Sixth Mass Extinction

A great majority of the extinctions that have occurred throughout history can have the causes traced back to human activity. People realized that extensive and

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.”

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.

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.

Climate change has been an ongoing situation throughout history, although some still cannot comprehend the effects we have had on earth. All together we are leaving our earth and everything on it to die, sometimes slowly, but other time too fast for us to do something about it. In The Sixth Extinction, the author, Elizabeth Kolbert, finds a way to inform a large audience about the current and past problems involving climate change and how our time is going into another extinction, the sixth extinction.

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

Summary: In a first person journey that brings her readers around the world, Elizabeth Kolbert researches and explains the effects of human domination on the planet and its resources. Using historical findings of previous extinctions in comparison to earth’s present state she attempts to provide cause and warning for mankind’s seemingly apocalyptic future. Her book, “The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History” delves deep into the idea that humanity is currently in the midst of the sixth period of extinction since the beginning of all life. Determined to warn the world of its destructive path, she examines the effects the human race has had (and will continue to have) on other species such as frogs, coral reefs, plants, water creatures, and many mammals while giving a brief yet thorough history lesson of the past five major extinctions that occurred prior to the appearance of Homo sapiens.

Everyone in my generation has probably grown up seeing ads or watching videos about pollution or about the environment in general, so much, to the point that these constant reminders about protecting our planet are already part of the norm for us. While these reminders have had positive effects, like how more and more people have become informed of the Earth’s condition, many people, myself included, still remain indifferent to the threats our environment faces. I won’t lie; I’m no saint or crusader for the cause, but every now and then certain videos or articles strike a chord within me and makes me reflect on the way how I’ve been living affects the environment. One such article was the one we read last week in class, “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert in the Upfront magazine.

The first thing to know about this particular mass extinction is the species that inhibited the earth

The sixth mass extinction is on the way and could be as massive as the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs (Kolbert, 2014). Before learning more about the sixth mass extinction, you’ll have to first understand what biodiversity is and what will happen when you tamper with it. According to Anup Shah, author of Why is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares, biodiversity means the variety of life on Earth or in an ecosystem. Every species plays an important role in the ecosystem or in the world, no matter how big or small. A way to incorporate this into easier terms is the food chain or food web. Without a certain species in the cycle, you’ll be losing another species and so forth (Shah, 2014).

Climate change has been an increasing problem throughout history, although some still deny the effects we have had on earth. As humans, our actions have the potential to kill every natural thing on the planet, sometimes slowly, but other times too fast for us to do something about it. The Sixth Extinction found a way to inform a large audience about the current and past problems involving climate change and how we, as humans on this earth, are going into another extinction, the sixth extinction.

Throughout the history of earth, several mass extinction events have occurred, thus changing life on earth forever. Elizabeth Kolbert, in her novel The Sixth Extinction, defines mass extinctions as "...events that eliminate a significant proportion of the world's biota in a geologically insignificant amount of time" (Kolbert 16). Five major mass extinctions have transpired that significantly changed biodiversity. Kolbert argues that Earth currently faces a Sixth mass extinction, one caused by humans. Ever since humans roamed this earth, they have significantly affected biodiversity.

During Late Pleistocene a megafaunal mass extinction took place. It’s still debated whether humans are to blame for this, since this megafaunal extinction happened after the arrival of humans or if climate change is entirely to blame. Fossil evidence has been of great help in finding what factors might’ve caused this extinction. This mass extinction that took place is related to the Anthropocene because if humans were the main cause, humans need to be more careful now because their actions may lead to more extinctions. The observations made were the types of species that went extinct with climate change, and what humans did to contribute to this mass extinction.

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.