Elizabeth Kolbert
Earth has experienced five mass extinctions in its history, and some evidence suggests human activity is triggering a sixth. Is human-caused climate change and habitat destruction destroying global biodiversity at an unprecedented rate?
Human activities like burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and global trade are rapidly altering ecosystems and introducing invasive species.
Ocean acidification from absorbed carbon dioxide threatens to wipe out entire marine ecosystems like coral reefs.
While current extinction rates appear elevated compared to background rates, comparing short-term human timescales to million-year fossil records presents statistical challenges.