Elizabeth Kolbert’s piece The Sixth Extinction immediately introduces us to the cataclysmic events that have shaped our world, and our own fragile place within it. As a highly regarded American journalist and a “visiting fellow of Williams College”, she is known worldwide as an expert in the topic of climate change (New Yorker).
The Sixth Extinction challenges us to start at the beginning of our planets history, before the arrival of the very first human beings. We see how their migration started only a short time ago. Kolbert forces us to redefine our sense of time, as it is not the human lifespan in which change is measured but tens of millions of years. She tells us how there have been “five major mass extinctions during the history of
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life on this planet”, and each extinction caused a massive loss in biodiversity (Kolbert 101). We discover that we are currently living at the dawn of the sixth extinction; and that it is occurring not in millions of years but during our lifetime, as a result of us. Our generation is the first generation in the history of civilization that will have to deal with the effects of climate change. Leaders in every nation have been presented with evidence of this change and the predicted consequences of our actions (or inactions). But most, if not all are in disbelief that humans could have been the cause. This is extremely reminiscent of our in-class discussion about The Siege of Miami by Kolbert.
Both works send a strong ecological message to the reader, and show us the tenuous but tenacious place that humans occupy within the world. “Under the hot, brilliant blue sky”, readers are first introduced to the idea that flooding in Miami is unfortunately a normal occurrence (Kolbert). We are confronted with “water gushing down the road into an underground garage” (Kolbert). What caught my attention was that nobody was panicking- it has become an everyday occurrence in Miami that something somewhere will flood. Kolbert talks about how at the end of the century, sea levels could rise by as much as three feet. This would be a complete disaster for the city of Miami, and also other coastal cities across the world. Entire towns would be flooded, and billions of dollars would be lost. We also have to consider the human factor- where would we relocate the people who have lost everything they had? In the case of The Sixth Extinction, we saw how before our modern era the only way to survive was by remaining in tune with the earth and by living off the land. However with the development of modern technologies we are introduced to new ways to grow and sustain life- but at what cost? We saw how costal cities such as Miami are undergoing extreme shifts, and in the very near future they could become completely deserted due to the increased amount of flooding. Nonetheless, nobody seems to realize that humans are the ones who have caused this extreme
shift. The Sixth Extinction serves as a sort of wake-up call to every reader. Kolbert writes that “if extinction is a morbid topic, mass extinction is well massively so” (Kolbert 3). We are forced to come to terms with the damage that our ancestors have done to our planet, and to recognize the fact that we are just a small part in a frail ecosystem.
In this book, Kolbert travels to many places to find out what is happening with global warming. Quite often she ran into the same fear at the places she went, the fear for loss before the next generation. When she went to Alaska, many people were fleeing from their homes because the sea ice surrounding them, creating a buffer zone for storms, was melting and that was causing houses to just be swept away.
Martin is confident that the extinctions must have been caused by “something outside the normal experience of mammals.”
Society portrays the Earth as a resource, a place that provides an abundance of tools that are beneficial to one’s way of living. As time continues on, humanity’s definition of sustainability with the ecosystem becomes minor, meaning that it is not essential to their own lives. Thus, leading to the environment becoming polluted and affecting the human population. These ideas are demonstrated through these four sources: “Despair Not” by Sandra Steingraber, which provides the author’s perspective on the environmental crisis in terms of climate change.
Michael Crichton was an amazing novelist who penned numerous literary works that has impacted today’s societies. In his book, State of Fear, an eBook extra presents a speech given by him called, Why Speculate? Aspects of this speech show the reader that he disapproves of the ways that the media speculates and creates a public that is misinformed about the events of the world. Upon further elaboration, the reader can become aware that Michael Crichton is a critic of global warming, and believes it is nothing more than media speculation. The key idea of the book was the debate of global warming and bioterrorism. Global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases is a concept heavily found in the curriculum, as a student analyzes how different
In, The Fate of the Earth by, Jonathan Schell, he starts with the extinction of dinosaurs then moves onto how it’s not possible to judge on human extinction. He also talks about how the extinction of animals and how we have learned from our mistakes. He states how we live, then we die. And how different catastrophes could kill everyone or how they could slowly become extinct from those catastrophes. He mainly talks about population and how the extinction of human beings and once we are extinct we are done.
“If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, you can picture a poacher in Africa carrying and Ak-47/ better still, you can picture yourself, holding a book on your lap” (Kolbert 266). This excerpt alone sets up the dark narrative that lies within The Sixth Extinction. It is uncomfortable to think about the impact that humans have on the environment on a global scale; however, it is nearly unbearable to recognize individual actions such as reading a book, directly contribute to the devastation of the earth.
In his piece on climate change, Richard Lindzen addresses his stance on the heated debate of global warming. He claims that there is, in fact, no ongoing catastrophic temperature increase. Lindzen, a Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a recipient of the Jule Charney award from the American Meteorological Society (Richard Lindzen), believes that the earth goes through natural phases of warming and cooling. In this piece, he examines why he believes people have a false conception of Earth’s climate shifts.
According to the World Bank’s report, climatologists predict greenhouse gases will cause temperatures to rise 7.2 degrees before the next century (par. 8). While the rise in temperature might seem trivial, Scranton elaborates on the detrimental effects this change would cause by quoting James Clapper. Mr. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, argues that extreme weather disasters will “increasingly disrupt food and energy markets, exacerbating state weakness, forcing human migrations, and triggering riots, civil disobedience, and vandalism” (par. 7). Dr. Scranton mentions these sources in order to convince the audience that an increase of only a few degrees can have a devastating impact that will inevitably leave the planet radically different during this epoch; the current epoch we live in, named the Anthropocene, is a term invented by geologist and scientists for the epoch that is “characterized by the arrival of the human species as a geological force” (par. 10). The name of the epoch inspired Scranton to title the article “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene” since it reaffirms his claim that we must accept that the future will not be the same as the present. Furthermore, Scranton includes a book in his article written by geophysicist David Archer incase readers remain skeptical of the scientific evidence with
One of the remarkable Tim Flannery’s contributions to society is the fact that he raises an awareness of climate change so that people think climate change regards as clime catastrophe. In the book, The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change, Tim Flannery warned carefully and rationally to skeptical people on climate change. These people believe that increase of temperature on the earth is simply natural phenomenon since temperature has not been constant in whole history of the earth. Tim describes that this belief has tended to put the earth severe stage. In accordance with Gaia theory, this planet is an organism to purify by itself, but human being is likely to force it to lead to disaster. Tim explains that humans have been living in glacial epoch that the average temperature is approximately 14 Celsius and even rise of 1 Celsius will bring us anomalous situation (Flannery 2006, p.11). He warns that the temperature change will make difficult environment to survive in the earth. As Tim Flannery has well-informed academic knowledge about zoology and sufficient field experience, especially in Papua New Guinea, he explains wide various
On a day to day basis, most people take for granted the lives we get to live, and put too much value on the extra things such as materialistic items. Also, the majority of humans are too invested in their personal lives or with themselves that they do not look at the big picture of how what we are doing now will effect us later. As humans, the routines in our lives can bring us harm, and within time a we may become the sixth extinction. In “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, she gives many examples of animals that are or may become extinct. Along with ways humans contribute to the effort of putting them in danger or having them become extinct. In the end having a summary of how this all comes together and impacts us humans in more
In recent decades, the contentious issues surrounding climate change and the corresponding effects it likely exerts upon contemporary civilization has developed to become one of the most pressing areas of concern afflicting humanity (Armstrong, 1). Currently, climate change has started to demonstrate its potentially calamitous consequences upon human subsistence practices, and has even begun to alter the very environments that entire societies reside in, theoretically endangering them in both instances (Armstrong, 1). Though the hindrances inherent in climate change are potentially devastating to the preservation of modern society, the problem of climate change itself is not one that is exclusive to the contemporary era. Rather, the harmful
For a majority of people, it isn’t new news that the Earth’s climate is changing and increasingly getting warmer. For quite some time now, people have been arguing about what the actual causes are and what role humans have played in the current condition of the earth. A good bit of people seem to be in agreement that due to the actions of humans, the earth’s climate is increasingly getting worse and that if things don’t change, than everyone living on earth will be facing the consequences. However, this is not entirely true. The fault of climate change does not fall solely on the shoulders of mankind, but on the earth as well.
Despite the controversy created by the film’s many inaccuracies and exaggerations, The Day After Tomorrow possesses some geological significance. Exaggerated it may be, it has created a lasting impact on the general population worldwide by increased the overall awareness of the possible consequences of man-made global warming. The popularization and dramatization of the scientific issue has successfully promoted awareness, although not necessarily understanding, of global warming-related matters. At the release of the film, many scientists expressed hopes that the increased attention on the topic would result in progressive global warming discussions. In fact,...
The first part of this essay discusses what the human species has done to deal with the problem of climate change. While some improvements have been made, the problem has not been addressed aggressively enough to stop the damage. What is amazing about this is the denial of so many people that problems exist. If they do realize the risks, they are simply not taking actions to contain the damage.
The earth has experienced climate change for the entirety of its existence. For billions of years, this change has occurred at a relatively slow pace, with exceptions being caused by events such as large scale volcanic eruptions. Now, humans are the cause for high rates of climate change and damage to the environment. This is beginning to have damaging effects on not only us, but the world around us, and we are only just started to take action. Efforts to reduce climate change would be more realized if not for the resistance of many due to misconceptions, money, and a reluctance to change. Short- and long-term solutions are being developed by the brightest minds, but they will not work without