

It was reasonable to struggle, to suffer, perhaps even to die, for a more just, a more compassionate society, but not in a world with no future where, all to soon, the very words "justice," "compassion," "society," "struggle," "evil," would be unheard echoes on an empty air.

We are living on the brink of the apocalypse, but the world is asleep.