As creatures outside of nature, humans do deserve a special status to take care of the environment and the living creatures. In the book The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert addresses the main issue of extinction of various animal species around the globe. Humans should take care of the environment and the species by protecting them from extinction.
Species do not become extinct fast, but there have been cases where, due to global disasters, many species became extinct simultaneously. Kolbert argues, “In today’s world the obvious reason and agent of the rapid change is the humanity” (78). Humans are causing the mass extinction due to their efforts in reshaping the environment, and that is why they have an obligation to take care of the environment.
Humans are able to feed and protect themselves, and that is why they can bear offspring. As a result, the survival of other species is threatened, which hinders them from producing offspring and leads them to become extinct. For such reasons, extinction of some species can be as a result of the competition for available resources, which are few and limited.
In most cases, competition is not the main reason why certain species are becoming extinct. Environmental changes are wiping out many species causing a mass-extinction. These environmental changes are as a result of human activities such as emission of gasses and agricultural activities.
The humans are not the only creatures altering their living environments, but they are doing it more than any other creatures on the planet. Their activities are enormous and devastating especially to the other creatures found in the environment.
In conclusion, humans have the capability to control and protect the environment from species extinction. This can be achieved by mitigation measures of controlling the environment from hazardous pollution.
- Kolbert, Elizabeth. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Henry Holt & Company, 2014.