Extinving Endangered Species By Alexander Pyron

For years there have been debates on weather or not marijuana should be legalized. Now the controversial issue we face is the legalization of medical marijuana. Currently several states such as California and most recently Michigan has legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. Many people believe that this drug should be legalized for medical use, and others disagree. Either way you look at this situation people are going to continuing smoking marijuana if it’s legal or not. Keeping marijuana illegal is expensive and should be legalized for the citizens of Ohio who require it for its medicinal use.

Elizabeth Kolbert is an award winning author known for her commentary on environmentalism. Much of her career has been focused on an analysis of the history of environmental change, as well as discussing modern day environmental trends. Her latest novel, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History focuses on placing what she terms “The Anthropocene Extinction” in the context of life’s history. Through an analysis of the Big 5 extinctions as well as of more isolated extinctions, Kolbert communicates that the definition of extinctions has evolved with human understanding. In the past, renowned scientists have wavered between a catastrophist and uniformitarian stance. The catastrophist stance emerged with Georges Cuvier, a French zoologist who

Summarize: The result of one species extinction could potentially be fatal to the environment. In the animal kingdom, there is a food chain. Keystone animals, are the key ingredient to the food chain. When that keystone animals goes extinct, it sets off a chain reaction on the other animal’s food source. This causes one species to flourish and another to dwindle. The environment needs a healthy checks and balance system to keep each animal population under control (Stuart, 1990 ). Humans can cause the keystone animal to become extinct and therefore, responsible for rise and decline of other species, ultimately, throwing the food chain off balance.

Final Essay: Write a critique of the novel. What worked or didn’t work and how does that affect the theme or the overall story?

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

Kolbert’s argues that our alterations towards the environment have not had the best results. She presumes that the we are currently stuck in the next wave of mass extinction. Extinction is seen as a natural occurrence which acts in repetition as a component of the evolutionary cycle. Now the big question is “How can we prevent history from reoccurring, how can I assure my position and not be a part of the next extinction?”

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there are many examples of racial profiling, prejudice, and most importantly, social injustice. For example, the poor Cunninghams are often the easy targets of prejudice, the Ewell clan is constantly being judged, and most importantly, the black society is always being racially profiled. The largest example of social injustice in Lee’s novel is the Tom Robinson case. Despite his innocence, Tom Robinson finds himself in a helpless position with little to none hope of being deemed not guilty. He was convicted of strangling, beating, and raping Mayella Ewell, though we all know that it was untrue.

Edward O. Wilson suggests that humanity should pay attention to our environment. He was concerned about the large extinction of species within a single human generation. He has two reasons as to why we should pay attention to our diverse biosystem, which includes plants and animals. First, some of the species in our environment, large or small can have an economic value and can be used as a source of food or medicine in the future. He put an emphasis on people being ignorant by destroying on what might be a possible cure for cancer or any other disease. The second reason is the annihilation of a vast number of species might lead to the collapse of our ecosystem. For instance, the widespread loss of trees from brush fire or destruction of islands

Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must

Some supporters of de-extinction believe it to be reasonable for reviving recently extinct species as a last resort in their conservation. However, it is a common belief among critics that it is of greater import to protect endangered species and reduce human impact so as to prevent extinction. Shapiro, a supporter of de-extinction, argues that de-extinction should not compete for funding with measures for protection of endangered species. However, she argues that both extinct and extant species have valuable roles in maintenance of the ecosystem (2015, p. 195). In the same paper, she admits that fears for an increase in the rate of extinction are valid for

This article gives people 's names that have contributed a large portion of what this concept has become. This can range from being the original founder group to giving helpful small details, to the people who have tested this plan of action, and adjustments. One of the largest contributors for de-extinction was a man named Paul Taylor. Paul’s original term that agrees with this was ‘environmental ethics’; his whole mental vision of environmental ethics was that humans need to have a conscience respect for nature. Courtesy for nature means one of the primary

What are the origins and history of the Endangered species act?Congress started the Endangered Species Act in 1966 to list native animal species as endangered animal and give them more protection than they had. They tried to create the animals home like the habitat they live and so they can survive longer and not go to extinct. So as time goes by they are collecting more and more extinct animals to give more population in the species.

Bill Freedmen, author of “Endangered Species—Human Causes Of Extinction and Endangerment” notes, “scientists approximate that present extinction rates are 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the average natural extinction rate.” These distressing numbers should be acted upon to save the endangered species and avoid the catastrophic change to this planet if these species were to become extinct. In order to produce change, people need to recognize that habitat loss, climate change, and poaching are all factors in why our animal species are going extinct.

In the final chapter of "The Sixth Extinction," Elizabeth Kolbert concludes her journey and discoveries with conservation efforts we can partake in together. "We are deciding, without quite meaning to, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed" (Kolbert 268). The anecdotes and evidence the book provides details how crucial it is to be aware of how our actions can negatively influence another's livelihood. Without taking precautionary steps, humans possess the natural ability to determine the outcome of a habitat and the species that occupy it. It is then up to us to change the evolutionary pathway to be virtuous and flourish. "To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people just cared more and were willing to make more sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still, it misses the point. It doesn't much matter whether people care or don't care. What matters is that people change the world" (Kolbert

In addition, protecting an animal's habitat is much easier than many people think. Change can start as close as someone’s own backyard; anyone can make their own home wildlife friendly. When living close to a forest, it is important to make sure any outside garbage is secured. This will prevent animals such as bears or raccoons from eating or getting hurt by the garbage. Feeding and keeping animals inside is especially important because the food and small animals will often attract scavengers or larger wildlife near homes. Outside of home life, visiting wildlife reservations and sanctuaries can help anyone learn ways to protect wildlife. The sanctuaries and reservations, as well as national parks, are protected areas where animals can live without fear of poachers. Not only do these places teach about the animals and ways to help them, the “wildlife related recreation creates millions of jobs and supports local businesses” (10 Easy Things). The destruction of habitat is the biggest threat to wildlife populations. The sanctuaries and reservations are only helping a small part of the widespread habitat ruination.