Science WAC - Are we in a 6th Mass extinction? | Nicolas Reed | 10/5/18
Nicolas Reed
Ms. Garcia
8th Grade Science
10/5/18
We Are Not in A Sixth Mass Extinction
As of right now, the rates of extinction are simply not at a high and fast enough rate for the Earth to be experiencing another mass extinction. In the article titled, “Scientists Can't Agree If We're Really In A Mass Extinction” by Sarah Schlieder it states that “...Stewart Brand, president of the Long Now Foundation, says current rates don't signal a mass extinction because the past five wiped out at least 70 percent of all species in a relatively short time. He says current rates are too slow for us to be in the middle of one.” The current extinction rates simply are not at a point where 70 percent of the population will die which is what occured in all other past mass extinctions. In addition to this fact, we are actually discovering more species faster than we are losing species. “With a realistic current extinction rate of less than 1 percent of species per decade and a discovery rate of something like 3 percent a decade...‘the rate of species description greatly outpaces extinction rates’.” as said by Stewart Brand in the article titled “Rethinking extinction.” Our rates of extinction are actually being surpassed by our rate of discovering new species. As the Earth is losing species, we are gaining even more species. Above all, Earth is simply not losing enough species at a substantial rate for us to be in a sixth mass extinction.
If Earth were actually to be experiencing a mass extinction, then most of the life on Earth would not even be alive. According to paleontologist Doug Erwin in the article titled “Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction” by Eric Worrall, “...by the time we know for sure a mass extinction event started, nearly all life on Earth would be gone.” In other words, if we actually were in another mass extinction, we would already be sure of it as most life would not be here anymore. Another factor to this is that “Marine conservationist Tundi Agardy said even with the current data on population trends, she thinks it's too early to say if we're in a mass extinction.” as said in the “Scientists Can't Agree If We're Really In A Mass Extinction” article by Sarah Schlieder. This seems to be agreed by all scientists in fact, as even those who do say we are in a sixth mass extinction, mention that in the future (based on current rates) that we will be in a sixth mass extinction. Which even if this was true (which it is not) they still mention that we still have time. As in an article by CNN that is biased towards the idea that we are in a sixth mass extinction, that is titled, “Sixth mass extinction: The era of 'biological annihilation” by John D. Sutter it mentions that, “The good news is, we still have time’...‘These results show it is time to act. The window of opportunity is small, but we can still do something to save species and populations.” Thus, even those who argue against the fact that we are not in a sixth mass extinction, say that we still have time to fix our mistakes and not experience one in the future.
Some scientist actually do believe that we are in the midst of a 6th mass extinction. They say this due to how based on projected carbon rates on Earth, the world will experience a sixth mass extinction in the future. Also because of the fact that many well known species today are getting closer and closer to extinction. Their last reason is because they believe that humans are hurting and altering the Earth too much and that this will cause another mass extinction. In the article titled “Mathematics predicts a sixth mass extinction” by Jennifer Chu it mentions that Daniel Rothman (a professor at MIT) says that, “The best-case scenario projects that humans will add 300 gigatons of carbon to the oceans by 2100, while more than 500 gigatons will be added under the worst-case scenario, far exceeding the critical threshold. In all scenarios, Rothman shows that by 2100, the carbon cycle will either be close to or well beyond the threshold for catastrophe (31p gigatons).” The problem with this is that these are all projections which some of the time are not always true. But more importantly, he says that the mass extinction (if it were to occur) would occur in 2100. This means that we would still have time to make a change and try to ensure that this does not occur. This is also means that we are currently not in a mass extinction as he says the mass extinction (again, if it were to occur) would happen in around 80 years. Later in the article it actually mentions that, “There should be ways of pulling back [emissions of carbon dioxide],’ Rothman says. ‘But this work points out reasons why we need to be careful, and it gives more reasons for studying the past to inform the present.” Even he says that we can still fix what is currently going on to prevent a mass extinction, so we still have time.
Other scientists believe that we are in a sixth mass extinction because of the fact that many well known species today are getting closer and closer to extinction. Also because they believe that humans are hurting and altering the Earth too much and that this will cause another mass extinction. As in the “Sixth mass extinction: The era of 'biological annihilation” article by John D. Sutter on CNN it says that “People are burning fossil fuels, contributing to climate change. They're chopping down forests and other habitat for agriculture, to the point 37% of Earth's land surface now is farmland or pasture, according to the World Bank. The global population of people continues to rise, along with our thirst for land and consumption. And finally, but not exclusively, poachers are driving numbers of elephants, pangolins, rhinos, giraffes and other creatures with body parts valuable on the black market to worryingly low levels. All of this is contributing to a rapid decline in wild creatures, both on land and in the ocean.” The only things is that this statement does not actually take into account geographically widespread, abundant, durably skeletonized marine taxa. As in the “Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction” by Eric Worrall it says that “So you can ask, ‘Okay, well, how many geographically widespread, abundant, durably skeletonized marine taxa have gone extinct thus far?’ And the answer is, pretty close to zero,” Erwin pointed out. In fact, of the best-assessed groups of modern animals—like stony corals, amphibians, birds and mammals—somewhere between 0 and 1 percent of species have gone extinct in recent human history. By comparison, the hellscape of End-Permian mass extinction claimed upwards of 90 percent of all species on earth.” In reality, most of the species that are going extinct are not geographically widespread, abundant, durably skeletonized marine taxa. Just as well, compared to previous mass extinctions, the number of our geographically widespread, abundant, durably skeletonized marine taxa that are going extinct is not even close to the amount that went extinct during the time of mass extinctions.
Most importantly, humans have not done enough damage to our Earth to actually allow for a 6th mass extinction to occur. Many people believe that humans are destroying the Earth so much that we will cause a sixth mass extinction. “Nothing we have done to the climate or the world in general comes anywhere close to the unimaginable circumstances of previous mass extinctions.” according to Eric Worrall in the article titled “Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction.” Humans are not doing nearly enough to cause such a catastrophic event. Compared to the past mass extinction, what humans are doing now is close to nothing when looking at the type of catastrophe the past mass extinctions were. In the same article mentioned above (“Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction”) by Eric Worrall it states that paleontologist, Doug Erwin asks, “Picture previous mass extinctions; the sky darkened for months, maybe years by gigantic impacts or vast volcanic eruptions which lasted for thousands, even millions of years; Poisonous fumes spreading across the entire world, choking the life out of entire continents; A handful of animals and plants somehow scrounging warmth and food from an almost lifeless wasteland. Compare this nightmarish hellscape to the slight wobble we may have helped introduce to global temperatures, a wobble so small it cannot be reliably differentiated from previous natural wobbles which occurred in the last few centuries." Moreover, if we actually were in a mass extinction, humans would stop anything that could possibly add to the problem.
Planet Earth is not in a sixth mass extinction. Current rates of extinction are not at such a rate for a mass extinction to be in occurance. Humans have simply not done enough to allow for this to happen, and if it were coming close to occuring, we would do everything in our power to make sure that it wouldn't. All in all, Earth is not currently in the middle of a sixth mass extinction.
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