Conservation vs. Preservation: What is Best for the Delicacies in Our World?

Every wonder in this world is constantly under a siege of controversy and debate about the best way to preserve, conserve and protect the area of interest. If asked, the average person will tell you there are 7 wonders of the world. Another person may list another 7 places completely unrelated to the first. A third person might say “Internet” or “Jessica Alba”. Truth be told, there are many amazing, breathtaking, and beautiful things on this earth. I am not going to single out seven things that are in one particular class of “wonders”, rather, I am going to cover how humanity has managed to discover, uncover and invent these wonderful things, and proceed to make a legal or physical mess out of every single one of them. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When there are a quarter million people a month all beholding, problems are destined to arise. These problems range from physical damage to fiscal abuse. It is human nature to be attracted to strange and wonderful things. If it wasn’t, life would be boring and, frankly, rather pointless. When one thing elicits emotions such as awe and wonder from a large group of people, some of them are bound to screw up the experience for everyone else. Regardless of the area, whether it be India, Australia, or Egypt, greed and selfishness always seems to drive humanity. The quest for the “most” and the “best” causes conspiracy and crime. And what one person sees as a crime, another can see as a method of conservation or preservation. From here we dive into the sticky, five sided arguments from politicians and scientists alike, all looking out for “the greater good” of an area or object, when, maybe doing nothing could have been the right thing to do all along.

An area of great wonder is the Lascaux Cave in France. Unlike some natural wonders, the cave contains priceless paintings that are man made. Most of the paintings date back 16,000 years or more. The cave was discovered in 1940 by four teenagers [1]. Although it isn’t listed as a “Wonder of the world”, I believe it is. Nothing like it has ever been found before and quite possibly nothing like it will ever be found again. Immediately after its discovery, the general public was drawn to it in awe. Tours were organized and it became an expansive tourist attraction. In just 15 years after its discovery, the cave began to show signs of damage. The immense numbers of people touring it turned out to be raising carbon dioxide levels inside and deteriorating the 16000 year old surface [1]. The cave had lasted centuries, untouched and pristine. In just 15 years after human discovery it was damaged beyond repair. Scientists were left with a dilemma. Should they continue to exploit the cave for a small monetary value? Or should they close the cave and preserve its priceless contents? They did the right thing. The cave was closed to the public shortly after and a replica was opened to tour in 1980. The original cave remains temperature controlled and preserved while the people in charge can still make their precious money off tours in the replica cave. The contents of this cave were irreplaceable and nonrepairable. Compromising them would mean losing them and a cool part of history forever. Everyone came out happy. The question arises, should this be done to everything fragile and beautiful in our world?