What is *The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History* about?

*The Sixth Extinction* investigates Earth’s ongoing sixth mass extinction, driven by human activities like deforestation, pollution, and climate change. Elizabeth Kolbert combines historical analysis of past extinctions with on-the-ground reporting to show how species loss is accelerating, threatening global ecosystems. The book argues that humanity’s impact is reshaping the planet’s biodiversity irreversibly.

Who should read *The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History*?

This book is essential for readers interested in climate science, environmental policy, or biodiversity. It’s ideal for students, educators, and anyone seeking to understand humanity’s role in ecological crises. Kolbert’s accessible storytelling makes complex scientific concepts engaging for both experts and general audiences.

Is *The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History* worth reading?

Yes—it’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning work praised for its urgent, well-researched narrative. Kolbert’s blend of field reports, interviews with scientists, and historical context offers a compelling overview of the Anthropocene’s challenges. It’s widely cited in environmental discourse and academic circles.

What are the main arguments in *The Sixth Extinction*?

Kolbert asserts that human activities—habitat destruction, carbon emissions, and species translocation—are causing extinction rates 1,000x faster than natural levels. She highlights case studies like the demise of the golden frog and Great Barrier Reef collapse to illustrate interconnected ecological tipping points.

How does *The Sixth Extinction* explain past mass extinctions?

The book reviews five historical mass extinctions, including the Permian event that erased 90% of life. Kolbert contrasts these with today’s crisis, emphasizing that earlier extinctions resulted from asteroids or volcanic activity, while the current one stems directly from human behavior.

What iconic quotes are in *The Sixth Extinction*?

Notable lines include: - **“Life is extremely resilient but not infinitely so”**—underscoring ecosystems’ fragility. - **“No other species has so drastically changed life on Earth”**—summarizing humanity’s outsized impact.

How does *The Sixth Extinction* address climate change?

Kolbert links carbon emissions to ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and habitat loss. She documents how rising temperatures force species to migrate or perish, using examples like Amazonian bat populations and alpine flora unable to adapt quickly enough.

What criticisms exist about *The Sixth Extinction*?

Some reviewers note the book focuses more on documenting extinction than proposing solutions. Others argue it could delve deeper into indigenous conservation practices. However, most praise its rigorous science communication and narrative urgency.

The sixth extinction

an unnatural history

Elizabeth Kolbert

4.15(77704 Reviews)

Overview of The sixth extinction

In "The Sixth Extinction," Pulitzer-winner Elizabeth Kolbert reveals how humans are driving Earth's sixth mass extinction event. Bill Gates called it "sobering but engaging" - a gripping journey through species loss that asks: are we witnessing the most consequential chapter of our planet's history?

Choose how it's told

One book. Many ways to hear it.

Same ideas from The sixth extinction. Pick the voice, depth, and pace that fits you. Switch anytime.

Chapter 1

The Sixth Mass Extinction: Our Silent Legacy

When Elizabeth Kolbert published "The Sixth Extinction" in 2014, few outside scientific circles understood the magnitude of what was happening to our planet. The book quickly became a cultural phenomenon-winning the Pulitzer Prize, landing on President Obama's recommended reading list, and spending months on bestseller lists. Through meticulous research and immersive storytelling, Kolbert revealed a disturbing truth: we are currently witnessing one of the most devastating extinction events in Earth's 4.5-billion-year history. Unlike previous mass die-offs caused by asteroids or volcanic eruptions, this one stems from a single species-us. As Kolbert travels from remote Panamanian rainforests to the Great Barrier Reef, she weaves a narrative that is simultaneously a scientific detective story and an urgent warning. The book's power lies in making us confront an uncomfortable question: How will future generations judge the species that recognized it was destroying Earth's biodiversity but continued anyway?

Chapter 2

The Amphibian Apocalypse: Canaries in the Global Coal Mine

In the picturesque town of El Valle de Anton, Panama, something disturbing was happening in the early 2000s. The vibrant golden frogs that once filled local streams by the thousands were vanishing. These brilliant yellow amphibians-national symbols of Panama-were falling victim to a mysterious blight sweeping eastward across Central America. As the wave of death approached, biologists launched desperate rescue missions, collecting breeding pairs and housing them temporarily in hotel rooms before proper facilities could be established. The Panamanian golden frog has become the reluctant poster child for what scientists now recognize as potentially the sixth mass extinction in Earth's history. Today, these frogs exist only in captivity at facilities like the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center (EVACC), a modern-day ark completely sealed from the outside world. Inside, director Edgardo Griffith maintains colonies of frogs that no longer exist in the wild, protecting them from the deadly chytrid fungus that has decimated amphibian populations worldwide. The fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, spreads through water and attacks amphibians' skin, disrupting their ability to absorb water and electrolytes. What makes this pathogen particularly devastating is its persistence in the environment-it doesn't disappear when its hosts die out, making reintroduction of captive-bred amphibians nearly impossible. The fungus likely spread globally through human activity, particularly the international pet and food trade, creating a pandemic that has affected amphibians on every continent where they exist. The disappearance of amphibians-creatures that have survived for 400 million years through numerous global catastrophes-signals something profoundly wrong. Amphibians evolved during the Devonian period, survived the Permian extinction that wiped out 90% of species, weathered the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, and adapted through ice ages and warming periods. Yet in the span of a few decades, a third of all amphibian species have been pushed to the brink of extinction. As biologist David Wake noted, this represents a "stunning historical reversal"-the first time in 360 million years that these resilient creatures face global collapse. What makes the amphibian crisis particularly alarming is that it's just one facet of a much larger extinction event. Unlike normal "background" extinction, which occurs at a steady rate of about one to five species per year, we're now losing species at hundreds or thousands of times the natural rate. This acceleration mirrors what happened during the previous five mass extinctions, when the normal rules of natural selection were temporarily suspended and entire dominant groups vanished forever.

See every word as you hear it

Read along effortlessly as each word of The sixth extinction lights up in real time.

Chapter 3

The Birth of Extinction Science: Mastodons and Revolution

Extinction may seem an obvious concept to modern children who play with toy dinosaurs, but it's actually a relatively recent scientific idea. Neither Aristotle nor Pliny considered the possibility of species disappearing completely. During the Enlightenment, the prevailing view held that every species formed an unbreakable link in the "chain of being." Even Carl Linnaeus, who created binomial nomenclature, made no distinction between living and extinct creatures in his classification system. The concept of extinction emerged in revolutionary France through the study of the American mastodon (Mammut americanum). In 1739, Charles le Moyne discovered massive bones in an Ohio marsh-a thigh bone, tusk, and enormous teeth with distinctive cusps unlike any known animal. These specimens confounded European naturalists, who couldn't reconcile them with existing creatures. Some proposed they belonged to multiple animals, while others, like Thomas Jefferson, insisted they must still exist in unexplored regions, believing nature would never permit extinction. The breakthrough came from Georges Cuvier, a brilliant 25-year-old naturalist who arrived in Paris in 1795. Working at the Museum of Natural History, Cuvier meticulously studied the mastodon remains and delivered a revolutionary lecture in 1796. He distinguished African from Asian elephants based on dental anatomy, then boldly declared the Ohio specimens represented entirely different, now-vanished species-"especes perdues." Examining other unusual fossils, including a giant South American skeleton (which he named Megatherium) and the Dutch "Maastricht animal" (later identified as a mosasaur), Cuvier concluded extinction was not isolated but widespread. "All these facts seem to me to prove the existence of a world previous to ours," he declared. "But what was this primitive earth? And what revolution was able to wipe it out?" Through stratigraphy, Cuvier recognized that life had a direction through time. Species found near the surface, like mastodons, belonged to orders still alive today. Digging deeper revealed creatures with no modern counterparts, and deeper still, mammals disappeared entirely. Eventually one reached a world dominated by giant reptiles-"a world previous to that." Despite discovering life's long, mutable history, Cuvier fiercely opposed evolution (then called transformisme). His concept of "correlation of parts"-that an animal's components all fit together optimally for its way of life-made transformation seem impossible to him. A carnivore's intestines, jaws, claws, teeth, and senses all worked together perfectly; change any part and "the functional integrity of the whole would be destroyed." With evolution rejected, Cuvier proposed that "terrible events" had repeatedly devastated life on Earth. Since animals were perfectly adapted to their environments, only catastrophic changes could explain extinction. Studying rock formations around Paris, he found evidence of environments shifting from marine to terrestrial or freshwater. These changes, he concluded, were not gradual but resulted from sudden "revolutions on the surface of the earth." Modern science has disproved much of Cuvier's empirical evidence, but his core insight proved remarkably prescient: life has indeed been disrupted by "terrible events" that wiped out "organisms without number." The American mastodon, as Cuvier suspected, vanished during a wave of megafauna extinctions about thirteen thousand years ago-coinciding with the spread of modern humans. The catastrophe he glimpsed beyond recorded history was, in fact, us.

Chapter 4

Uniformitarianism and the Great Auk: Competing Visions of Change

The intellectual battle between catastrophism and uniformitarianism shaped early geological thinking, with Charles Lyell's revolutionary influence eventually dominating scientific thought and profoundly impacting Charles Darwin. The term "catastrophist" was coined in 1832 by William Whewell, who also gave English words like "scientist" and "ion." Though later acquiring negative connotations, Whewell originally used it neutrally, considering himself and most colleagues catastrophists. The exception was Charles Lyell, whom Whewell labeled a "uniformitarian"-someone who believed Earth's features formed through the same gradual processes observable today, not through cataclysmic events. Lyell, a former barrister with failing eyesight who turned to natural sciences, rejected Cuvier's catastrophism despite their friendly relationship. Examining rock formations across Europe, Lyell saw no evidence of cataclysms but rather the results of gradual processes like sedimentation and erosion operating over vast timescales. His thesis-"the present is the key to the past"-proposed that extinction occurred so gradually it would go unnoticed. His three-volume "Principles of Geology" became wildly popular, making him a scientific celebrity, though colleagues like Henry De la Beche satirized his ideas through cartoons depicting future ichthyosaurs lecturing about primitive human skulls. Charles Darwin, embarking on the HMS Beagle voyage at twenty-two, brought along Lyell's "Principles" and became thoroughly converted to his geological views. At each stop-from the Cape Verde Islands to Chile-Darwin found evidence supporting Lyell's theories of gradual change. After witnessing an earthquake in Valdivia and seeing Concepcion reduced to rubble with its harbor elevated by eight feet, Darwin saw confirmation of Lyell's claim that mountains could rise through accumulated small uplifts. As one biographer noted, "Without Lyell there would have been no Darwin," while Darwin himself acknowledged his books "came half out of Lyell's brains." While Lyell embraced geological change, he paradoxically rejected biological evolution, finding species transmutation "unthinkable" despite acknowledging new species appeared regularly in the fossil record. Darwin again "out-Lyelled" Lyell with natural selection, applying gradual change to the organic world. His theory eliminated need for creative miracles-given enough time for slight variations to accumulate, new species would emerge from old ones. This theory simultaneously explained extinction: the "struggle for existence" rewarded the fit and eliminated the less so, with extinction and evolution as "two sides of the same coin." Darwin's theory predicted extinction should occur more slowly than speciation, making it essentially unobservable. Yet during Darwin's years developing his ideas, the great auk's final individuals vanished under the careful documentation of British ornithologists-a direct contradiction of his theory with profound implications. The great auk-Pinguinus impennis-was the original "penguin," a flightless northern bird that once ranged from Norway to Florida in the millions. Standing over two and a half feet tall with stubby wings, they were magnificent swimmers but fatally vulnerable on land during breeding season. Their wholesale slaughter began in the 1500s when European sailors discovered breeding colonies, particularly on Funk Island off Newfoundland, where the birds were harvested for meat, bait, feathers, and even fuel. By 1800, the North American population was extirpated. After Funk Island's auks were decimated, only one significant colony remained on Geirfuglasker off Iceland's coast. When volcanic eruption destroyed this refuge in 1830, the birds retreated to tiny Eldey island. In June 1844, three Icelanders rowed to Eldey, where they found just a single pair of auks with one egg. The birds, too slow to escape, were quickly captured and strangled. The egg was accidentally cracked during the chase and abandoned. With this brutal efficiency, the last known great auks vanished forever-their extinction not the result of slow Darwinian competition, but direct human predation.

Get more out of The sixth extinction

Get daily insights from 100K+ lessons
Words light up in sync with the audio
Your library saved on every device

Chapter 5

Catastrophic Impact: The Asteroid That Changed Everything

In the medieval hill town of Gubbio, Italy, a narrow gorge called Gola del Bottaccione contains limestone bands that record nearly a hundred million years of Earth's history. Here in the late 1970s, geologist Walter Alvarez accidentally discovered evidence of the asteroid impact that ended the Cretaceous period and caused one of Earth's worst mass extinctions, wiping out three-quarters of all species. When Walter Alvarez's samples were tested by physicist Frank Asaro, they revealed something extraordinary: iridium levels in the clay layer were "off the charts." Seeking confirmation, Alvarez collected samples from Stevns Klint in Denmark, where the end-Cretaceous appears as a jet-black, fishy-smelling clay layer. These samples, along with others from New Zealand, also showed dramatic iridium "spikes" at precisely the same boundary. After nearly a year of dead ends, the Alvarezes proposed their impact hypothesis: a six-mile-wide asteroid had struck Earth 65 million years ago, releasing energy equivalent to a million powerful H-bombs. The resulting debris cloud spread iridium globally, plunging the planet into darkness and triggering mass extinction. Their carefully crafted paper in Science generated enormous excitement beyond paleontology, inspiring even Carl Sagan's "nuclear winter" concept. While the impact hypothesis captivated the public through Time and Newsweek, professional paleontologists savagely rejected it. They dismissed the extinction as "an artifact of statistics," called the Alvarezes arrogant, and declared "unseen bolides dropping into an unseen sea are not for me." Even the New York Times editorial board admonished that "astronomers should leave to astrologers the task of seeking the cause of earthly events in the stars." This vehement reaction stemmed from paleontology's deep commitment to Lyellian uniformitarianism. The fossil record's dramatic breaks had long been explained away as gaps in preservation, not actual catastrophes. Darwin himself had dismissed the "apparently sudden extermination" of creatures like ammonites, attributing it to our "profound ignorance." Despite fierce opposition, evidence for the impact hypothesis accumulated steadily. Shocked quartz-crystals deformed by extreme pressure, previously found only at nuclear test sites and impact craters-appeared in K-T boundary clay in Montana. The clincher came in 1991 when the hundred-mile-wide Chicxulub crater was rediscovered beneath Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, complete with a layer of impact glass at precisely the K-T boundary. The impact arrived from the southeast at about 45,000 miles per hour, hitting the Yucatan Peninsula at a low angle. North America was particularly devastated, with a cloud of searing vapor and debris incinerating everything in its path. The impact ejected sulfur-rich dust that blocked sunlight, causing an "impact winter" after the initial heat pulse. Forests were decimated, replaced by rapidly dispersing ferns (the "fern spike"), while marine ecosystems collapsed into what scientists call the "Strangelove ocean" for up to several million years. The extinction was comprehensive: all non-avian dinosaurs perished, along with pterosaurs, most bird families, and roughly four-fifths of lizard and snake species. In the oceans, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, belemnites and ammonites vanished, while bivalves, brachiopods and bryozoans suffered heavy casualties. Among planktonic foraminifera, about 95% of species disappeared. The contrasting fates of ammonites and nautiluses illustrates a crucial point about mass extinctions: survival often has little to do with evolutionary fitness. During extreme stress events, "the rules of the survival game" abruptly change. Traits that were advantageous for millions of years suddenly become lethal. As paleontologist Neil Landman observed of the ammonites' floating larvae: "for all of their existence [it] would have been terrific. What better way to get around and distribute the species? Yet here, in the end, it may well have been their undoing."

Chapter 6

The Anthropocene: Humanity's Geological Footprint

In 1949, Harvard psychologists conducted an experiment showing how people process disruptive information-initially forcing it into familiar frameworks until the anomalies become too glaring, triggering what they called the "'My God!' reaction." Thomas Kuhn later used this experiment to explain how scientific paradigm shifts occur, as contradictory data accumulates until the old framework collapses. The science of extinction has evolved through such paradigm shifts. Before Cuvier, extinction as a concept didn't exist-strange fossils were forced into familiar categories. Cuvier recognized that life had a history marked by catastrophic loss. Later, Lyell and Darwin rejected catastrophes, viewing extinction as a gradual, species-by-species process. The Alvarez impact hypothesis triggered another shift, establishing that catastrophes do indeed happen. Today's "neocatastrophism" combines elements of both views: Earth changes very slowly, except when it doesn't, with rare moments of panic disproportionately determining the pattern of life. In Scotland's Southern Uplands lies Dob's Linn, where stratigrapher Jan Zalasiewicz points to a light-colored stripe in the rock and notes: "Bad things happened in here." The rocks date back 445 million years to the Ordovician period, marking a sudden extinction event that wiped out about 85% of marine species. This transition from "habitable sea floor to an uninhabitable one" happened rapidly enough that it might have been witnessed "in the span of a human lifetime." The Ordovician period was a time when life "took off excitedly in new directions," with marine families tripling and the first plants colonizing land. But 444 million years ago, the oceans emptied out in what's now recognized as the first of the Big Five extinctions. It struck in two brief, deadly pulses, dramatically altering life's trajectory. As paleontologist Richard Fortey observed, the survivors "went on to make the modern world. Had the list of survivors been one jot different, then so would the world today." After the Alvarez asteroid hypothesis gained acceptance, scientists briefly hoped for a unified theory of mass extinction. When paleontologists David Raup and Jack Sepkoski discovered what appeared to be a 26-million-year extinction cycle, some proposed a "companion star" to the sun named "Nemesis" that periodically triggered comet showers. But this theory collapsed when no such star was found and the statistical pattern proved illusory. Current theory holds that the Ordovician extinction resulted from glaciation, while the end-Permian extinction involved massive carbon release, soaring temperatures, and ocean acidification so severe that 90% of all species perished. As Walter Alvarez admitted: "We do not have a general theory of mass extinction." Zalasiewicz believes we've entered a new epoch with no analog in Earth's history. The extinction event humans are causing, along with climate change, nuclear fallout, river diversion, monoculture farming, and ocean acidification will all leave distinctive marks in the geologic record. Various names have been proposed for this new age-"Catastrophozoic," "Homogenocene," "Myxocene"-but "Anthropocene" has gained the most traction. Coined by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen during a meeting, the term acknowledges humanity's planet-altering impact: transforming half the Earth's land surface, damming major rivers, producing more nitrogen than natural ecosystems, removing a third of coastal ocean production, using over half of accessible freshwater, and fundamentally altering atmospheric composition.

See every word as you hear it

Read along effortlessly as each word of The sixth extinction lights up in real time.

Chapter 7

Ocean Acidification: The Other Carbon Problem

Off the coast of Naples lies Castello Aragonese, a tiny island formed by Africa's northward drift into Eurasia. The surrounding waters bubble with carbon dioxide from underwater vents, creating naturally acidified seas. Marine biologists Jason Hall-Spencer and Maria Cristina Buia guide visitors through these waters, which offer a preview of our oceans' future. Near the vents, biodiversity visibly diminishes-barnacles disappear, limpet shells waste to transparency, and jellyfish drift by in pale swarms. Since the industrial revolution, humans have added 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere through fossil fuels, with another 180 billion from deforestation. We now release about nine billion tons annually. CO2 concentration has reached 400 parts per million-higher than any point in the last 800,000 years-and could exceed 500 ppm by 2050. Beyond warming the planet, this carbon is absorbed by the oceans, lowering surface water pH from 8.2 to 8.1, making seas 30% more acidic than in 1800. Under "business as usual" scenarios, oceans will be 150% more acidic by century's end. The volcanic vents around Castello Aragonese create a perfect natural experiment for studying ocean acidification. Jason Hall-Spencer initially explored these waters in 2002, returning later to conduct systematic research despite initial funding challenges. Working with local scientists, he mapped pH gradients around the island and meticulously cataloged marine life in each zone. The results were alarming-in waters with pH 7.8 (projected global ocean conditions by 2100), one-third of species disappeared compared to normal Mediterranean waters, with calcifying organisms hit hardest. Ocean acidification threatens marine life through multiple pathways, but its most devastating impact falls on calcifiers-organisms that build shells or structures from calcium carbonate. These diverse creatures-from barnacles and mussels to corals and tiny coccolithophores-must combine calcium and carbonate ions in a delicate chemical process. As oceans acidify, available carbonate ions decrease, making calcification increasingly difficult. At Castello Aragonese, three-quarters of species missing from acidified zones are calcifiers. In the most acidic areas near the vents, calcifiers vanish entirely, leaving only a few hardy algae species, a shrimp, a sponge, and two sea slugs-an underwater wasteland resembling a polluted harbor. The oceans have absorbed approximately one-third of human-produced CO2-a staggering 150 billion metric tons. But it's not just the quantity that matters; it's the unprecedented speed of this change. Scientists studying Earth's past extinction events have concluded that while several involved ocean acidification, "no past event perfectly parallels" our current situation due to the "unprecedented rapidity of CO2 release." Even the massive volcanic eruptions that created Siberia's Traps during the end-Permian extinction likely released less carbon annually than our modern industrial civilization. By burning through coal and oil deposits, humans are putting carbon back into the air that has been sequestered for tens-in most cases hundreds-of millions of years, running geologic history not only in reverse but at warp speed.

Chapter 8

Coral Reefs: The Rainforests of the Sea

Half a world away from Castello Aragonese, One Tree Island sits at the southernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef. Despite its name, it has many trees and consists entirely of coral rubble, believed to have formed during a massive storm 4,000 years ago. The island hosts a small research station operated by the University of Sydney, where scientists from around the world conduct studies on the surrounding reef ecosystem. Captain James Cook was the first European to encounter the Great Barrier Reef when his ship ran aground in 1770. He recognized the reef as biological in origin but couldn't explain how it had risen "to such a height." Charles Darwin, after visiting Tahiti in 1835, developed his subsidence theory-that as islands sink, their surrounding reefs become atolls. This theory wasn't fully confirmed until the 1950s when Navy drilling at Enewetak Atoll proved Darwin "astoundingly correct." Reefs are remarkable organic paradoxes-massive structures built by tiny gelatinous creatures, simultaneously teeming with life yet mostly dead. Unlike other calcifiers that work individually, coral polyps engage in vast communal building projects spanning generations. Billions of polyps from up to a hundred different species create living structures that dwarf human monuments-the Great Barrier Reef extends for over fifteen hundred miles and in places is five hundred feet thick. Unlike human constructions that displace other creatures, coral reefs support thousands, perhaps millions of species in a coevolutionary venture spanning geological epochs. Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist based at Stanford who coined the term "ocean acidification," leads research at One Tree Island. His interest began in the late 1990s while modeling the effects of carbon capture for the Department of Energy. His calculations about CO2's impact on ocean chemistry were so startling that in 2003, Nature published his findings under the subheading "The Coming Centuries May See More Ocean Acidification Than the Past 300 Million Years." The first evidence that CO2 could kill coral reefs emerged unexpectedly from Biosphere 2 in Arizona. When marine biologist Chris Langdon took over the failing artificial "ocean," he discovered a crucial relationship between water chemistry and coral growth. His meticulous experiments revealed that corals grow fastest at an aragonite saturation state of five, slower at four, and barely at all at two. Pre-industrial reefs thrived in waters with saturation states between four and five. Today, no place on Earth exceeds four, and by 2100, none will remain above three. Since reefs must constantly grow to offset natural erosion from fish, urchins and storms, this decline in calcification rates spells disaster. Caldeira's team has concluded that if current emissions trends continue, within fifty years "all coral reefs will cease to grow and start to dissolve." Reefs represent astonishing biodiversity in nutrient-poor tropical waters-"rainforests in a marine Sahara." This phenomenon, known as "Darwin's paradox," likely depends on incredibly efficient nutrient recycling between organisms. A single volleyball-sized chunk of coral can house over 1,400 polychaete worms from 103 different species. Overall, between half a million and nine million species spend part of their lives on coral reefs. As Caldeira explains, "Corals build the architecture of the ecosystem. If they go, the whole ecosystem goes." Reef ecosystems have disappeared and reappeared several times throughout Earth's history. Ancient reef remains can be found in the Austrian Alps, Texas's Guadalupe Mountains, and northern Greenland-though built by different organisms than today's scleractinian corals. Major extinction events have created "reef gaps" lasting millions of years, suggesting reef-building is particularly vulnerable to environmental change. Today's reefs face multiple threats beyond acidification: overfishing promotes competing algae growth; agricultural runoff and deforestation cause siltation; destructive fishing practices directly damage structures; and diseases like white-band have decimated Caribbean coral populations by 80%. Most critically, climate change causes coral bleaching when high water temperatures disrupt the symbiotic relationship between polyps and their zooxanthellae.

Get more out of The sixth extinction

Get daily insights from 100K+ lessons
Words light up in sync with the audio
Your library saved on every device

Chapter 9

Climate Change and Biodiversity: Racing Up the Mountain

Atop a twelve-thousand-foot mountain in eastern Peru, Miles Silman surveys the extraordinary biodiversity of Manu National Park-one of the world's great biodiversity "hot spots" containing one-ninth of all bird species on the planet and over a thousand tree species in Silman's research plots alone. As a forest ecologist studying how climate affects tropical ecosystems, Silman has established seventeen plots at different elevations, each representing a distinct forest community with its own temperature profile. The distribution of biodiversity follows a clear pattern: species richness increases dramatically as one moves from the poles toward the equator. This "latitudinal diversity gradient" is evident in a hypothetical journey from the North Pole southward. At the pole, no land plants exist. On Ellesmere Island, only ankle-high Arctic willow appears. Canada's vast boreal forest contains just twenty tree species across nearly a billion acres. Moving south, diversity increases gradually-Vermont has fifty tree species, Massachusetts fifty-five, North Carolina over two hundred. Tiny Belize hosts seven hundred native tree species. But in Silman's Peruvian plots, which collectively cover an area the size of Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park, an astonishing 1,035 tree species thrive-fifty times more than in Canada's entire boreal forest. Why are the tropics so rich in species? Over thirty theories attempt to explain this phenomenon first noted by Alexander von Humboldt in 1804. One theory suggests evolution simply works faster in the tropics-more generations per year means more genetic mutations and greater speciation opportunities. Another proposes that tropical species develop narrower thermal tolerances due to stable temperatures, allowing slight geographical variations to become insurmountable barriers, thus isolating populations and promoting speciation. A third theory, first advanced by Alfred Russel Wallace, emphasizes history-tropical forests have existed continuously for millions of years, allowing diversity to accumulate, while northern regions were repeatedly scoured by mile-thick ice as recently as twenty thousand years ago, forcing every species there to be a recent migrant. Silman's seventeen tree plots, each two and a half acres, are arranged along an Andean ridge from high elevation down to the Amazon basin. In these plots, every tree over four inches in diameter has been tagged, measured, and identified. The plots sit at different elevations with distinct average temperatures: Plot 3 at 9,680 feet averages 51F, Plot 4 at 8,860 feet averages 53F, and Plot 5 averages 56F. These slight temperature differences create dramatic species turnover; ninety percent of tree species in Plot 4 differ from those in Plot 1, just 2,500 feet higher. When Silman established his plots in 2003, he intended to track forest changes over decades. Surprisingly, after just four years, his postdoc Kenneth Feeley discovered the forest was already measurably migrating upslope in response to warming. On average, tree genera were shifting eight feet per year uphill, but with remarkable variation in response. Trees in the genus Schefflera were racing upward at nearly a hundred feet annually, while Ilex remained virtually stationary. This movement represents a real-time response to climate change, as species attempt to maintain their preferred temperature ranges by shifting to higher elevations-a strategy plants have employed during past climate fluctuations. All species alive today have survived temperature fluctuations. The warming projected for the coming century is similar in magnitude to ice age temperature swings, but is occurring at least ten times faster. This requires organisms to migrate or adapt at unprecedented rates. In Silman's forest plots, only the most responsive genera like Schefflera are keeping pace with rising temperatures. How many species overall will be capable of moving fast enough remains an open question-one we'll likely answer in the coming decades, whether we want to or not. Throughout earth's history, tropical species had much broader ranges-breadfruit trees once flourished in Alaska, palms grew in Antarctica, and crocodiles paddled around England. While a warmer world might theoretically support greater diversity, today's rapid warming presents an immediate threat. Every modern species is cold-adapted, having evolved through multiple ice ages over 2.5 million years. The evolutionary premium was placed on surviving cold, not heat. With CO2 levels potentially reaching heights not seen since the Eocene fifty million years ago, the critical question becomes whether species have retained costly heat-tolerance adaptations they haven't needed for millions of years.

Chapter 10

Hope in the Face of Extinction: Conservation's Last Stand

As extinction accelerates globally, scientists are taking extraordinary measures to preserve what remains. At the Institute for Conservation Research's Frozen Zoo, cell lines from nearly a thousand species are preserved in liquid nitrogen, including the extinct po'ouli honeycreeper. Meanwhile, conservationists go to remarkable lengths to save endangered species: raising California condors with puppets, treating them for lead poisoning, and teaching whooping cranes migration routes using ultralight aircraft. Humans have repeatedly demonstrated their capacity for environmental stewardship. Historical conservation successes include the Act for Preservation of Sea Birds following Alfred Newton's advocacy, Yosemite National Park's creation after John Muir's writings, and DDT prohibition after Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. The 1974 Endangered Species Act has inspired extraordinary rescue efforts for numerous species on the brink. Millions of people support wildlife organizations financially, demonstrating widespread concern for biodiversity. Yet despite these heroic efforts, the current mass extinction-the Sixth Extinction-continues unabated. Unlike previous extinction events caused by asteroids or volcanic eruptions, this one stems from human activity. The fundamental issue isn't whether people care enough to prevent extinctions, but rather that human-driven environmental change is occurring faster than species can adapt. Earth's history reveals life is resilient but not infinitely so. Past mass extinctions had varied causes: glaciation (Ordovician), warming and ocean chemistry changes (Permian), asteroid impact (Cretaceous). Today's extinction has a novel cause: "one weedy species"-humans. As Walter Alvarez observed, "We're seeing right now that a mass extinction can be caused by human beings." What links all extinction events is rate of change-when environments transform faster than species can adapt, many perish. Our capacity to alter the world predates modernity but finds its fullest expression in it-our restlessness, creativity, and cooperation are the same qualities that made us human. Two possibilities face us: either we'll be undone by our own ecological disruptions, or human ingenuity will outrun the disasters we've set in motion. But our most enduring legacy will be deciding "which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed." The question isn't just about preserving individual species, but about maintaining the conditions that allow evolution itself to continue its four-billion-year experiment. As we reshape the planet, we're not just eliminating individual creatures but potentially foreclosing entire evolutionary futures. What kind of ancestors do we want to be? The answer will define us long after our cities have crumbled and our names have been forgotten.

★★★★★

You made it to the end of The sixth extinction

Loved by 1M+ learners

“23 days in and I have used it every single day. It is part of my daily habit now.”

jayallen

Key Themes in The sixth extinction

anthropogenic climate change
biodiversity loss
mass extinction events
human environmental impact
evolutionary history

Quotes from The sixth extinction

Right now, in the amazing moment that is the present, we are deciding, without quite meaning to, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed.
In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches.
By disrupting these ancient cycles—in particular, by digging up and burning vast quantities of fossil fuels—we are setting in motion a series of events that we can see only dimly.
The catastrophe he glimpsed beyond recorded history was, in fact, us.

Characters in The sixth extinction

Elizabeth KolbertAuthor and journalist documenting mass extinction
Edgardo GriffithDirector of the El Valle Amphibian Center
Georges CuvierNaturalist who established the concept of species
David WakeBiologist who noted the collapse of amphibians

About the Author

Elizabeth Kolbert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and leading environmental writer, is the author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, a seminal work in ecological nonfiction. In this book, she examines humanity’s role in accelerating planetary biodiversity loss.

A staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999, Kolbert combines rigorous scientific reporting with narrative urgency. Her work focuses on climate change and anthropogenic impacts.

Kolbert's career includes groundbreaking series like “The Climate of Man,” which earned the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journalism award, and acclaimed books such as Field Notes from a Catastrophe and Under a White Sky. The latter was named one of The Washington Post’s 10 best books of 2021.

Born in 1961 and educated at Yale University, Kolbert’s work bridges academia and public discourse. She has appeared in The New York Times and lectures at institutions worldwide. The Sixth Extinction, a National Book Critics Circle finalist and Pulitzer winner, has become essential reading in environmental science courses and has been translated into over 20 languages.

Download Summary of The sixth extinction

Get the The sixth extinction summary as a free PDF or EPUB. Print it or read offline anytime.

Users also liked

The Sixth Extinction: Biodiversity's Climate Crisis book cover

Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Major Threats to Biodiversity: Understanding and Mitigating ...

6 sources

The Sixth Extinction: Biodiversity's Climate Crisis

Under a White Sky

Elizabeth Kolbert

Surviving Extinction

Tara Ellis

Human Extinction: The Science of Survival book cover

Extinction of the human species: What could cause it and how likely is it to occur? | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction | Cambridge Core

The mother of all battles: Viruses vs humans. Can humans avoid extinction in 50–100 years?

8 sources

Human Extinction: The Science of Survival

The Uninhabitable Earth

David Wallace-Wells

Losing Earth

Nathaniel Rich

The World Without Us

Alan Weisman

A World Without Ice

Henry Pollack

FAQs About This Book

Discover more

LEARNING PLAN

Nature's Lethal Ambition

This plan offers a unique look at how humanity has harnessed nature's toxins for power, war, and status. It is ideal for history buffs, science enthusiasts, and true crime fans interested in the dark evolution of toxicology.

1 h 12 m•3 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

The Biology of Human Empire

This plan bridges the gap between evolutionary biology and historical geopolitics to explain why human societies rise and fall. It is ideal for history buffs, sociologists, and strategists looking to understand the primal drivers of power and systemic collapse.

1 h 30 m•3 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

Earth's Deep Time Blueprint

This plan is essential for understanding how past planetary catastrophes shape our current environmental reality. It is ideal for science enthusiasts and students of ecology who want to use paleontology to navigate modern climate challenges.

1 h 12 m•3 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

The Bronze Age Silence

This learning plan offers a deep dive into the catastrophic end of the first globalized era, making it essential for history enthusiasts and students of archaeology. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how environmental, military, and systemic failures converge to reshape human history.

1 h 36 m•4 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

The Environmental Crisis: Law and Science

This plan addresses the urgent need to integrate scientific reality with legal strategy to combat the triple planetary crisis. It is ideal for legal professionals, environmental advocates, and students seeking a deep, multi-disciplinary understanding of how law can drive ecological restoration.

2 h 30 m•5 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

The Science of High-Stakes Decisions

In high-pressure environments, biological stress responses often override rational thought, leading to costly errors. This course is essential for leaders and professionals who need to maintain peak performance and logical consistency when the stakes are highest.

1 h 30 m•3 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

Ancient Empires and Lost Worlds

This plan offers a deep dive into the foundations of human society by blending archaeology with cultural history. It is ideal for history enthusiasts and lifelong learners who want to understand how ancient power dynamics and daily life continue to influence the modern world.

1 h 45 m•4 Sections

LEARNING PLAN

The Human Story Across Scales

This plan offers a high-level synthesis of anthropology, history, and strategy for those seeking to understand the drivers of human progress. It is ideal for leaders, strategists, and curious minds who want to apply historical patterns to modern challenges.

2 h 30 m•5 Sections

From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco

LOVED BY

1,000,000+ curious minds.

4.7

avg rating

1M+ learners

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

See more on how BeFreed is discussed

From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco

LOVED BY

1,000,000+ curious minds.

4.7

avg rating

1M+ learners

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

See more on how BeFreed is discussed

Start your learning journey, now

Chapter 9

The sixth extinction

OverviewOverview of The sixth extinction

One book. Many ways to hear it.

The Sixth Mass Extinction: Our Silent Legacy

The Amphibian Apocalypse: Canaries in the Global Coal Mine

See every word as you hear it

The Birth of Extinction Science: Mastodons and Revolution

Uniformitarianism and the Great Auk: Competing Visions of Change

Get more out of The sixth extinction

Catastrophic Impact: The Asteroid That Changed Everything

The Anthropocene: Humanity's Geological Footprint

See every word as you hear it

Ocean Acidification: The Other Carbon Problem

Coral Reefs: The Rainforests of the Sea

Get more out of The sixth extinction

Climate Change and Biodiversity: Racing Up the Mountain

Hope in the Face of Extinction: Conservation's Last Stand

You made it to the end of The sixth extinction

Key Themes in The sixth extinction

Quotes from The sixth extinction

Characters in The sixth extinction

About the Author

Download Summary of The sixth extinction

Users also liked

FAQs About This Book

What is The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History about?

Who should read The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History?

Is The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History worth reading?

What are the main arguments in The Sixth Extinction?

Discover more

1,000,000+ curious minds.

1,000,000+ curious minds.

One book. Many ways to hear it.

The Sixth Mass Extinction: Our Silent Legacy

The Amphibian Apocalypse: Canaries in the Global Coal Mine

See every word as you hear it

The Birth of Extinction Science: Mastodons and Revolution

Uniformitarianism and the Great Auk: Competing Visions of Change

Get more out of The sixth extinction

Catastrophic Impact: The Asteroid That Changed Everything

The Anthropocene: Humanity's Geological Footprint

See every word as you hear it

Ocean Acidification: The Other Carbon Problem

Coral Reefs: The Rainforests of the Sea

Get more out of The sixth extinction

Climate Change and Biodiversity: Racing Up the Mountain

Hope in the Face of Extinction: Conservation's Last Stand

You made it to the end of The sixth extinction

Users also liked

Discover more

Overview of The sixth extinction