WAC | We are not part of a 6th mass extinction

              There have been 5 documented mass extinctions. But people are wondering, are we part of a 6th mass extinction? And if we are, is it because of us? No, as a matter of fact, we aren't part of a mass extinction. In the AEON article We are not edging up to a mass extinction by Stewart Brand it says, "Viewing every conservation issue through the lens of extinction threat is simplistic and usually irrelevant. Worse, it introduces an emotional charge that makes the problem seem cosmic and overwhelming rather than local and solvable. It’s as if the entire field of human medicine were treated solely as a matter of death prevention. Every session with a doctor would begin: ‘Well, you’re dying. Let’s see if we can do anything to slow that down a little.’” We aren't in a mass extinction, we have polluted the Earth, cut down animals habitats and just straight up killed animals and plants. But even with all of that, our actions are a fraction when compared to the events of mass extinctions in the past.

                 Over our time on Earth, species have gone extinct and their numbers have dropped. But these numbers are nothing compared to the numbers of the past. They are only a fraction of the destruction. In the Atlantic article, Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction by Eric Worrall, it says, “‘So you can ask, ‘Okay, well, how many geographically widespread, abundant, durably skeletonized marine taxa have gone extinct thus far?’ And the answer is, pretty close to zero,’ Erwin pointed out. In fact, of the best-assessed groups of modern animals—like stony corals, amphibians, birds and mammals—somewhere between 0 and 1 percent of species have gone extinct in recent human history. By comparison, the hellscape of End-Permian mass extinction claimed upwards of 90 percent of all species on earth.” Also in the Newsy article, Scientists Can't Agree If We're Really In A Mass Extinction by Sarah Schlieder it says, “Stewart Brand, president of the Long Now Foundation, says current rates don't signal a mass extinction because the past five wiped out at least 70 percent of all species in a relatively short time. He says current rates are too slow for us to be in the middle of one.” We may have killed species and caused them to become ‘endangered’ or ‘threatened’, but our actions are a fraction of what happened in the other 5 mass extinctions.

                Many people are interested in conservation and keeping animals alive and well. Fortunately, we have enough time to do this. If we were in an actual mass extinction, by this time, when we are noticing it, it would be well on its way and irreversible. If we were in a mass extinction, conservation would not be as big as it is now, and things would be dying at a higher rate. In the Atlantic article, Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction by Eric Worrall, it says, “‘People who claim we’re in the sixth mass extinction don’t understand enough about mass extinctions to understand the logical flaw in their argument,’ he said. ‘To a certain extent they’re claiming it as a way of frightening people into action, when in fact, if it’s actually true we’re in a sixth mass extinction, then there’s no point in conservation biology.’” Another thing is that in the AEON article We are not edging up to a mass extinction by Stewart Brand it says, “The five historic mass extinctions eliminated 70 percent or more of all species in a relatively short time. That is not going on now. ‘If all currently threatened species were to go extinct in a few centuries and that rate continued,’ began a recent Nature magazine introduction to a survey of wildlife losses, ‘the sixth mass extinction could come in a couple of centuries or a few millennia.’”The rate of extinction is simply not moving fast enough for us to be in a 6th mass extinction, we don’t have enough organisms gone in the amount of time since we evolved on this planet for us to be in a mass extinction.

                Some people say that our carbon dioxide levels and greenhouse gas emissions could and are causing a mass extinction. They believe that our carbon leaks and emissions are causing a sixth mass extinction. In the MIT News article, Mathematics predicts a sixth mass extinction by Jennifer Chu it says, “Taking this reasoning forward in time, Rothman predicts that, given the recent rise in carbon dioxide emissions over a relatively short timescale, a sixth extinction will depend on whether a critical amount of carbon is added to the oceans. That amount, he calculates, is about 310 gigatons, which he estimates to be roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon that human activities will have added to the world’s oceans by the year 2100.” Well, this evidence and prediction does seem good, the problem is that this would have already happened if we were in a mass extinction. He states that this could happen by 2100, but that is in almost a century and might not even happen until later on. His argument is good, but it does not show that we are currently in a mass extinction.

                Finally, we are not in a 6th mass extinction because of global warming. While we are in global warming, that doesn’t mean that animals will all die and we will go with them. In the AEON article, We are not edging up to a mass extinction by Stewart Brand he says, “But just because organisms are sensitive to change doesn’t mean they are threatened by it. Any creature or plant facing a shifting environment has three choices: move, adapt or die.” Also, “Evolution is far more rapid and pervasive than most people realize. The activity of all organisms all the time is summarized in the title Relentless Evolution (2013) by John Thompson. As Chris Tomas, a conservation biologist at York University in the UK, told New Scientist last year: ‘It is only recently we have come to realize quite how much evolutionary change is going on.’ What we might be seeing in response to climate change, he suggested, ‘is starting to look very much like a global acceleration of evolutionary rates’.” Global warming may be a big thing, and it is very important. But Global warming does not mean that we are in a 6th mass extinction, we are just going through a rough time.

                There has been 5 devastating mass extinction recorded in Earth’s history. They wiped out many species and organisms completely with only room for those who clung to life and struggled to survive. But we will not be made the 6th. While many people say that the evidence shows this, the evidence does the opposite. Life is lived happily when optimism is part of the equation, all the news about the 6th mass extinction is putting unnecessary fear into people. Global warming and animal conservation is an important topic and people should care about it, but not because it could cause a mass extinction because it is important to care. Many people think different things, we all have different views, but that is part of being human. So next time you think about the dinosaurs, be glad that you aren’t in their situation.