Living in the Sixth Extinction

Julian H. Scaff

What does it mean to be living in the sixth extinction? Over the last two generations, America host lost 50% of its wetlands, 85% of its old growth forests, and 99% of its prairie. That means there were landscapes and animals my grandparents saw that my parents could not, ones that my parents saw that I cannot, and ones that I have seen that my son will not. What do I tell my son about the world he inherits? I can tell him there were once sparrows that sang in London's Hyde Park, but now the park is quiet. I can tell him there were once frogs croaking in the mountains above our house, but now they are gone forever. I am saddened to have to tell him that his world is ecologically poorer than it was for me and my parents and grandparents.

Life on Earth has ebbed and flowed throughout the history of our planet. Mostly life has flourished over the last 500 million years in fantastic diversity and profusion. However, there have also been times of great destruction, what are called Extinction Periods, when large portions of life have died. There have been five such periods in the history of Earth, and each was caused by catastrophic events that disrupted the fragile balance of the global ecosystem.

Extinction Periods are marked by sharp declines in oxygen-producing plants, such as trees in tropical and temperate forests, and ocean-based phytoplanktons and kelp. They are also marked by the death of large percentages of animals living in various ecosystems.

Scientists have recently had a startling revelation about the state of our world today. Over the last century, the biodiversity of the entire planet has decreased by 20% in the oceans and 15% on the land. Rain forests have decreased in size by 85% and temperate forests by 80%. "We are confronting an episode of species extinction greater than anything the world has experienced for the last 65 million years," reported Dr Peter Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We find ourselves living in a sixth extinction period.

Past extinction periods were typically caused by great catastrophic events-an asteroid collision or massive volcanic activity-which suddenly and violently changed living conditions on a global scale.

There is something profoundly different about the extinction period we live in today. The Sixth Extinction is being caused by the activities of a single species: Humans. Human overpopulation and overconsumption are the culprits of this current catastrophe. We are cutting down the temperate and tropical forests faster than they can regenerate. We are releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, causing a rise in global temperatures, melting of the polar ice caps, and profound changes in the climate. With human population still growing, along with demand for water, food and goods, we are destroying more and more habitats vital for other species, as well as overfarming and overgrazing once fertile land into wasteland.

Species we thought we not threatened are disappearing at alarming rates. For example, just this year, several species of sparrows that populated towns and the countryside of Great Britain have nearly vanished. Residents of London didn't realize the birds were in trouble until people started noticing that Hyde Park was silent of bird songs. North Atlantic fishing industries have collapsed in recent years, as once plentiful cod and wild salmon are nearly gone. The North Atlantic bottlenose dolphin and the Atlantic Pilot Whale are also near extinction. Wild pandas are barely hanging on. All great cat species are either threatened or endangered. Amphibian populations around the world in a state of total collapse. The list goes on and on.

Why should we care about sparrows, dolphins and lions, much less lowly plants and phytoplankton? Mohamed El-Ashry, the CEO of the U.N. Global Environment Facility, describes biodiversity as being like a wooden house we live in. We have been pulling pieces out here and there and burning them to stay comfortable. We can continue this for some time without a noticeable change, but gradually the cold seeps in and we need more wood to maintain our comfort level. However, we do not fully understand the design of the house, so we may one day remove a piece that brings the whole structure down on our heads. We don't know how many pieces we can remove until it collapses.

The current rate of species extinction is so fast that turning a few hundred acres into conservation reserves will not solve the problem, important as those reserves are. To avoid bringing our entire house down, we have to stop burning the boards. While we huddle around the fire, this reasoning may seem illogical. But tearing down our walls can in no way be considered sustainable. We must remember, it is the house that protects us.

Extinction is forever. Biodiversity is not a house we can rebuild. However, if we act quickly to stem the future damage of this extinction period, then we will give our children a chance to survive it, and the world a chance to heal. The most important and most difficult tasks will be to stop population growth and unsustainable use of natural resources.

We must realize that for all our technological prowess, humans rely upon the house we call Earth to survive. We need specific environmental conditions to survive, and if we destroy those conditions, we will go the way of the dinosaurs. Extinction periods only end when the cataclysm causing the damage is gone. We are the cataclysm. As Virginia Morell of National Geographic points out, "the sixth extinction is not inevitable. If humans are the cause, they can also be the solution."

Julian H. Scaff is an artist, designer, and writer. He teaches media and design at Webster University in Leiden, The Netherlands. His public artworks focus on designing landscapes and "experiences of place" by unifying concepts of art, architecture, and ecology. His ecological artworks can be found at http://www.jscaff.com/ and his mediaworks can be found at http://www.zoopraxiscope.com/

Information compiled from:

• The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind by Richard Leakey
• Night Comes to the Cretaceaous: Comets, Craters, Controversy, and The Last Days of Dinosaurs by James Lawrence Powell
• Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck by David M. Raup