Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Sixth Extinction- Is it Inevitable?

Today diversity is found in nearly every single part of the world.  Diversity (variety of species) can be found in different habitats. Homo sapiens, a scientific name used for humans, today play a major role in the abundance of diversity found in the planet. Homo sapiens are not the only species on this planet; indeed, millions of other species living along with us is what makes diversity so complex and crucial. I believe that we must understand diversity in order to help sustain the future of our environment. We must look upon our actions which are impacting Earth greatly.
Throughout time, many species have gone extinct, and yet we “humans” are still here. I believe it is through luck that we have survived in this planet. Now, we are depleting our natural resources (water, fish, land, air, minerals, etc.) twice as fast as before. It is said to believe that 99.9 percent of all species that have ever step foot on this planet are extinct today.
This is one of my major concerns: extinction. I believe that the only way to maintain biodiversity is through maintaining our environment balance. I believe that humans have destroyed most of the habitats as well has intervene with other species’ habitat. Humans today are causing damage to our planet through hunting, and contamination such as pollution, excess of garbage, and the creation of technology. Humans have decreased diversity today through hunting, also bringing invasive species to new ecosystems, and by changing a habitat completely to meet their needs. By changing the state of a habitat, (known as fragmentation of habitat) is one of the most influential changes humans have created since it explains how human growth population is over taking wild habitats. These can be done through the expansion of agriculture, the building of towns and cities, and deforestation.
By incorporating these ideas, scientist believed that we are the “sixth extinction” referring to us-Homo sapiens. It is an idea that all species eventually go extinct, it is inevitable, and so humans will eventually exceed their resources as I have learned from my environmental class. Thus, in the end we will completely vanish from Earth. This is Extinction!! It is known as the Sixth Extinction because prior in history, there has been previous mass extinctions known as the Big Five mass extinctions.
 The future of mankind is destined to be extinct; there is no way out. Our future, not so distant, will be disastrous as many scientists have put it. However, as much as it is destined to happened, we can push our extinction farther in the future by changing our habits. It is our duty to understand the nature and protect it and avoid harming it. I have seen how people have no respect for animals. People should value other species living today and should see that they too deserve the same respect as us. This isn’t just our plant; it belongs to every life form that has ever lived on this planet. Animals are just important as Homo sapiens.
 Homo sapiens have played a major role in shaping the Earth today; thus encompassing the nature and wildlife. Humans are the ultimate “Sixth Extinction”. This event, I believe is inevitable, life is a cycle. In my perspective, I believe that everything that has a beginning must have an end! Our end can come much sooner than we expect if we don’t tried to conserve the diversity of life on this planet,  and avoid our depletion of natural resources.  

    












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