Being Human

To say that human invention and progress is like a bull in a china closet is an understatement. From the time we created fire to the present, where we are playing with the physics of the gods, we have had little to no regards for the effects our creativity is having on our home. There is no shortage to the number of examples of rampant development, with virtually no preconceived guidelines before or during the pursuit of anything. Artificial intelligence is the most recent example of this!

I have watched several documentaries on TV lately due to the lovely weather and my climate induced home bound restriction. There is a consistent theme recently. It seems that many mainstream scientists have decided we are “IN” the sixth mass extinction on earth. Just to make sure you are aware, there have been five mass extinctions that have been studied in the fossil history records. Many scientist believe that we are creating our own mass extinction due to our rampant and reckless development! The previous five extinctions were brought on by conditions not attributed to humans. All the way from a large meteor, massive ice ages to extreme volcanic reaction to name a few. Here is the data on the five extinctions:

Extinction Event	million years ago	Percentage of species lost	Cause of extinction
End Ordovician	444	86%	Intense glacial and interglacial periods created large sea-level swings and moved shorelines dramatically. The tectonic uplift of the Appalachian mountains created lots of weathering, sequestration of CO2, and with it, changes in climate and ocean chemistry.
Late Devonian	360	75%	Rapid growth and diversification of land plants generated rapid and severe global cooling.
End Permian	250	96%	Intense volcanic activity in Siberia. This caused global warming. Elevated CO2 and sulfur (H2S) levels from volcanoes caused ocean acidification, acid rain, and other changes in ocean and land chemistry.
End Triassic	200	80%	Underwater volcanic activity in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) caused global warming and a dramatic change in the chemical composition of the oceans.
End Cretaceous	65	76%	Asteroid impact in Yucatán, Mexico. This caused a global cataclysm and rapid cooling. Some changes may have already pre-dated this asteroid, with intense volcanic activity and tectonic uplift.

Current scientific data

Here is what the World Wildlife Fund says:

Just to illustrate the degree of biodiversity loss we’re facing, let’s take you through one scientific analysis…

• The rapid loss of species we are seeing today is estimated by experts to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate.
• These experts calculate that between 0.01 and 0.1% of all species will become extinct each year.
• If the low estimate of the number of species out there is true – i.e. that there are around 2 million different species on our planet –  then that means between 200 and 2,000 extinctions occur every year.
• But if the upper estimate of species numbers is true – that there are 100 million different species co-existing with us on our planet – then between 10,000 and 100,000 species are becoming extinct each year.

These numbers in their lowest form represent a massive extinction rate compared to past extinctions! Since most people do not have a serious desire to make the changes that might prevent the upcoming disaster, there may be little we can do other than sit back and enjoy the ride. One way to think about the upcoming mass extinction is to view it as a house of cards. All living and nonliving things are connected in elaborate ways in our biosphere. As we take out individual cards, the house will begin to try and correct itself but as the destruction continues, the house will fall and our beautiful earth will be gone! We may have already removed too many cards and we are seeing the beginning of the end.

As I stated, it may be too late, but maybe if we really focus on the situation and look for real answers to our problems, we can slow it down and maybe stop it before the damage is too far along. We do not have too many options…