Let's Catch Up to Bolivia

The main reason I respect ferns is that they're the first-in scouts when life reclaims an area after disaster. They were the earliest groundcover in the Triassic; they are generally the earliest groundcover after a major volcanic eruption and get the start on breaking down lava flows. Ferns are cool.

People tend to forget just how LONG geological time is; and that when life is around each form has to make sense, and fits into the world around it. But the world around it changes dramatically - there have been times when the oxygen level was too high for us; there have been times when it was too low. The earth is usually a lot warmer than it is now (some credit Antarctica for drifting over the southern pole and changing the weather patterns). Climate patterns shift as the continental plates change locations (especially when they all get together in one or two megacontinents like Pangaea or Gondwanaland.) We cannot just sit there and expect things to remain the same; any little change and they adapt to handle it. If we want to, we need to pay attention.