Why Do We Cause A Sixth Mass Extinction?

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Currently “we are living through the sixth mass extinction, [and] this one is introduced by human activity” (Benton, 2011). As of today scientists have recorded five mass extinctions. While there is no perfect definition for a mass extinction, due to how each differ in so many aspects, a mass extinction is most simply defined as when the number of species on earth drops drastically due to a certain event or cause. The five mass extinctions; the late Ordovician, the late Devonian, the late Permian, the late triassic, and the late Cretaceous all had varying natural causes such as meteorites and extreme weather changes like the Ice age, however “today scientists say we are facing mass extinctions from another cause, humans. (Humans can be primary, 2007)”. The largest mass extinction was the end-permian extinction which was caused by a colossal destruction of ecosystems. Evidence shows that the “present …show more content…

As a result of the combination of deforestation and climate change species will continue to go extinct. Those who believe that humans are helping the environment thrive are very misinformed as humans are causing more species to die. For humans the reason biodiversity is so important is that we depend on the earth to provide everything for us. Unless there are new laws set in place to stop deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems, humans as a species will die off. The underlying cause of the biodiversity loss needs to be presented to the government and society in order to prevent the large amount of loss. humans mainly rely on biological diversity for things such as “food, medicine, shelter and clothing” and a large decrease in biological diversity would drastically affect humans and the planet (Karaim, 2011). Afterall “civilization was built on exploiting the planet’s biological richness” and without the environment humans would not have prospered (Karaim,

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