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gilda_eliseI had thought to wait on this (what, two posts in a single day?!) but, considering the day, how much more appropriate could it be?
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
by Elizabeth Kolbert
"A major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes."
Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted.
The Ordovician, 450 million years ago, probably caused by glaciation as Gondwana (the more southerly of two continents that were part of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago,) moved into the south polar region; the Devonian, 375 million years ago, whose cause is not yet known; the Permian, 250 million years ago, probably caused by climate change and ocean acidification, where 90% of all species were eliminated; the Triassic, 200 million years ago, probably caused by ocean acidification; and the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago, caused by a 10 kilometer asteroid slamming into what is now the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico.
Now, scientists are monitoring the sixth extinction. This time around, we are the cause.
In a tour de force that could well have been called "Welcome to the Anthropocene," Elizabeth Kolbert creates a dark picture of destruction and loss. Politics are left out as she introduces us to a dozen species, some already gone, others facing extinction. Still, the tragedy is more than apparent by the stories, pulled from the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, that are told.
There's the Panamian golden frog, dying from a fungus transported from another place by humans; the great auk, a large bird wiped out when their breeding grounds were discovered; the Sumatran rhino, one of many rhinos facing extinction because of loss of habitat and hunting. One of the worst is the story of the small brown bat, dying off throughout the United States and Canada from yet another fungus brought in by humans, probably from Europe.
Kolbert also traces the evolution of extinction, including what was probably our first try at it as we wiped out all the other hominids. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy. But what may be its most telling effect is best summed up by a sign in the Hall of Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History. It's a quote from Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich.
"In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches."
by Elizabeth Kolbert
"A major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes."
Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted.
The Ordovician, 450 million years ago, probably caused by glaciation as Gondwana (the more southerly of two continents that were part of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago,) moved into the south polar region; the Devonian, 375 million years ago, whose cause is not yet known; the Permian, 250 million years ago, probably caused by climate change and ocean acidification, where 90% of all species were eliminated; the Triassic, 200 million years ago, probably caused by ocean acidification; and the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago, caused by a 10 kilometer asteroid slamming into what is now the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico.
Now, scientists are monitoring the sixth extinction. This time around, we are the cause.
In a tour de force that could well have been called "Welcome to the Anthropocene," Elizabeth Kolbert creates a dark picture of destruction and loss. Politics are left out as she introduces us to a dozen species, some already gone, others facing extinction. Still, the tragedy is more than apparent by the stories, pulled from the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, that are told.
There's the Panamian golden frog, dying from a fungus transported from another place by humans; the great auk, a large bird wiped out when their breeding grounds were discovered; the Sumatran rhino, one of many rhinos facing extinction because of loss of habitat and hunting. One of the worst is the story of the small brown bat, dying off throughout the United States and Canada from yet another fungus brought in by humans, probably from Europe.
Kolbert also traces the evolution of extinction, including what was probably our first try at it as we wiped out all the other hominids. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy. But what may be its most telling effect is best summed up by a sign in the Hall of Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History. It's a quote from Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich.
"In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches."
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Date: 2014-04-25 11:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-25 04:42 pm (UTC)As far as getting on top of a reading pile, is that ever really done? *g*