The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Last month, I went to see the last lecture in UConn’s Edwin Way Teale lecture series on nature and the environment. The speaker was Elizabeth Kolbert, giving a lecture titled, “The Sixth Extinction.” Compared to the other lectures I’ve attended, the Dodd Center was surprisingly packed - anyone less than 15 minutes later was forced to spill out into the aisles or sit on window ledges. There were some students in the audience, but most of it was made up of faculty and even some non-affiliates who had heard about the talk through word of mouth. I was surprised by the huge turnout until the professor hosting the lecture took over two minutes to list Kolbert’s credentials, including that she had won a Pulitzer prize for her book, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”, which she had based this talk on.
Since life began on Earth, there have been five mass extinctions - Kolbert’s lecture makes the case that we are in the midst of a sixth. The devastating impact of human activity has created problems such as global warming and ocean acidification, leading to extinction rates that mirror the end of the Cretaceous period - in other words, species are becoming extinct as rapidly as they were when a giant asteroid hit the earth 65 million years ago and wiped out 75% of all life on earth.
Kolbert started off her presentation with a warning - she had given the same talk at a different university two years ago, and the response was mostly positive. People talked to her after her presentation, saying that it was interesting or informative, but that they didn’t really understand what her solution was. We are causing all of these ecologically devastating events, but how can we fix it? Kolbert then proceeded to tell us that her lecture did not have a solution. She honestly did not know what to do with the information she had gathered other than to share it with others and hope they can come up with something themselves, or at the very least walk away from her lecture more informed about these issues than before. I actually found this to be refreshing, as I would much prefer to hear an honest analysis about a subject than listen to a presentation that ends with a forced conclusion meant to make the audience feel satisfied.
The lecture opened with a lighthearted story about a Hawaiian crow named Kinohi, one of the remaining members of his species, the alala crow. Alala crows had been driven to extinction in the wild about 15 years ago, but Kinohi is one of about 100 remaining members that are being bred in captivity in an effort to save his species - and Kinohi is one of a few critically important males. However, since Kinohi was born in captivity, he was raised by humans. This led him to think that he was not actually a bird, but a human - he then bonded to his human handlers instead of the female crows and, to make a long story short, has been forcing reproductive biologists and ornithologists to pour countless resources and thousands of dollars into getting him to breed ever since. Obviously, these people show real concern and consideration for this species of crow - however, the inconsideration and carelessness of human activity is exactly what drove them to extinction in the wild. Kolbert uses this story to help illustrate the complexity of the interactions between humans and the environment - though humans have the capacity to truly care for other species, our activity has made a devastating ecological impact that is driving these same species to extinction.
Throughout the rest of the lecture, Kolbert recounted numerous statistics about how humans are essentially destroying the world - global warming, CO2 emissions, ocean acidification, introduction of invasive species, pollution, and deforestation are just a handful of the examples she provided. Kolbert separated these statistical examples with her own personal experience, recalling trips she took all over the world from the Great Barrier Reef to the Brazilian Rainforest. She had incredible experiences everywhere she went, marveling at the beautifully diverse marine life or incredibly complex ecosystems. However, she could never shake the feeling that these places were temporary - that ocean acidification will eventually consume the Great Barrier Reef or that global warming will soon make it impossible for many organisms in the Brazilian Rainforest to exist. Kolbert brought up a quote she came across while conducting her research that has stuck with her ever since: “The more I sense the miracle, the more I sense the tragedy.”
Despite this somber declaration, Kolbert ended her talk on a semi-hopeful note, bringing up another story about a bird named Sirocco. Sirocco is a member of a flightless species of parrot in New Zealand that, much like the alala crow, has been driven to extinction in the wild by human activity - and like Kinohi, biologists have poured thousands of dollars into attempting to get Sirocco to breed with anything other than his human handlers. Sirocco even has his own personal island where people happily pay $50 admission to see him, wanting to witness a part of New Zealand’s history.
For Kolbert, Kinohi and Sirocco serve as emblems for the interactions between humans and the environment. Human activity drove their species to extinction, yet humans are also spending countless hours and resources into preserving them. We have the capacity to be vicious and indifferent to the rest of the world, yet exhibit qualities of compassion, curiosity, and concern for other living things. Kolbert ended her talk with the sentiment that, much like the bizarre cases of Kinohi and Sirocco, human beings are strange, complex creatures. For what it’s worth, we have the capacity to “sense the miracle” - and with this, there may be hope for a collective decision to not tolerate anymore tragedy.
Check out Elizabeth Kolbert’s book, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” if you want to know more about her research in ecology, conservation biology, and the human condition! You can view the Amazon reviews here!
