Cause And Effect On Animal Life

The post-apocalyptic subject in the film industry is an area that often thrives at the box office. People thoroughly enjoy watching movies that exhibit Earth’s tarnished environment and humans’ last means of survival. At one point of time or another, the scenes in these once fictional movies may come true with the way humans are abusing the planet. Elizabeth Kolbert’s novel, The Sixth Extinction, discusses the five major causes of mass extinction. She alludes human existence as the cause of the next mass extinction. The author cites established chemist, Paul Crutzen, claiming “we are no longer in the Holocene; we are in the Anthropocene” (Kolbert 108). The Anthropocene is human dominated epoch that is disrupting other species’ existence. Of

Many species that exists today are becoming endangered to extinction. In the past era where humans did not exist, extinction occurred due to natural causes. On this present time however, extinction of species are threatened by humans’ existence. Humans are the only moral agent; in which, it has the intellectual capacity that animals and plants do not have. Thus, humans are powerful and dominate over any species. Many practices that humans do such as: tree logging, environment pollution, exploitation of animals and others has led to many species being endangered to extinction. Thus, humans have a moral obligation to preserve endangered species for such reasons focus on

Since the dawn of mankind, clusters of innovations throughout history have allowed for societal progression at an explosive rate. While primarily fostering a centrifugal system of advancements; humans’ interests in expansion is spiraling out of control. Throughout history elements of collapse can be traced through civilizations and natural resources. Wright’s argument posits humans have hyperextended their utilization of resources at a rate that cannot be replenished, therein by setting up the world for the largest ecological collapse in history (Wright, 2004, pg. 130-131). Due to the cyclical process of past collapse and reformation humans have an advantage to rectify our current consumption rates ultimately avoiding a fate similar to past societies (Wright, 2004, pg. 131). As such Wright’s argument should frame larger discussions of responsible citizenship.

From two perspectives, we see a world plagued by the ignoble aspects of human nature. Through one set of eyes we are shown the global ecosystem imitating the opening motions of a mass extinction, through another we see the inevitable and hellish effects of culturalized greed. In both cases we are treated to the observations of an aggrieved observer, but the means by which these observers show us their perspective on the world are by no means identical. Here we will explore the strategies, expressions, argumentations, and appeals of two authors with intertwining stories to tell.

There have been five major mass extinction on earth triggered by a distinguishable event, but in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Elizabeth Kolbert writes of the narrative of the sixth extinction caused directly by human impact. The book identifies the effects of human activity on how, over humans history on earth, the natural world has been affected. Every environmental impact stems into three basic groups of global problems to nature: Pollution, Habitat loss and Invasive Species. Kolbert explains that each impact can be traced back to one source, human industrial development. With each impact various types of life in the natural world are affected. Deforestation, urbanization, and sea level rise contribute to habitat loss worldwide. When humans began to travel they also brought invasive species and disease along with them; as boats only became bigger more and more invasive species travel. This reverse engineering of the planet species, brings new species that don’t have any natural predators, thus having an easier time driving native species out to endangerment or extinction. The different outcomes that come from human pollution is separated throughout the book, but the idea remains constant; with the development of human culture, pollution has drastically impacted a vast extent of species habitats and their environment.

In a world that we, as humans, have begun to destroy and shape for the worse, there is still so much that we are oblivious to. From the illegal endangered animal trade to harmful CO2 and methane, Racing Extinction has revealed to both myself and society the constantly ticking clock that is Earth.

The scientific community applauds Elizabeth Kolbert for her recently published The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, as it exceeds scientific and literary standards. Elizabeth Kolbert, born in 1961, is a American journalist and author and has won more than ten awards since 2005. In fact, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History recently won her the Pulitzer prize for general nonfiction writing. For a scientific overview of her book, it discusses quite exactly what the title states. There have been five mass extinctions throughout the history of this earth, and the sixth is currently happening and being driven by humans. Kolbert discusses several different species that have become extinct or are on the brink of extinction. She includes history of mankind discovering the concept of extinction as they gradually began to wrap their brains around the idea in the early eighteen hundreds. Lastly, Kolbert masterfully describes her own experiences face to face. She

By following the understanding of extinctions up to the present day, Kolbert addresses that extinctions are not strictly catastrophic or uniformitarian. Rather, by citing the major and minor extinctions such as the disappearance of the great auk the End-Cretaceous extinction Kolbert proves that extinctions have a wide variety of causes. Finally, with the grim depiction past and present day extinctions, Kolbert moves on to discuss the title topic: The Sixth Extinction. The term Anthropocene refers to the height of human alteration of the planet earth, which is thought to have begun during the Industrial Revolution. As humans dramatically alter the earth and its ecosystems, it is predicted that humans will eventually cause the sixth extinction if the current environmental trends continue. A combination of accelerated climate change, overhunting, deforestation, and natural ecosystem patterns have begun wiping out entire species at alarming rates. Truly, Kolbert emphasizes that all of humanity’s understanding of extinction is pointing to a devastating mass-extinction which could eventually affect the same beings which catalyzed

Human life still has a long time before extinction but it is better if they act now. Human civilizations future may not last if humans are to late due to a lack of resource. If the earth lack the resources the human economy will fall into stagnation and decline, then once our economy declines there will be a war for resources (Orsulak). Resources are the only thing that is keeping humans moving. When the earth is out of resources where would humans go? Out to space? Well, by then humans would be too late, the earth would have been already exhausted. Therefore humans wouldn’t have

The book was very in depth and she thoroughly explained her claims through facts and data. Her claims successfully explain the patterns of life on Earth through numerous studies and she explains the dangers of extinction. The author concludes her work with the fact that humans are dependent on Earth’s biological and geochemical systems. Her work will continue to teach future readers the danger of human lifestyles if necessary actions toward sustainability are not taken. If humans continue to live their harmful lifestyles, then they will continue to danger wildlife species, the environment, and their own

It appears that humanity has been detrimental to its host for quite some time now, particularly in the last hundred years or so. The subjugation of fellow man and earth stems from a central theme; the idea that humanity seeks to conquer, categorize, and control whatever is in their sights. There are exceptions, of course. This idea does not apply to all people, but can be seen in instances such as the aforementioned subjugation and slaughter of the Jews during World War Two, in the form of the Holocaust, and the continued destruction of the natural world for profit. “Nature” also touches upon a similar idea, posed by theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno,

In the article “Earth Without Humans,” Bob Holmes describes what negative impacts humans are having on our

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words” (Anna Sewell). There is undeniable evidence that animals are being affected by climate change. Even though the effects are difficult to measure, there are many different ways animals are being affected. With the loss of predator and prey species it affects the life cycles in the food chain. The earth’s climate change causes habitats such as snow, ice, or forest areas to alter, resulting in loss of habitat and food accessibility as well as causing extinction.

One specific way that humans have begun the process of world extinction is through their incessant meddling with the environment. Not only do people destroy the environment with our wreckage and pollution, but the human race has introduced species into other ecosystems, causing massive repercussions. Referred to as invasive species, their introduction into a

Since before the industrial evolutions humans have been pumping green house gasses—carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons— into the atmosphere however, it wasn’t until recently that the amounts being produced are shoving the Earth into a sixth extinction. While the causes of this upcoming extinction are constantly debated on it has earned itself the name Holocene extinction. This name is derived from the theory that humans are the main contributors to this extinction. To investigate the cause Elizabeth Kolbert, and American journalist and professor at Williams College, took the world on a wild and saddening journey on the human contribution to this looming extinction in her novel, The Sixth Extinction; An Unnatural History. Not only does Kolbert’s book explain how humans have contributed to global warming and its effects on life on land but also ocean acidification and how life under the sea has changed over the years.