Evaluation Argument As humans are we driving ourselves into a sixth extinction? According to Elizabeth Kolbert, writer of The Sixth Extinction, we as humans are so careless that we are literally driving ourselves into a nonexistence. The book starts off with stories of how different species has become extinct or are currently endangered. The book has a lot of facts and they all seem to support the theory that humans are making a mess of things. Due to over killing of animals, miss use of natural resources and lack of efficient means of spreading the word on what’s going on, we may be heading to a sixth extinction. After reading the book I took a closer look at the world around me and I did notice that the world is changing right before our eyes. I have never seen a great auk and chances are no one ever will because they are extinct. They did not just die off, they were hunted and used for food and feathers. The last great auk bird was killed for sport and stuffed to be placed on the mantle of a rich European back in 1844. (Kolbert, 2014, p. 62). We may be the reason for the extinction of the great auk but other animals have become extinct and humans were not around to take the blame for their demise. For example the dinosaurs. Everywhere you turn you see cars and if you drive ling enough you see factories that have thick clouds of black smoke coming out of many smoke stacks.
…show more content…
It is plan to see that we are putting something in the air that definitely should not be there. In The Sixth Extinction Kolbert points out that if we continue to pump carbon into the atmosphere the global temperature will increase between three and seven degrees in a few years. I can agree with the fact that we are not paying attention enough to emissions coming from out cars and we are not really trying to carpool. So again, I can see how I may be contributing to the increase in temperature which in turn is melting the polar icecaps at an alarming rate. It is not a coincidence that we are starting to have a lot of floods and tornados. The rise in oceans levels and the death of coral reefs should also be a sign that we are doing something wrong. I can agree with many of the findings that Kolbert has pointed out in her book and the fact that she is not giving an opinion she is stating facts based on years of research makes the book more interesting. Another fact that is pointed out in the book is deforestation. We are cutting trees and clearing land to make way for strip malls and condos. In doing so we are taking away the home of many animals and taking away nature’s air filter, the trees. The trees are being cut at a time when we need all the help we can get to filter our air, and provide shade from the hot and damaging sun. The Sixth Extinction covers how landslides and damage to the forest floor can prevent the possibilities of every growing another forest once it’s destroyed. After the clearing of a forest not only are the trees gone but the wildlife, the moisture in the soil will dry up due to the lack of shade from the trees. All because we need another shoe store and entire eco
It is plan to see that we are putting something in the air that definitely should not be there. In The Sixth Extinction Kolbert points out that if we continue to pump carbon into the atmosphere the global temperature will increase between three and seven degrees in a few years. I can agree with the fact that we are not paying attention enough to emissions coming from out cars and we are not really trying to carpool. So again, I can see how I may be contributing to the increase in temperature which in turn is melting the polar icecaps at an alarming rate. It is not a coincidence that we are starting to have a lot of floods and tornados. The rise in oceans levels and the death of coral reefs should also be a sign that we are doing something wrong. I can agree with many of the findings that Kolbert has pointed out in her book and the fact that she is not giving an opinion she is stating facts based on years of research makes the book more interesting. Another fact that is pointed out in the book is deforestation. We are cutting trees and clearing land to make way for strip malls and condos. In doing so we are taking away the home of many animals and taking away nature’s air filter, the trees. The trees are being cut at a time when we need all the help we can get to filter our air, and provide shade from the hot and damaging sun. The Sixth Extinction covers how landslides and damage to the forest floor can prevent the possibilities of every growing another forest once it’s destroyed. After the clearing of a forest not only are the trees gone but the wildlife, the moisture in the soil will dry up due to the lack of shade from the trees. All because we need another shoe store and entire eco