Limon Miah- Chapter 5 Journal

In Chapter 5, Kolbert introduces Thomas Kuhn, who after an experiment concluded that humans have always had to adapt to their changing environments, at first through methods that they are already familiar with, but however soon adapt to the new environment as they develop new qualities. Further, in the chapter, Kolbert writes about her visits to meet Jan Zalasiewicz, a stratigrapher. At the Scotland highlands, they observed rock layers dating back from the Ordovician era to the Cretaceous era. Colbert learns that at the end of the Cretaceous period after the asteroid hit, moss-like plants appeared on Earth. Thus showing that despite the immense loss of species, new ones began to emerge on Earth. Kolbert also discusses a bit about Graptolites, a common V-shaped oceanic species that had been able to survive many years due to their bodies, but however, this changed during the Cretaceous period, most likely due to a catastrophe. Furthermore, Kolbert also explores different theories of mass extinction that scientist has come up with to explain the different time periods in history. For example, the glaciation theory was used to explain the mass extinctions during the Ordovician era. Colbert also explores Zalasiewicz “giant rats theory”, essentially he believes that Earth will be overrun by rats, due to rats being a very versatile species in new environments. In a more broader sense, the reason for this theory is because Zalasiewicz believes that humans began a new period of extinction due to the changes that they've made to the Earth. A few of these changes Kolbert states are the changes to Earth's landmasses, adding immense amounts of nitrogen to Earth's atmosphere as well as human consumption of more than half of  Earth's fresh water supply.

Additionally, an APES theme that this chapter connects to is that environmental problems have a cultural and social context, and the understanding of these factors is needed to figure out a solution for the inevitable destruction the world is heading towards. For example, in the text, it states, “Most significantly Crutzen said, people have altered the composition of the atmosphere. Owing to the combination of fossil fuel combustion and deforestation..because of these anthropogenic emissions… the global climate is likely to depart significantly from natural behavior for many millennia to come” (pg. 108). Zalasiewicz theory is that rats will take over the Earth essentially because humans have destroyed the earth so much that in the end, rats will be one of the only species left alive. In a social context, society has used the Earth to its advantage in order to make the modern-day progress that we have currently. Though amenities such as cars and factories have enabled human progression, it in the long term has caused the digression of the Earth which is the backlash that humans are experiencing now. (R) However, this \ mean that humans should completely stop their progression. Instead, by finding a balance between what humans need to do to continue progressing but at the same time making sure to not have such a drastic impact on the wellbeing of the earth as well as the natural world will ensure that the world isn't left completely in ruins but also that humans aren't stuck in a primitive era.


Image of the fossil remains of a Graptolite.