Is This the Sixth Extinction?

It is often said that the truth is more fascinating than any fictional story. That the workings of the Earth and its history are richer and more unpredictable than anything that the human imagination could have conjured up.

‘The Sixth Extinction’ by Elizabeth Kolbert is a thrilling story about life on Earth, told through the eyes of human beings. Kolbert uses her charming voice to capture the evolution not only of living organisms, but also of humanity’s deepening insights into this intricate and complex process throughout history. The novel is divided into 13 chapters, with each chapter tracing the extinction of one unique species, ranging from the rapidly diminishing population of golden frogs from El Valle in Panama (pictured below) to the ever-elusive existence of the Neanderthals. It is a non-fiction novel which explores the notion that we are living through a mass extinction event, the sixth in Earth’s history as we know it. It is a book which aims to raise contemplation about the role of humans themselves in causing this rapid rate of climate and species change, a factor which has never been considered in any previous mass extinction event.

Kolbert weaves in her own witty remarks and observations from her travels across the globe to bring a deeply personal note to the story of ‘every man’. For me, it was these seemingly insignificant notes of subjectivity that made this non-fiction book truly memorable, because it captured how these environmental efforts could only be driven by individuals, each with their unique personalities and ideas about our world.

 

That being said, I am also going to be honest by mentioning that there were certain moments in this novel where I found it rather slow to push through. Perhaps it is the pervasive and ever-growing sense of doom and hopelessness which I could not help but feel while reading about the extinctions and destructions of Earth’s biodiversity and wildlife. Perhaps it was the abundance of rich scientific concepts and ideas which I was simply unaccustomed to. I also suspect that it may have been my fear to confront these ideas which, frankly, I find terrifying to truly explore, these ideas which I wilfully push to the margins of my everyday thoughts because it causes a sense of existential dread which clouds my mind.

For an individual like myself who luxuriates in the wonderful array of wildlife in David Attenborough’s documentaries, it is easy to pretend that the Earth still abounds with biodiversity. Even for most of us who only gets to witness the neatly trimmed and sectioned gardens and parks of metropolitan cities, it is hard to obtain a true sense of the magnanimity of the environmental issue at hand. Kolbert confirms these underlying fears with calculated certainty. She reminds us that across the world, species are disappearing at levels which have never before been witnessed, inadvertently refuting any claim that these climactic and environmental changes are caused by any factor other than human beings. Even in the concluding chapter of the novel, dedicated to ‘homo sapiens’, one cannot mistake her tone of caution and earnestness mixed in with her hope.

 

It is a captivating, yet somewhat gruelling, reminder that we simply do not have the time or energy left to be engaging in political debated about who or what is responsible for Earth’s changes (whether it is atmospheric or marine). We face an unprecedented upheaval of the world as we humans have known it, and it is our duty to face the truth and act upon this realisation.

 

A Book Review of ‘The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History’