Limon Miah- Chapter 13 Journal

In the final chapter of, The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert visits the Institute for Conservation Research, located in San Diego. While at ICR, she witnesses the last genetic remains of several extinct species, one being the black-faced honeycreeper, a Hawaiian bird. Kolbert then goes onto question if humans can be forward- thinking in order to save the species on Earth rather than being totally destructive and mindlessly continue killing off species of animals/plants. Adding on, Kolbert makes a point that though humans have been destructive for thousands of years, they are trying to make progress in saving endangered species, whether it be through trying to make species reproduce more often, or even through passing laws such as the Endangered Species Act, which protects at danger species from going extinct. Thus posing the question, can humans successfully preserve the remaining amount of species left on earth? Kolbert concludes the book with the thought that despite it’s important to focus on how humans can ensure their survival to the future, it is more important to focus on saving the life on Earth first. Also, that no matter what humans do at this point, the Anthropocene era has already begun. Therefore, no matter what humans decide to do now, the sixth extinction will determine the way that life looks on earth in the future.

An APES theme that this chapter connects to is that human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems. (R) The world is at a point where it’s fragile and another small change can set the world off to a very dangerous standpoint. Humans have contributed to enough destruction, whether it be environmental destruction due to factors such as pollution and global warming or the increasingly decreasing species occurring daily. Therefore, it is time that humans use the progress that they’ve made up to the modern day in order to help sustain and preserve the earth and the species on it. Humans are the only species present that is capable of doing such work, and therefore it is their responsibility to take active action in making this change happen before it’s too late. In the chapter, Kolbert wrote about a quote that she saw in the hall of biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History, it stated: “In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches” (pg. 268). Essentially, the inevitable reality is that humans have already destroyed the earth enough, adding more damage to it would be catastrophic. If human actions continue to be the way they have been for thousands of years, then rather than affecting other species, humans will begin to hurt themselves. If humans don't take responsibility for their actions then they will become the first species to recklessly walk into an extinction that they’ve created for themselves.