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| The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert Henry Holt; 319 pages; $28 2014 NBCCA nonfiction finalist |
Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Field Note from a Catastrophe (2006), extends on her previous work in a new monograph cataloguing the inevitable decline of global bio-diversity, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.
When we have familiar idiomatic phrases like “go the way of the dodo” to unceremoniously indicate phenomenon like extinction, it’s odd to think that the idea of ‘Extinction’ is relatively new to scientific thought; we tend to take it for granted, assume it, simply, to be obvious. As Kolbert observes, “Extinction may be the first scientific idea that kids today have to grapple with.” But up until the19th-Century, many scientists scoffed at the idea that extinctions ever occurred, let alone those of the mass variety. Out of consideration for those who might not know the historical origins of modern paleontology, Kolbert dedicates an early chapter to the pioneering work of 18th Century French naturalist, Jean-Leopold-Nicolas-Frederic Cuvier and his uphill-battle to build the evidentiary case for species extinction. This history not only serves to chronicle the rise of modern paleontology, stratigraphy, as well as other forms of geology; but it also reminds readers just how incredible the discovery was to the paradigm of those anxious for scientific literacy. In just under a century, people went from thinking of the world’s species-diversity as consistent & immutable to realizing that there was a vast & mysterious world of previous geological epochs beneath their feet--first Cuvier with his notion of “lost species”, then Darwin with his “descent with modification” and eventually, Wegener with his proposal of "continental drift". Too, this history reinforces the fact that our present age--perhaps the Anthropocene--and our habit of “reassembling the biosphere” resembles previous and dangerous ages like the K-T event that killed off the dinosaurs.
When we have familiar idiomatic phrases like “go the way of the dodo” to unceremoniously indicate phenomenon like extinction, it’s odd to think that the idea of ‘Extinction’ is relatively new to scientific thought; we tend to take it for granted, assume it, simply, to be obvious. As Kolbert observes, “Extinction may be the first scientific idea that kids today have to grapple with.” But up until the19th-Century, many scientists scoffed at the idea that extinctions ever occurred, let alone those of the mass variety. Out of consideration for those who might not know the historical origins of modern paleontology, Kolbert dedicates an early chapter to the pioneering work of 18th Century French naturalist, Jean-Leopold-Nicolas-Frederic Cuvier and his uphill-battle to build the evidentiary case for species extinction. This history not only serves to chronicle the rise of modern paleontology, stratigraphy, as well as other forms of geology; but it also reminds readers just how incredible the discovery was to the paradigm of those anxious for scientific literacy. In just under a century, people went from thinking of the world’s species-diversity as consistent & immutable to realizing that there was a vast & mysterious world of previous geological epochs beneath their feet--first Cuvier with his notion of “lost species”, then Darwin with his “descent with modification” and eventually, Wegener with his proposal of "continental drift". Too, this history reinforces the fact that our present age--perhaps the Anthropocene--and our habit of “reassembling the biosphere” resembles previous and dangerous ages like the K-T event that killed off the dinosaurs.
It’s important to note, though, that Kolbert handles the morbidly fascinating subject of potential mass extinction with deft & delicate skill. Yes, all evidence points to humans as the unquestionable culprit but there’s no “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” fear-mongering in this book. It’s at once alarming but not alarmist, sobering but not solemn, implicating of all and yet indicting of none, educational while not unnecessarily didactic, recounting the cataclysmic without venturing into apocalyptic foreboding. Thankfully, Kolbert’s restraint helps establish The Sixth Extinction’s distinct scientific tone, leaving the impassioned outcries against Climate Change to folks like Al Gore who, incidentally, refers to Kolbert as “one of our very best science writers”.
While The Sixth Extinction is thoroughly informative & brimming with facts, it’s never dull. In many respects, The Sixth Extinction resembles a travelogue of science writing. In nearly every one of the book’s thirteen chapters, Kolbert takes a trip to some exotic location to report from some research station or other--Kolbert hops on over to El Valle De Anton, in central Panama to write on the the mass dying of the Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki); then makes a visit to LA’s Museum of Natural History to cover Mastadons (Mammut americanum) and muse on Cuvier’s early hypothesis of “especes perdues, or lost species”--now known as the “megafauna extinction”; from there, she stops over in Reykjavik, Iceland to investigate the old haunts of the great auk (Pinguinus impennis); then she zips down to Gubbio, Italy for a look at Ammonite (Discoscaphites jerseyensis) fossils--killed off by “the giant asteroid that ended the Cretaceous period”; then on to Dob’s Linn, Scotland for a peek at graptolites and a small island off the west-coast of Naples to discuss the drama of ocean acidification on limpets (Patella caerulea) and other sea creatures; then out to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to scuba-dive and expand on coral reef destruction; then skitter out to Peru’s Manu National Park for a hike through one of the world’s most bio-diverse hotspots to contemplate flora-diversity demise; next stop: the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) in Manaus, Brazil for an extended look on Amazonian despoliation; then fly back to New York for some spelunking in bat-caves to observe the havoc an invasive fungus is wreaking on little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) populations in the US; then a quick drive to Ohio’s Cincinnati Zoo to witness an endangered Sumatran rhino named Suci get an ultrasound; next up on this global adventure, Kolbert takes a hop-and-a-skip to Germany’s Neander Valley to contemplate the demise of our ancient ancestor’s peers Homo neanderthalensis; and in her concluding chapter, she takes another quick jet-ride to the San Diego’s Zoo and the Institute for Conservation Research to observe the Frozen Zoo--a place to cryogenically preserve the DNA of endangered species. Such peripatetic adventures should be enough to satiate or enkindle any amount of wanderlust.
Kolbert uses each of these locations as data-centers for her central theme--tangible indicators of current extinction rates. For instance, we may frequently see quotes like:
“Today, amphibians enjoy the dubious distinction of being the world's most endangered class of animals; it's been calculated that the group's extinction rate could be as much as forty-five thousand times higher than the background rate. But extinction rates among many other groups are approaching amphibian levels. Its is estimated that one-third of all reef-building corals, a third of all fresh-water mollusks, a third of sharks and rays, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles and a sixth of all birds are headed toward oblivion."
and either throw up our hands in bewildered defeat or stomp our feet in spirited frustration but the abstraction doesn’t really quite have the same effect as say, “just one photograph, of about a dozen mountain yellow-legged frogs--all dead--lying bloated and belly-up on some rocks” or a cave-scene where “the carnage had grown even more grotesque; many of the bat carcasses had been crushed, and now there was blood oozing out of them” because the dead were so abundant, it was impossible to avoid stepping on them. Kolbert doesn’t just want to tell readers that “coral cover in the Great Barrier Reef has declined by fifty percent just in the last thirty years”, she take readers underwater to share in the dazzling experience of witnessing “Acropora Millepora in the process of spawning” along the coral reef off the coast of One Tree Island:
“The scene resembled a blizzard in the Alps, only in reverse. The water filled with streams of pink beads floating toward the surface, like snow falling upward. Iridescent worms appeared to eat the bundles, producing an eerie glow, and a slick mauve began to form on the surface. When my shift was over, I reluctantly climbed out of the water and handed over my light”.
This scene, like so many others in The Sixth Extinction, serves as a visceral reminder that the global rise in CO2 will nearly devastate such occurrences by the end of our century and the loss will be disheartening, to say the least.
But, if you think Kolbert has some great answer to stem the rising oceanic tide or bring the biome back to a balmy homeostasis, you might be disappointed. Certainly, we’re all partially to blame: “If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, you can picture a poacher in Africa carrying an AK-47 or a logger in the Amazon gripping an ax, or, better still, you can picture yourself, hold a book on your lap.” Ouch! It brings to mind the old maxim: “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible”. The not-so-subtle implication seems to be: if we have the power to wreck it; the we have the power to repair it. And repair it we must!
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The New York Times: “Without a Trace” By Al Gore
The Guardian: Review by Robin McKie
The Washington Post: Review by Michael S. Roth
The Telegraph: Review by Philip Hoare
Vulture: “Human Overkillers and the Next Great Die-Off” by Kathryn Schulz
The Independent: “The Choice is Clear: Adapt our Thinking or Die” by Peter Forbes
National Geographic Interview with Robert Kunzig
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