Comparing and contrasting the mass extinction and the current extinction. Scientist say that we are causing the 6th extinction. An extinction is when all of a certain animal or plant is gone and nothing left of it. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting these 2 extinctions.
Contrasting the mass extinction and the current extinction. The first big thing is that we are causing the 6th one because all the other ones before it was caused by natural causes and this one is manmade like on the website InTegrate “The Biodiversity Crisis – Are Humans Causing a Sixth Mass Extinction?”. Also this one is happening faster than the ones before it the older one took millions of years this one is happening in less than a decade.
Comparing the
The chapter then moves to Kolbert’s experience with ammonite fossils in Princeton, New Jersey. While the distinct spiral shape of ammonites is well-known and agreed upon, the exact shape and structure of the mollusk in the shell is heavily debated. Ammonites are then compared to nautiluses, living animals that heavily resemble ammonites, in terms of why one species was able to flourish, while the other was wiped out. Chapter five lays out the concept that ordinarily species go extinct at a gradual, slow pacing, unless of course there is a catastrophic event, such as human meddling or a giant asteroid, in which case the extinction process is expedited. The extinct species that Kolbert studies in this chapter is the graptolite, a long, thin, V-shaped marine animal. The extinction of grapolite is theorized to be due to a drastic change in the ocean. Kolbert additionally tells a theory that, in the future, rats will be the predominant race on Earth, overtaking even humans. This is all based on the fact that humans have too drastically changed the Earth’s composition and wherever humans go and change, rats are there to follow. Thus we are ushering in the Anthropocene, or the “age of humans,” a time period in which humans have wrecked up the planet to the point of no
Extinction: Most species become extinct because they can’t cope with the environmental change, and also because of introduced species that turned into competitors for
American journalist Elizabeth Kolbert authored The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History in 2014. This is a non-fictional account of what Kolbert had named "the sixth extinction": an extinction event caused by humans similar to ones that destroyed earlier forms of life, like the dinosaurs and megafauna.
The most surprising aspect of this article was that humans today are said to be the cause of the sixth extinction. This was surprising to me because I did not know our planet has been impacted so much by our existence. Also, it surprised me because I have recently heard about how we were trying to fix our planet. The sixth extinction is horrible. Also, because we do not yet know the full extinct of our actions, the ramifications of our actions have yet to harm humankind. If we keep going we may not exist in 1,000
She explains the concept of ocean acidification, and what humans are doing to help it along, as well as the theory that humans bred with Neanderthals until they were no longer in existence. Kolbert ends on a hopeful note, saying that humans can change their ways very easily and save many species from extinction; however, if we do not change, there very well might be another mass extinction soon approaching.
In The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Elizabeth Kolbert discusses past mass-extinction events and argues that we are currently in the midst of another—this time caused by anthropogenic activity. Each chapter focuses on a different species and analyzes how they serve as evidence of this extinction. Kolbert explores both extinct and living species in an effort to show how the past provides an indication of what may occur in the future if humans continue to conduct “business as usual”. In doing this she also describes how science changes over time: as we discover new scientific evidence, old ideas become obsolete. Kolbert ends the book by saying that while humans are responsible for the destruction of biodiversity, they also have the ability to facilitate positive change.
In the book The Sixth Extinction written by Elizabeth Kolbert there are a lot of examples that are going on in the world today and also examples of things that started when the first human being was around. This book talks about how we are in the sixth mass extinction, and that is caused by humans. Overall the book goes chapter by chapter and talks about the different mass extinctions there have been, and how they were caused, but also the book talks about different species that have gone extinct and the reasons why. For example the book talks about golden frogs that are located in Panama and how they were seen everywhere located in El Valle de Anton, but they suddenly started disappearing. They were disappearing because of a chytrid fungis cause by humans, when humans travel they were bring this fungis to different places, this ended up killing the frogs (Chapter 1, Kolbert). That is just one example, but throughout the book Kolbert talks about different extinctions like this and what caused them.
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
In a summary, Kolbert explains the extinctions of a variety of different major animal species that became extinct. She also explains that if trends in the environment continue that the biggest extinction in history will occur soon. If global warming, deforestation, and glaciers continue to melt she says that more and more species will continue to become extinct. She explains how humans need to be more conservative and careful with what they’re doing to prevent extinction.
In this world is the first mass extinction that is being caused by another organism (us). The sixth extinction start really with the industrial revolution. To thought about the characteristics of first industrial revolution. It was being in the first step taking raw materials from the earth. Furthermore, business take materials, make products who gives many waste, powered by fossil fuel-derived energy. The industrial revolution be wasteful because it abusive and focused on labour productivity. More product per hour. All those attributes must be changed to move business to the sustainability. The three major problems businesses face are: What it takes? What it makes? And what it wastes? The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken arrangements with the effects of industrialization on the environment. Hawken's takes the point of view that the environment is being ruined by the economic system. The economic system and the processes of industrialization do not imitate the natural cyclical processes, Finish the death of birth (where the waste in one step becomes the food in another step). In this kind of ecosystem, there is no waste; everything is reused. If industry had imitated this kind of system, there would be no problem with tiredness of resources and damage to the earth. However, this isn't how industrialization works; instead, the process is linear. Business processes result in a great deal of waste, which does great damage to the environment. For example, industry relies on fossil fuels like oil and carbon-based fuels. This creates a problem with carbon dioxide, which is harmful to the
I think the title “The Sixth Extinction” is appropriate because 5 mass extinctions (the Big Five) have already occurred, and we are on the brink of a 6th one. I also believe the subtitle “An Unnatural History” is fitting due to the not-so natural ways that animals become extinct. Whether it be because of BP fungus, asteroids, carbon dioxide-emitting sea vents, deforestation, and other various human activity. The only other title suggestion I have would be “The Anthropocene Extinction.”
Habitat destruction, deforestation, ozone depletion, global warming, and poaching. These actions and ecological happenings are creating a world where animals are going extinct at rapid rates. Our world is on the brink of what scientists believe is the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the five previous mass extinction, the latest one killing a majority of the dinosaurs, the main causes for this current extinction are anthropogenic reasons, not natural events.
It was caused by continued growth of the ice caps and it killed 70 percent of all species. “The third extinction is the most devastating in the planet’s history – as many as 96 percent of all animal species died out during it”(Regenerative. “6 Mass Extinctions.” REGENERATIVE.com, 16 Dec. 2016,). This extinction was 225 million years ago, among the Permian era. A super volcano eradicates most of all life! Of all life currently on Earth is descended from the 4 percent of species that survived this extinction(Regenerative. “6 Mass Extinctions.” REGENERATIVE.com, 16 Dec. 2016,). The forth mass extinction was 200 million years ago in the Triassic era. It was caused by an asteroid crashing into the Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula (Regenerative. “6 Mass Extinctions.” REGENERATIVE.com, 16 Dec. 2016,). The asteroid through dust and ash in the air and blocking the sun and killing 50 percent of all life. The fifth and final extinction was 65 million
There have been five well known extinctions on this earth. The one most well known is the mass extinction that ended the dinosaurs. Mass extinction is often described as the elimination of a large number of species in a short period of time. Despite what many think, the elimination of species is almost commonplace at this point. The Earth is currently in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, and it’s been caused by the human race.
The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About