Summary Of Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction

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The Sixth Extinction, a novel written by Elizabeth Kolbert, describes that the planet has been through five major extinctions. The book also makes the argument that it is currently in the midst of a sixth. The cause of this most recent extinction, according to the author and her findings in this book, is humans. Though she does not come right out and say that mankind is responsible for this phenomenon, the point becomes clear as you read along chapter to chapter. Kolbert proves this point by writing about a specific instance in each chapter in which a species is going extinct or is already extinct due to human impact. She also elaborates on how, whether directly or indirectly, the humans have done detrimental damage to the planet. To me, …show more content…

As a result, this occurrence creates carbonic acid in the sea. This acid is lowering the pH levels in the oceans and effectively killing off a large number of our marine life. The rising amounts of carbon dioxide in the air is due to humans emitting more and more fossil fuels with different resources. Kolbert tells about Castello Aragonese in this chapter, a small island located in the Gulf of Naples. She visited the island in order to further research the topic. She was able to dive into the sea along with two marine biologists, Jason Hall-Spencer and Maria Christina Buia, to witness for herself that the island sends streams of close to one hundred percent carbon dioxide bubbling out of vents in the sea floor. Due to this, the number of sea creatures that live around the island has had a drastic decline. The author uses a combination of her own observations of areas around the island compared with other areas in the sea and scientific research to prove this to be correct. This sixth chapter in her book serves as a warning sign to the world as to what will happen if we continue to produce and emit the amount of fossil fuels we currently do

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