HUMAN MASS EXTINTION E-Book

Catherine Dumont

• Herausgeber: BookThug
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 30

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Several scientists claim that the sixth mass extinction of global biodiversity is already underway, and other specialists highlight the importance of the environmental impact of human activity and propose our geological era should be given a new name: Anthropocene. In this context, billionaire Elon Musk talks about making humanity multiplanetary and colonizing Mars to preserve the race. What is really going on? Has the end of planet Earth already begun, and if so, what shall we do?

Leseprobe

1. The Sixth Mass Extinction

This story begins with a misunderstanding, or perhaps a bit of twisted information. In January 2022, scientists from the University of Hawaii and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, Robert H. Cowie, Philippe Bouchet and Benoît Fontaine published the article The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation?1 There, the authors explained that “There have been five Mass Extinction events in the history of Earth’s biodiversity, all caused by dramatic but natural phenomena. It has been claimed that the Sixth Mass Extinction may be underway, this time caused entirely by humans”.

The authors explained that many colleagues don’t support the idea of a Sixth Mass Extinction, and that they usually base on the IUCN “red list” (International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, which provides an exhaustive list of species and their dangers of extinction). However, for these authors that list is biased, since it includes almost all mammals and birds, but only a small part of the invertebrates. Their own study of invertebrates and molluscs is presented as evidence that species extinction rates are alarming.

By January 2022 the subject was not new: the scientific community had been debating the matter for years. The fact is that the article was shared on Twitter by the user @rainmaker1973, along with a photo of molluscs fossils. Shortly after, the one who re-tweeted the information was none other than Elon Musk, although this time with a comment that had little to do with the article itself: “There is 100% chance of all species extinction due to expansion of the sun, unless humanity makes life multiplanetary”, Musk wrote.

Behind Musk’s (never innocent) twit several issues arise. The first: are we going through a period of mass extinction? If this is true, is human activity to blame? Is there a scientific consensus on the subject, and how does all this fit into the dominant climate change narrative? How would the extinction of humanity fit into this story? On the other hand, clever as he is, Musk uses the idea of a Sixth Mass Extinction to fuel his agenda of colonizing Mars. Is that a viable option to avoid the extinction of our species?

Life on Earth has developed over millions of years, and the extinction of species is part of this natural and biological process in which multiple factors have contributed to certain species dying and new species developing. Various scientists warn about an accelerated process of species extinction, and affirm that if the current levels are maintained, in just 300 years 75% of the species that today inhabit the Earth will have become extinct. In tune with the climate change narrative, some scientists want to highlight the importance of the environmental impact of human activity and pretend to give our geological era a new name: Anthropocene.

There are many opinions in relation to this topic, and there are also diverse and controversial “solutions” with which humanity could repair the damage caused: from reviving extinct species to designing a biosphere, including the colonization of other planets or even the overcoming of the species towards a post-humanism.

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2. Extinctions throughout history

In the first place, it is necessary to make it clear that although many scientists agree in their assessments, there is no absolute consensus that allows defining the issues related to the mass extinctions that have taken place in the history of our planet. In fact, the best known of such extinctions, the one that would have wiped out the dinosaurs from the Earth 65 million years ago, is often attributed to the impact of a meteorite, but many still pose other theories.