Environmental Ethics: The Sixth Extinction

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The Sixth Extinction

Friday January 30, 2019

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Do You Agree or Disagree?

As I was reading "The Sixth Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert, I found it really hard for me to stop reading the book. I was so intrigued on her research that I finished the book in two days.

Throughout her book, Kolbert researched and studied the effects that humans have on extinction. She believes that humans are on the brink of causing "the sixth extinction". Different species are going extinct due to the decline in availability of land and a rise in temperatures.

Kolbert took a trip to Panama in pursuits of discovering why the golden frog , once impossible to avoid, was dwindling down to a few dozen. This discovery inspired her to learn more about extinction.

Kolbert argues that we are living in the Anthropocene period of planetary history—an epoch defined by human beings’ attempts to manipulate their environments, resulting in the extinction or near-extinction of many different species. Kolbert feels as if the Sixth Extinction will be unique because it will be the result of human behavior. By burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, human beings have drastically increased the temperature and acidity of ocean water meaning that sea creatures will have to adapt to the changing environment, or die out.

Kolbert goes on another adventure to the Great Barrier Reef, where she learns from other scientists the impact that increased temperature and acidity has had on the coral reefs. She also visits the tropical rain forests of South America, where she sees the phenomenal diversity of life there.

It's obvious that Kolbert thinks that humans are playing the biggest role in the Sixth Extinction. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with her? Well here's my take, I think that humans need to keep in mind that they have the power to change the environment, preserve, and protect. They need to realize that no matter what they do in the future, their actions have a big impact on the Sixth Extinction that will shape the world.

But I also have to be opposed to this because Humans destroy habitats and build certain things in order to survive. The world is becoming overpopulated and humans are doing what is necessary to survive. So can you really blame them?

Who's side are you on?

2 comments:

PhilFebruary 13, 2019 at 3:12 PM
Welcome, Madison!

Whose side? Well, ultimately all life on earth needs to be on the same side, that's what makes it a potentially healthy and functional ecosystem.

But, between the extremists (who consider humanity a scourge and a pox that deserves to be expunged) and the pragmatists who acknowledge our impact and now wonder what we can do to fix the mess we've made, I'm with the latter. I want us to make the planet great (as in, hospitable to human life and in symbiotic harmony with it) again.
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Madison SmithApril 30, 2019 at 4:32 PM
I agree! If everyone could work together, everything could be much simpler.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The Sixth Extinction

2 comments:

Peripatetics