The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Summary

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.

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.

The post-apocalyptic subject in the film industry is an area that often thrives at the box office. People thoroughly enjoy watching movies that exhibit Earth’s tarnished environment and humans’ last means of survival. At one point of time or another, the scenes in these once fictional movies may come true with the way humans are abusing the planet. Elizabeth Kolbert’s novel, The Sixth Extinction, discusses the five major causes of mass extinction. She alludes human existence as the cause of the next mass extinction. The author cites established chemist, Paul Crutzen, claiming “we are no longer in the Holocene; we are in the Anthropocene” (Kolbert 108). The Anthropocene is human dominated epoch that is disrupting other species’ existence. Of

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.

Five mass extinctions have occurred throughout the history of planet Earth. It is predicted by Author Elizabeth Kolbert, that a sixth extinction may be underway. The Sixth Extinction is a book in the viewpoint of Kolbert and narrates her travels around the globe while she studies numerous wildlife species. Kolbert claims that ¨Those of us alive today not only are witnessing one of the rarest events in life's history, we are also causing it,” (Kolbert, Page 8). Throughout her work, Kolbert claims that numerous species are decreasing in population due to harmful human activities, which could lead to a global disaster.

Several man-made threats have accelerated extinction rates across the globe, such as global warming, pollution, and introduced species. Current extinction rates

This new extinction event, the Sixth Extinction, is the subject of Elizabeth Kolbert's book,

When people cut down the Earth's trees and forests, less carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by photosynthetic creatures. If the Earth's temperature continues to increase, the sea level will increase as well. This is partly because water expands when there is an increase in temperature; it is

A method often use to cut trees is called slash and burn. As people cut down the forest there is less trees to take the CO2 out of the air. Also, as trees die they release carbon dioxide into the air. People continue cutting down the rainforests because they do it for a living and people need lumber for many things. Also, as the rainforest is cut down more is exposed.

Sea levels are rising and effecting the planet from climate change. This is happening because of rising Co2 amounts in the atmosphere. Co2 (Carbon dioxide) is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap heat and warm our atmosphere. The rising amount in Co2 is creating thermal expansion, ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, and the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps.

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).

     Carbon Dioxide plays a key role in the atmosphere. This gas has properties that allow it to sustain and hold in heat, which in turn warms the planet (EIA, 2004). Carbon, the primary component of carbon dioxide; is also the essential molecule for life and is the most basic building block found in all organic compounds. Human activities been blamed for the disruption of the earth’s natural carbon cycles and according to some studies, carbon is being added to the atmosphere faster than the natural processes that sequestrate it. The massive carbon sinks that naturally regulated and fixated excess carbon dioxide have been destroyed as humans have deforested ancient forests for the

In addition, human activities like deforestation may increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is because forests help in carbon sequestration, which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. It follows then that clearing such tress will increase the amount of carbon dioxide since carbon sequestration will not occur (3). The man-made theory of climate change also explains that when these harmful gasses reach the atmosphere, they form a blanket, which traps heat in the atmosphere. This trapping of in the atmosphere is the phenomenon that causes the planet to get warmer, hence the term global warming (Sharma, 4).

Deforestation, the cutting and burning of a forest, also increases the amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A NASA page says that “when a forest is cut and burned to establish cropland and pastures, the carbon that was stored in the tree trunks (wood is about 50% carbon) joins with oxygen and is released into the atmosphere as CO2. CO2, is, of