A Process of Natural Selection or Human Impact: The Path to Human Extinction

It is easy to say that extinction is a natural selection process, but the reality is that this is not always the case; in fact, some would say that it is quite often not the case at all. Humans have a tenancy to want to pass the blame, especially in situations where they feel especially guilty and especially helpless to right the wrong they have committed. According to an exhibit at the Illinois State Museum “Many scientist think that people caused the extinction in North America at the end of the Pleistocene.” They site reasons such as over-hunting or consistently hunting a key species which would have had a strong effect on an entire eco-system (MCMillan, 2005). Of course it is undeniable that “of all the species that have existed on Earth 99.9% are now extinct and many of them perished during major cataclysmic events” (Simberloff, 2012), but the fact is that humans were certainly no help in the matter anymore than we seem to be right now. Some of the top current causes for extinction are human spurred such as habitat displacement due to deforestation and growing populations and cities, not to mention pollution and over-use of natural resources. It is ridiculous for us to state that extinction is part of natural selection and ignore our own impact and role on the whole thing, and that is not part of natural selection nor is it a good thing because we rely on all of the other species on this planet far more than we care to take notice of. According to “Extinction: The Death Of Everything” “As more species die it becomes more difficult for the survivors to find food, eventually this will include us. It is for precisely these reasons that it is extremely important for us to save a sample of every species in hopes of re-establishing the proper environment and habitat to someday be able to reintroduce these disappearing things that we so desperately need to keep alive. It is my personal belief that as the only species on this planet capable of considering and carrying out such a feat that it is in fact our responsibility to do so. We should indeed be concerned with the extinction rate as according to Prof. Dan Simberloff it is happening at an exelorated rate and it is imparitive that we do what we can to ensure the survival of as many species as possible which may in turn be the very thing that ensures our own.

Berens, Dan,(2012) Extinction: the death of everything

McMillan, Bruce, 2005, Late Pleistocene Extinctions, Illinois State Museum,

http://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/lp_extinction.html

Simberloff, Daniel professor of environmental studies and director of the Institute for Biological Invasions at the University of Tennessee,(2012) RoundTable: A Modern Mass Extinction

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/extinction/massext/discuss_01.html