Summary Of The Sixth Extinction By Elizabeth Kolbert

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

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 Sixth Extinction is a chapter found in a book titled, “The Sixth Extinction An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert”. This chapter addresses extinction or the termination of a group. The story takes place in The Panamanian town of El Valle de Anton. The story focuses on the toxic species called the golden frog. For some unknown reason(s), the golden frogs began to disappear.

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 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.

Chapter 12 of the book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert is all about the differences between Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalenis) and modern humans (Homo sapiens). Most of the differences were explained clearly and concisely, but one was very contradictory. Could Neanderthals see beauty? I believe that yes, they could, just perhaps not in the exact same way that modern humans do. They could see the beauty of nature, the beauty of living things, like animals flowers, trees, and each other.

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.

Extinction: A Radical History is a book published by writer, professor and activist Ashley Dawson. It was published on the 22nd of April 2016. Dawson talks about multiple broad subjects in his book like how Capitalism is the main source of mass extinction. By doing so, he takes into account the lengthy history of the Homo Sapiens species, their activities and their discoveries and how us, humans, have affected today’s biodiversity, and probably the future of our planet Earth. He also offers solutions but are they realistically possible? Today, we no longer face natural risks like asteroids and comets. As Dawson states we now face anthropogenic risks like climate change and biodiversity loss which leads to a change in the earth’s ecosystem.

List examples of human activities that are suggested to be key triggers for the sixth mass extinction.

Most events in the book are related to ecology. The book focus in explaining aspects such as how a nuclear world war destroyed the earth and how it is making the life of most people unbearable. Aspects such as extinction and early death, and disabilities are focused. The book stresses how the war renders surviving species and specimen

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

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.

The reading by Paul S. Martin, Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America, explores the idea that extinction is a phenomenon that could be explained by human arrival. Humankind has an impact on animal extinction. He says: “based on the concept that animal populations could have sustained some additional predation, but not as much as took place after human arrival, this explanation has come to be known as overkill “(Martin, 48). In this passage Martin is explaining that humans are predators and upon their arrival many animals died. Martin also goes on to say that meteor strikes and climatic

The anthropocene debate hinges to a large extent on how epochs are defined, and scientists now face the unprecedented task of defining an epoch at its genesis rather than millions of years after its end. Castree argues that the severity of human impact on the Earth, indicative of the Anthropocene is already stratigraphically evident in radionuclides from atomic bombs, micro particles of plastic and hydrocarbons from fossil fuels. He also argues that these effects, because of their extremity and the feedback’s triggered between systems, will be pervasive for thousands of years, causing environmental systems to vastly diverge from their natural behavior. (Castree, 2014) Ocean warming, sea level rise and acidification will continue for thousands

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.