THEINVESTIGATING EARTH’S 6TH MASS EXTINCTION

When I was in high school, I did a presentation on Eastern blue tongued lizards. A boy I knew approached me after class to tell me that his dad had found one in their backyard. He told me how it had hissed in protest as they picked it up, a deep guttural sound, and how it’s eyes had gone red with blood. In my curiosity, I asked what they did with it. ‘We put it on the driveway and ran it over with the car.’ he replied nonchalantly. ‘I didn’t know what it was’. I was horrified. I am privileged enough to have a family which frequently took trips to the bush and a father who instilled in me a deep sense of respect for all animals – snakes, salamanders and spiders alike. But as green spaces shrink, and become harder to access, and more and more people migrate to cities and rapidly expanding urban areas, it’s not hard to believe that we are losing touch with nature. But how can we get people to protect and care for creatures they don’t even know exist? As global warming continues to amplify extinction rates, we are heading into what has been named Earth’s sixth mass extinction. 1 2

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

Generally speaking, extinction is a natural part of this planet’s history; out of the 4 billion species that have evolved on Earth, 99% are now lost to the contemporary world. 3 However, since the turn of the century, a number of studies have called for recognition of the fact that we are entering (or in the midst) of a sixth mass extinction, one which would be uniquely caused by human activity, including but not limited to climate change. 3 4 5 While scientific opinion varies on certain details, there is an overwhelming consensus that we are in a crisis of biodiversity. The large majority of species are in population decline and extinction rates are rising at a concerning pace.2

This finding is set against a backdrop of frightening statistics from an array of recent works which highlight the interconnectedness of environmental issues. Namely, in 2019, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provided a report which evaluated the health of the global biosphere and concluded that a “systematic extermination” of living things and ecosystems is occurring. 6 Contemporary extinction rates are estimated to be between 100 and 1,000 times higher than they have been historically. 7

These extinctions do not occur independently of one another, and as keystone species are disappearing, they are having unexpected ripple effects on broader ecosystems. Currently, 97% of the planet’s terrestrial surface is no longer ecologically intact, meaning it has been impacted by human activity.8 The human population is everexpanding and economic growth is prioritised as urbanisation and agriculture lead to an increasing loss of biodiverse ecologies such as wetlands and coral reefs.2 As oceans continue to degrade due to both plastic and greenhouse gas pollution, fossil fuel corporations are only gaining in wealth. All of this stands in the shadow of anthropogenic climate change, a factor which is sure to exacerbate mass extinction.

Mass extinction takes place when a species loss of 75% or more occurs within less than two million years.9 Diverting from the usual dry and non-emotional language of science, conservative estimates from one study have ‘confidently concluded that modern extinction rates are exceptionally high, that they are increasing, and that they suggest a mass extinction is underway’, while another has labelled our current loss as ‘biological annihilation’. 4 10 Regardless of where we are in the timeline of mass extinction, it feels futile to be caught up on the specifics considering we know for certain that the world is rapidly losing its diversity.

Species are disappearing faster than we are able to both record or conserve them, raising an ethical conundrum: how can we even capture the enormity of what is being lost?

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

It is undeniable that the cause of the current extinction crisis is human activity.4 Specifically, climate change increases the likelihood of the extinction of at least 10,967 species on the list of threatened species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.11 Additionally, habitat loss, often a result of expansionist industrial and agricultural policies and resource exploitation, such as logging and mining, has played a key role in declining global biodiversity.12 Dominant views towards land and resource use have long been driven by neo-liberal, growth-based approaches which present the earth as an infinitely productive resource, despite early reports denouncing these exponential growth theories as threats to human and ecological stability.13 In simple terms, the earth is not an infinite resource.

Neo-liberal ‘solutions’ such as the phenomenon of ‘de-extinction’ which has been supported by advocates such as Brand [14] perfectly capture this prioritisation of economic growth above all else. Bringing back extinct species both denies previous histories of pain and mismanagement and places short-term technological advancement over the long-term survival of all current living beings. As Van Dooren & Rose powerfully question, ‘what sense does it make to dream of returning the thylacine … when we cannot even ask people to make room for dingoes?’.15

In the Western world, property law arose in part to serve the violent purposes of the British empire and its dominion over the global South, established through resource extraction.16 As Whyte has argued, ecological domination, destruction, and ownership of land forms a crucial part of the settler-colonial system.17 These deep historical inequalities have increased the vulnerability of certain communities to environmental issues while others reap the economic and political benefits.18 Those who contribute the least to extinction, paradoxically, are those who are suffering the most.

The latest IPCC report has, for the first time, pushed for recognition of the fact that colonialism has exacerbated the impacts of climate change and that this has in turn increased the vulnerability of specific groups and places.19 It is not unlikely that this reasoning can be extended to the impacts and causation of mass extinction and the current biodiversity crisis. By pushing for unlimited growth, capitalist and colonial systems are perpetuating mass extinction. As such, the role of these systems should not be overlooked when addressing solutions to extinction.

Earth’s sixth mass extinction is shrouded in silence, both literally and metaphorically. Krause has heartbreakingly captured the sounds of extinction – or rather, the silence – as animals disappear from the soundscape forever.20 However, there is also an alarming political silence which surrounds the current mass extinction. In comparison to climate change, which is hotly debated, there are very few policies, debates, and government investigations around mass extinction. 21

Where to from here?

The complexity of human history and the tremendous power imbalances resulting from ongoing systems such as colonialism should not be swept under the rug in order to create an impression of a singular, shared humanity. For many millennia, Indigenous ontologies concerning land have sat in stark contrast to Western concepts of private property. While it is important to note the diverse identities and perspectives within global Indigenous communities, there exists a common underlying respect for land and an understanding of the interreliance of all living beings. 22 Effectively, in Indigenous cultures, ‘the notion of self does not end with their flesh, but continues with the reach of their senses into the land’. 23 Indigenous knowledge systems are some of the oldest and most well-developed on earth. 24 Despite Indigenous peoples making up less than 5% of the world’s population and their land being 20% of the Earth’s territory, they hold 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. 25 This should be regarded as a testament to the quality and success of Indigenous cosmologies and land management systems, and points to the return of this land through decolonial methods as a viable way forward.

Human relationships and control over land will be a decisive factor in the fight against mass extinction. While philosophies of care and connectivity such as the ones put forth by Rose are an integral part of resisting neo-liberal approaches to extinction, a focus on de-colonialism and the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous peoples should be prioritised. 26 We cannot afford to stop at the theoretical; we must instead work to implement concrete policy-based solutions that have already been put forth. 27 28

The loss and grief arising from extinction reverberates through local ecosystems and communities, impacting long-established ways of life. We can never, and will never, fully comprehend the magnitude of our loss in relation to the rich, unique ecosystems and species which have slipped away under our negligence. We grieve partially for the unknown; for the potential of a different world. Human existence is heavily reliant on global biodiversity, making the current political inaction around extinction the equivalent of sawing off the branch on which humanity is sitting on. So let us not go gently (or silently) into extinction. Instead, we must listen and uplift the voices of those who are already disproportionately impacted by this crisis, and acknowledge the role that neo-liberal and colonial systems are playing in perpetuating environmental injustice and destruction