The Sixth Extinction: Prologue

        In the Prologue, Kolbert starts off by talking about the birth of a new species, and how they "...not have a name-nothing does-but it has the capacity to name things." (Pg. 1) The author then starts to describe the new species, saying that there aren’t very many members, and most of them live in eastern Africa. They aren't strong, fast, or fertile but they're resourceful and capable of exploring many different environments, crossing oceans and deserts, and hunting different animals. As time goes on, the species continues to kill off different animals. Soon, the species (Homo sapiens) can be found in every corner of the Earth. Around this time, the species begins to change the atmosphere of the planet itself. In doing so, they raise the levels of the seas, killing other species and forcing many others to migrate away from their homes. Kolbert goes on to say that no single species has altered the state of the planet as greatly as the Homo sapiens. And yet, there have been at least five other times when the planet underwent great changes that led to mass extinction, which makes the current wave of extinctions the Sixth Extinction. In this book, Kolbert guides us through the history of thirteen species and study why they failed to survive over time. (R) After reading the Prologue, I became shocked learning the about the destruction our predecessors caused to other species. I knew that in today's time, human activities such as man-made pollution, deforestation, and etc, would cause harm to other species living in other biomes, however I didn't know that our ancestors would cause mass extinction to important species. (R) Also after reading the book, I realized that the Sixth Extinction is us humans, and our actions towards the environment is speeding up the process. The theme that connects with the Prologue is: humans alter natural systems. As it was said in the prologue, the Homo sapiens started to change the atmosphere of Earth by raisin sea levels and killing off other species and becoming the invasive species itself to other species.

By: Mousumi Dhar