The Sixth Extinction

I ask myself when I recommend a book, does anyone read any more?  I know my friend Marian does, because she raved about this book, but I’m not so sure about the rest of the population.  On the other hand, I believe the people who read this blog are also the kind of people who still read books. 

Go down to your local library and take out The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (N.Y.:  Henry Holt and Co., 2014).  Kolbert briefly discusses five previous extinctions of life on earth, some of which lasted for millions of years, although others were almost instantaneous, like the one that killed off the dinosaurs.  

Kolbert now says we are in the middle of he Sixth Extinction.  The unique factor in this one is that it is caused by humans.  While species extinction is usually a gradual process, we are seeing the extinction of thousands of species in a very short span of time.  Kolbert explains why and how this is happening.

Tonight I found a little brown bat on the floor of my shed about 5 p.m.  Little brown bats should be sleeping at 5 p.m., coming out at dusk to feed on insects.  We have lost millions and millions of little brown bats in the last three or four years, and Kolbert explains why this is happening.  Soon a species that was common all across the eastern U.S. will be put on the endangered list.

Kolbert is an excellent writer; the book, while depressing, is also fascinating.  I recommend it.  I wish every Tea Party member would read it, but I am also a realist and know that won’t happen.  The die-off will continue at an accelerated pace, and at some point in the next few hundred years, humans may be a part of that extinction.  This will not mean the end of life on earth, of course.  Some species--rats, for example--will survive and evolve.

Correction:  In the previous post, I said Mike Sauers was a college prof.  Actually he was an elementary school teacher.  I talked to some people whose grandchildren were in his classes.  The kids loved him.