Acclaimed movie director Werner Herzog says he believes the human race could die out if it doesn't face up to mankind's ecological mistakes.
He tells The Daily Beast that as scientists unearthed 100,000-year-old fragments of early homo sapiens as he shot a film in Ethiopia, "I asked one … 'Do we have another hundred thousand years?' …
"He said, 'We are a very interesting species. We collaborate. We fabricate. We produce. But at the same time, we are modifying our environment. We are responsible for the extinction of many species. We are even jeopardizing our own space in which we can survive and live.'
The veteran German filmmaker — whose acclaimed films include, "Fitzcarraldo," "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "Grizzly Man" and "Cave of Forgotten Dreams — agrees.
"There will be a very critical time coming at us in only a thousand years from now. It's not unthinkable that we will become extinct as a species. It's not that I feel threatened by it. We simply have to take a good, hard look at what our mistakes are and improve what we are doing. Like drill, baby, drill—that's outright stupid …" he said.
"I read newspapers online, and every single time I read a newspaper I know that a chunk of wood didn't have to be cut down and made into paper pulp … Think about, 'Do I really need to use my car? Do I really need to leave the light switched on when I walk out of the room?'''
Herzog's latest film is "Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World," a documentary about the Internet's impact on humans.
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