The renowned American journalist Elizabeth Kolbert in her book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History quotes”THE CURRENT EXTENSION HAS ITS OWN NOVEL CAUSES NOT ASTROIDS OR A HUGE ERUPTION BUT ONE WEEDY SPECIES “. Unfortunately, that weedy species being us, the humans. We have by and large exploited our ecology for cynical gains and greedy intentions. 

If you scrutinise the antiquity of the extinction or deeply delve into annals of extinction history. You cannot regard Holocene as the only mass extinction that ever existed. There were 5 precedent mass extinction that wiped out numerous species from the earth. ‘So why blame humans for this, if extinction is a natural phenomenon”, if that is your question then here is why. According to the centre for biological diversity, 99% of endangered species today have fallen victims to habitat loss, climate change, extensive pollution, introduction of foreign species into a foreign environment. All the aforementioned issues are more or less human forged catastrophe. In the past, the speed of extinction and the rate of evolution of the latest life forms were balanced due to the sustenance of the biological cycle and balance of the ecosystem. But with the arrival of humanity, this balance has been shifted. The present rates of extinction are too fast for the biological cycle to stay up since it’s 1000 times faster than the natural rate. 

The data released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature showed that at least 875 species have gone extinct since 2012. If this extinction continues at this enormous rate even human sustainability is on slippery grounds. In fact, the creation of covid -19 resulted from the dangerous interference of humans with nature. 

The renowned biologist Anthony Barnosky offers some solution for this ongoing extinction. These include-,  Reduce deforestation, Reduce industrialisation, reducing the usage of carbon, vote for rational leaders who assimilate the importance of nature conservation etc. It’s time for humans to rethink and revamp our systems.

By vyshnav.s