The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of HumankindRichard Leakey, One Of The World's Foremost Experts On Man's Evolutionary Past, Now Turns His Eye To The Future And Doesn't Like What He Sees. To the philosophical the earth is eternal, while the human race -- presumptive keeper of the world's history -- is a mere speck in the rich stream of life. It is known that nothing upon Earth is forever; geography, climate, and plant and animal life are all subject to radical change. On five occasions in the past, catastrophic natural events have caused mass extinctions on Earth. But today humans stand alone, in dubious distinction, among Earth's species: Homo Sapiens possesses the ability to destroy entire species at will, to trigger the sixth extinction in the history of life. In The Sixth Extinction, Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin consider how the grand sprawl of human life is inexorably wreaking havoc around the world. The authors of Origins and Origins Reconsidered, unimpeachable authorities on the human fossil record, turn their attention to the most uncharted anthropological territory of all: the future, and man's role in defining it. According to Leakey and Lewin, man and his surrounding species are end products of history and chance. Now, however, humans have the unique opportunity to recognize their influence on the global ecosystem, and consciously steer the outcome in order to avoid triggering an unimaginable upheaval. |
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The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind Richard E. Leakey Limited preview - 1996 |
The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind Richard E. Leakey No preview available - 1996 |
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adaptation Africa Amboseli Americas animal species apes argued asteroid bad genes biodiversity biological diversity biologists biota birds body plans brain Burgess Shale Cambrian explosion catastrophic century chapter climate complex creatures crises Darwin David Jablonski David Raup decades dinosaurs dynamics E. O. Wilson early Earth history ecological communities ecologists ecosystems Ediacaran elephants end-Cretaceous environment evolution evolved existence fauna forest forms fossil record geological global habitat Homo sapiens human hundred hypothesis Ibid impact important instance interaction islands ivory Julian Simon Kenya Lake Turkana land life's flow living major mammals marine mass extinction million years ago modern multicellular natural selection number of species organisms paleontologist patterns percent perhaps period phyla Pimm plants Pleistocene population potential predator realm recent result Science Simon Conway Morris sity species diversity Stephen Jay Gould survival terrestrial theory tion tropical vulnerable wild wildlife Wilson woodland world of nature