How far is the sixth mass extinction?

Thanks to the Brazilian government's reinstatement of its earlier order of a ban, the new batches of miners will miss the opportunity for now to search for minerals in the vast Amazon rainforest. With this action, the government has earned accolades of the environmentalists worldwide. As they view the step, it will go a ong way towards helping protect large numbers of flora and fauna in this mostly undisturbed wildlife and plant reserve, apart from stemming global warming. However, to the chagrin of the conservationists, the hydroelectric power generation plants in different segments of the forest are in operation. In other parts of the world, woodlands continue to vanish and rare animal species have long been on the verge of extinction --- especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Both environmentally and ecologically, the world is filled with bad news. Insidious misgivings are overtaking humankind. But there are greater fears. They continue to grow along with scientific predictions about the earth's future. The terrible spectre of giant asteroid collisions in earth's orbit and meteors crashing down on the planet has reasons to keep many panicky. Against this astrophysical and geophysical backdrop, now emerges another portent of doom. It is set to come in the form of the 6th mass extinction of life on earth. A professor with the American Association for the Advancement of Science has recently predicted that the planet earth is set to witness the beginning of this latest mass extinction of animals and plants from the very beginning of 2100. As he has calculated, for mankind only eighty years are left before the start of the 6th extinction process. He squarely blamed the worldwide ecological imbalance, including global warming, for the coming apocalypse.

 The evolution of life has assumed a symmetric pattern on this planet since the 5th mass extinction occurred over 60 million years ago. In that event all animal lives, including dinosaurs, roaming the prehistoric earth, were wiped out. The same disastrous fate befell the giant birds, insects and marine creatures. The devastation was mainly ascribed to a cosmic phenomenon prompting stray asteroids, large meteors and other heavenly bodies to collide with the earth. However, mass-scale ecological degradations along with volcanic eruptions are also believed to have played a vital role in the process. They included global warming and global cooling, oxygen depletion in the sea, etc. The number five annihilation of life was preceded by four such extinctions. According to geologists, all of the earlier four mass extinctions were mainly caused by disruptions caused to the earth's then prevailing carbon cycle. The first of these five mass extinctions assailed the earth at a period 440 million to 450 million years ago. As the ancient and medieval wisdom has viewed, life came into being only to perish at the end. Basing on mathematical calculations and newer theories of cosmology, scientists have predicted a similar end of the animal world including man.

However, the aberrant geological behaviour in the past could not caused by man's tampering with nature. Animals other than humans cannot be held responsible for deliberate damages done to the environment. The repeated ecological havocs had a lot to do with the rules of this universe. But with the advent of civilisations in different regions, there began the scourge of chipping away at the ecological equilibrium. Thus in spite of their reaching the zenith of knowledge and wise thoughts, many such civilisations are found to have erred in their conduct vis-à-vis nature and environment. Beginning from the old civilisations in Egypt to the relatively newer ones flourishing in the Indus Valley to that of the Mayans and the Incas, all the glorious chapters of man are tainted by ruthless anti-environment activities. Droughts, floods and other natural calamities are said to have expedited their fall.

Compared to the nature-hostile behaviour of the largely unwitting people belonging to different civilisations, the everyday practices followed by the modern man emerge as atrocious. By the first half of the 20th century, man became aware of the damaging impact of carbon emission on life. With the fast progress of industrialisation and the mind-boggling advancements in technology, the grim human future born of environmental hazards turned out to be an inescapable reality. It has not taken long for scientists to discover the signs of an apocalyptic climate change disaster brewing throughout the world. In the 21st century, people in the less developed regions find themselves bewildered. To their utter shock and incredulity they keep watching how the great polluters evade efforts to hammer out binding deals and treaties on drastic cuts in harmful gases.

Meanwhile, the various phenomena related to climate change go on affecting the majority of the global population. The nightmares of sea-level rise and the following coastal submersion plague many countries and island-territories including Bangladesh. What is riddling is despite being constantly battered by frequent floods, hurricanes, etc., many rich and developed countries appear quite unfazed. Turning down the poorer countries' appeal for sufficient climate-change funds, a few of them take recourse to double-speak and smokescreen.

A section of scientists observe that the process of the sixth mass extinction has already begun. They readily point towards climatic and environmental symptoms like the rise in temperature, fast extinction of scores of animal and plant species with many becoming vulnerable to disappearance. Only the incorrigibly foolish and arrogant people can trifle with these virtual warnings. The scene in Bangladesh, though home to a few polluting cities but far less threatening than the globally large polluters, is not comfortable. It doesn't contribute to global warming or ozone depletion; but it now falls among one of the most climatically threatened countries. In the case of the feared mass extinction, this country along with many smaller and less advanced ones might emerge as being hit for no fault of theirs. The same could be said while predicting the aftermath of a global nuclear war. Scientists have already depicted a highly disturbing picture of the world following the complete extinction of humans and forest animals. The spectacle, telecast by a Nature channel a few years ago, has vast expanses of barren and damp swathes of land with scattered bushes. Creatures resembling snakes, bats or sloths can be seen stuck to the branches of dwarf trees. Rodent-like pests creep everywhere. Given the gap of 60 million years from the fifth mass extinction, the 6th one may not be spectacular or filled with deafening sounds.  It might pass off silently in an eerie atmosphere.        

Is the 6th mass extinction going to be nature's reprisal for being made to bear with centuries of humiliation? The coming one might be different from the previous five. It will presumably be caused by the myopic behaviour of mankind.

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